World Leaders Commemorate D-Day Anniversary

German Leader Attends D-Day Ceremonies for the First Time

CAEN, France, June 6 -- Under a pristine blue sky and with mournful martial music and cannons blasting salutes, more than 20 world leaders gathered Sunday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy, the world's largest amphibious military expedition that cost tens of thousands of lives and eventually wrested control of mainland Europe from Nazi Germany.

Thousands of aging and ailing D-Day veterans came together -- Americans, Britons, Canadians, French and others -- some in full uniform with medals, many supporting themselves on canes or in wheelchairs, for what will likely be the last major reunion of what is now commonly called The Greatest Generation. With most of the D-Day veterans now in their 80s, and dying at a rate of more than 1,000 a day, today's ceremony bore the mark of a valedictory for those who fought, as well as a tribute to the fallen.

"France will never forget," French President Jacques Chirac said, in the first of the day's many ceremonies, at the American military cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer . "She will never forget that 6th of June 1944 -- the day hope was reborn and rekindled. She will never forget those men who made the ultimate sacrifice to liberate our soil, our native land, our continent from the yoke of Nazi barbarity."

"In the trials and that sacrifice of war we became inseparable allies," President Bush said at the same ceremony at Colleville, facing a sea of white stone crosses and Stars of David, marking the 9,387 Americans gravesites. "The nations that battled across this continent would become trusted partners in the cause of peace, and our great alliance of freedom is strong and it is still needed today."

Later, at the main flag-draped ceremony at Arromanches, the midway point along the Normandy beaches where American, British and Canadian forces landed at dawn 60 years ago, Chirac said, "France will never forget what it owes America, its steadfast friend and ally." Like the rest of Europe, he said, "France is keenly aware that the Atlantic Alliance, forged in adversity, remains, in the face of new threats, a fundamental element of our collective security."

Today's event took on the form of a mini-summit, with Bush, Chirac, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, Queen Elizabeth II, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and the leaders of Belgium, Norway, New Zealand and the Netherlands all in attendance for a working lunch at a Medieval chateau that survived the Allied bombing of Caen and now serves as city hall.

Also in attendance was German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, making the first appearance ever at a D-Day commemoration by a German leader. Schroeder was born just two months before the invasion began, and for many Germans, his presence here marked a long-sought recognition that the post-war period is over, and Germany has resumed its place as a full and equal partner in the Western alliance.

The presence of a German chancellor at a D-Day commemoration would have been unthinkable for the 40th, or even 50th anniversary, because the old animosities were still too raw. But Chirac's surprise invitation to Schroeder this year was as much a measure of the personal warmth between the two leaders -- who became close last year after jointly opposing the Iraq war -- as a sign of how far Europe has come in burying its bloody past.

An opinion poll published Saturday, by the French firm Ifop for the French daily newspaper Le Figaro, showed that the vast majority of French considered Germany as a better ally of France than the United States. Some 82 percent of those polled said they considered Germany a very strong or somewhat strong ally, compared to just 55 percent who said America was a very strong or somewhat strong ally. Ten years ago, 70 percent of French people in the same poll said America was a very strong or somewhat strong ally.

"I think inviting the German chancellor is a wonderful idea," said Joëlle Delfortrie, 52, a native of the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise. "World War II was a war waged against the Nazi regime. D-day marks the liberation of the French people as well as the German people from the Nazis."

If Schroeder's presence here elicited any controversy, it was mostly back home in Germany, where his visit stirred a debate that mixed delicate and conflicting feelings of patriotism, guilt, remorse over the German war dead, and the sense that for Germans, D-day was as much a defeat as a liberation. Most controversial was Schroeder's decision not to go to a German cemetery, but instead lay a wreath in a Commonwealth cemetery in Ranville, where 322 German soldiers lay buried along with 2,000 soldiers from eight other allied nations.

Some opposition conservative politicians have labeled Schroeder as an "anti-patriot" for not laying a wreath at a German war cemetery. But Schroeder defended his decision, and his visit, saying in a French newspaper interview; "I don't understand the debate going on in Germany.... For me, it's about commemorating all the dead who fell because of Hitler's cruelty."

The obvious warmth between Schroeder and his host, Chirac, was on full display when the chancellor arrived for the midday luncheon at the Abbaye aux Hommes chateau. Chirac and his wife Bernadette greeted Schroeder, as they did all the other leaders, at the foot of a red carpet leading to the entrance to the chateau. But Schroeder lingered far longer than most other guests, chatting amiably and for several minutes with Chirac, who kept his left hand resting on his German colleague's back.

The greeting for President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush was, by contrast, more polite and perfunctory. When Bush emerged from his limousine, the two presidents shook hands quickly, Bush patted Bernadette Chirac on the back, and Chirac kissed Laura Bush's hand. Then the Bushes moved quickly inside.

Bush and Chirac went to great lengths on this visit to outwardly demonstrate that the animosity over last year's Iraq war was over, and that the two are now working closely together on common problems. France has signaled that it is willing to work towards a new United Nations Iraq resolution it can support -- and has not threatened to use its veto if it cannot support the final version. French officials have also said they are open to allowing NATO to take a lead role in Iraq after sovereignty is transferred, and will help train Iraqi security forces, even though Paris has ruled out sending any French troops.

Still, the Iraq war has left feelings of deep ambivalence on both sides of the Atlantic, and the relationship seems unlikely to be fully repaired anytime soon. A new poll today of both French and Americans, conducted by the Ipsos polling firm and published in today's Le Journal du Dimanche, found that only 20 percent of the French polled considered America a "faithful ally" while only 13 percent of Americans thought that about France.