Shared World War memories bind US, France

The United States and France have long been at odds over the Iraq war but are now being drawn together again - over a past conflict and a shared history.

On the 60th anniversary of D-day on Sunday, American veteran Richard Candelaria will commemorate the allied invasion that saved Europe as the guest of France on the beaches of Normandy and a new recipient of the Legion of Honour, the country's most prestigious award.

The 81-year-old retired Air Force fighter pilot from Las Vegas will be among 100 veterans from all over the United States receiving the awards, and the French royal treatment.

They and their families will be flown to Paris on a special Air France flight, housed at top-of-the-line hotels and taken by special train to Normandy for the D-day ceremony with US President George W. Bush and French President Jacques Chirac.

It is an effusive gesture to assure Americans France remembers, and remains grateful for, their World War II sacrifice.

"Since last year, there has been outrage in France over what was written in some (US) media that France forgot what it owed the United States," said Nathalie Loiseau, spokeswoman for the French Embassy in Washington, DC.

"Every French family has a story to tell... We want to do all we can" to honour the aging World War II veterans while they are still alive, she told Reuters in an interview.

France in 1998 observed the 80th anniversary of the World War I armistice by awarding Legion of Honour medals to American veterans of that conflict who served in France, but World War II veterans have mostly received certificates.

This year, the French government elevated the level of recognition. The US Department of Veterans Affairs helped with the selection of the 100 new recipients of the Legion of Honour.

About 500 Americans have previously been given the award for various feats.

France will also honour veterans of other countries but not in such large numbers.

Paris' overture comes during a particularly excruciating and venomous period in US-French relations.

French opposition to the US-led war that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein stirred a hornet's nest in America.

Cafés and restaurants at the US Capitol renamed French fries as "freedom" fries and the embassy was inundated with hate mail, calling the French "immoral cowards", among other things.

Mr Candelaria, whose wife, daughter and 18-year-old grandson will accompany him to Paris, does not share those feelings.

"I have always had nothing but good relations with and good treatment from the French people," he told Reuters in a telephone interview from his home.

"I'm sorry the government doesn't always agree with ours. After all, they are a sovereign nation... I would have preferred if they were completely on our side (but) they have a right" to disagree, the retired colonel said.

Mr Candelaria paints vivid pictures of his war service worthy of a movie script.

Assigned to the 8th fighter command, he flew bomber escorts over France, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Norway.

In 1945, he was flying to meet up with his squadron when he encountered 15 or 16 German Messerschmitt fighters. He managed to shoot down at least four, possibly five. His plane suffered little damage.

A week later, on an escort mission over Germany near the Baltic Sea, he came under attack from several dozen anti-aircraft batteries and, wounded, had to bail out.

For 32 days, Mr Candelaria was on the run, dodging men with pitchforks and German soldiers; getting captured and escaping; going hungry and then being treated kindly by enemy soldiers who shared their cognac with an American officer.

"I got back to France just in time for the war to be over in Europe," he said.

For all this, Mr Candelaria is already highly decorated with the purple heart, the silver star, 12 oak leaf clusters, distinguished flying cross and croix de guerre with palm.

As for the Legion of Honour, he said: "I just feel extremely fortunate I was selected. I think the people who hit the beaches and climbed up the cliffs (on D-day) and the paratroopers really deserve it more than anyone (but) it is a tremendous honour for me."