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World Leaders Gather in France to Remember D-Day

CAEN, France (Reuters) – Seventeen world leaders and thousands of World War II veterans gathered to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy Sunday under blue skies and amid tight security.

The heads of state and government attending the ceremonies in Normandy have underlined the importance of reconciliation as well as remembrance as they prepare for one of the biggest security operations staged on French soil.

Some 30,000 soldiers were deployed in the area around the Normandy beaches and army helicopters patrolled overhead. Combat jets were ready to shoot down any aircraft violating the no-fly zone around the event if requested to do so by Paris.

French move to annul gay 'wedding'

Stephane Chapin, dressed in a white suit and dabbing tears of joy from his eyes, and Bertrand Charpentier, in deep gray pinstripes, embraced, kissed and smiled broadly after the brief civil ceremony in the Begles town hall in southwestern France, near Bordeaux.

The justice minister quickly said that the Bordeaux court would be petitioned to declare the marriage null, while the interior minister said the mayor who performed the ceremony — a Green party politician known as a provocateur — would be sanctioned.

Begles Mayor Noel Mamere defiantly wore the blue, white and red ribbons — France’s national colors — that are conferred on mayors as representatives of the state and used during all official functions.

Thousands Rally in Paris Against Bush, Iraq War

PARIS (Reuters) – Thousands of people in the French capital demonstrated against the war in Iraq on Saturday as President Bush met France’s Jacques Chirac ahead of ceremonies commemorating the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Wearing T-shirts depicting Bush as a war criminal and carrying banners reading “Bush — Terrorist number one!” and “U.S. troops out of Iraq,” a colorful crowd of students, housewives and office workers marched through central Paris.

Police estimated 12,000 took part in the protest. Organizers were not available to give their own estimate.

Demonstrators chanted “Go home” and “Bush — Assassin,” but were banned from the area round the Elysee presidential palace, where the two leaders held their talks.

France, U.S. find common ground with D-Day

GRANDCAMP-MAISY, France — His name was Frank Peregory. He came from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to France, where he fought bravely and was killed. Sixty years later, heroism like his is still bringing people together.

Under the warm sun of a waning afternoon, French and Americans – hardly the closest of friends this past year – gathered before a stone monument that tells how the Medal of Honor winner captured a German machine gun nest outside this Normandy town on June 8, 1944 – two days after the D-Day invasion.

A tricolor sash draped from one shoulder, the local parliament member, Jean-Marc Lefranc, spoke in English to the aging veterans from Peregory’s 29th Infantry Division who joined with townspeople to honor his memory.

Bush Looks Past Differences With France

PARIS (AP) – President Bush sought on Saturday to move beyond bitter differences with a Western ally, yet French President Jacques Chirac said Iraq remains “extremely precarious” and he again questioned America’s justification for the war.

On the eve of celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the two leaders highlighted areas of agreement, from Afghanistan to the Middle East, Haiti and Africa.

Citing the lesson of World War II, Bush said at a joint news conference, “Free nations working together can overcome danger.”

Chirac sought to play down friction between Washington and Paris, and said his talks with Bush, which included the fight against terrorism, were “sincere” and “trusting.”

With pomp and music, France pins Legion of Honour on U.S. D-Day vets

French officers pinned the Legion of Honour on the chests of 99 former American soldiers Saturday, thanking them at a pomp-filled military ceremony for helping to free Europe from Nazism 60 years ago.

Children and grandchildren watched proudly, many shooting pictures and videos.

Most of the recipients landed on Normandy’s beaches on D-Day – others were pilots who backed the invasion with bombs, medics who treated the wounded, troops who landed elsewhere in France after the initial attack.

The government says it wanted to honour the 99 as representatives of all the Americans who helped liberate France from German occupation.