French (was GDG- new visitor center review)

[Gitt, Doug]

I agree it is OT, but in fairness to the French:

Everyone who is "anti-French" should visit the Verdun Battlefield,
specifically the Ossuary and cemetery.  The Ossuary contains the
remains, the bones, of thousands of French dead recovered from the
Battlefield.  And these are the unidentified dead!  Next, one should
walk into an area that is "off-limits" because of thousands of dud
artillery rounds and other live munitions.  The ground is nothing,
nothing but destroyed fortifications and shell holes and craters, with
no trees older than 1920.

No wonder the French Army mutinied.  Small wonder that France supported
Great Britain in appeasing Hitler.

Doug



From: "Vallely, John" <VALLELY at siena.edu>


...In the interests of historical fairness it is
appropriate to mention that France was in both world wars long before
the United States. In terms of fairness one should also note that the
French loss in World War I was as grievous as that of the Confederate
States in our Civil War. World War II is always cited as an example of
French "cowardice" but no one refers to the French Revolutionary,
Napoleonic, or First World War armies. The miserable French military,
social, and political experience in 1940 owes a great deal to the
lasting effects of the trauma of 1914-1918.(snip)


    Sorry for the length of the above. Calling an entire nation cowards
always strikes me as nonsense. It is like saying all German Americans
behaved as the XI Corps did at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Simply
not accurate, or fair.

                   John