just john Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Another nail in the coffin for Gorgon, one can only wish him the greatest humilation in History . . . Intervention required by Obama to invite Prince-of-Wales- D-Day-anniversary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 It's a shambles, surely someone had the wit to work out that the guys involved would be in their eighties and nineties and they may not see another 5 years....lets celebrate their achievement while they are still around to see it..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 But the row, if ever there was one, was not about the veterans but about whether or not the Queen had been invited, personally I think it was just a slack news day for the Sun which was then picked up by TF1Close sources tell me that Nicolas was miffed that he was not allowed to sleep with his bird at buckingham palace so had insisted that if the queen came to the D-day commemorations she would be forced to share a room with Prince Phillip, after much diplomatic intevention it was agreed that Phillip could come on his own but only if he kept his hands off Carla.The real heros of the day seem to have been overlooked in the media feeding frenzy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 My point was that in the circumstances it would have been considerate to the Veterans to hold a bigger celebration, including the Queen et al, this time round...usually it's the 10 year anniversaries that are remembered more................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Perhaps they assumed she WAS going ...who knows.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Head of State has to invite another Head of State onto his territory these days .... Probably dates back to when they used to turn up unannounced with a great big army behind them ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekJ Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Brown could and should have fixed this ages ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Sarkozy simply doesn't want to share his big moment alongside Obama.It's a question of the big ego of little men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarkkent Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 [quote user="Frederick"] Head of State has to invite another Head of State onto his territory these days .... Probably dates back to when they used to turn up unannounced with a great big army behind them ? [/quote]But the Queen is also Duc de Normandie. Perhaps Sarko is frightened that she may make a bid for the rest of France ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 Seems the poor oganisation continues today....Old men having to stand and wait for the polititions ...time table out of the window ..no seating for the old boys who after all are there for their commemoration day ....It looks like whoever had the job of organisation putting the day together and seeing it all went to plan has slipped up badly ...Some of the veterans could not stand waiting any longer and left the parade ..which is very sad ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Avery Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 And Lizzie was at Epsom watching the Derby where she always goes and where she wanted to be all along. Load of media anti-French crap as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 What has Lizzy at Epsom got to do with a time table running so late old men are left to stand in the rain and a failiour to stick to the organisation planned for the day ? How can it be media anti French crap..Ron its a fact it happened ...old men left waiting for polititions who should have been kept to the schedule . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 [quote user="Ron Avery"]And Lizzie was at Epsom watching the Derby where she always goes and where she wanted to be all along. Load of media anti-French crap as usual. [/quote]What did you expect her to do, sit at home and twiddle her thumbs ? Had she been invited in good time my guess is she would have planned accordingly. I doubt at her age the Queen has changed much - duty first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 puzzled, the fact is that she wasn't invited - how could that be anything other than a snub?Prince Charles medals : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6147544.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Avery Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 [quote user="Russethouse"] puzzled, the fact is that she wasn't invited - how could that be anything other than a snub?Prince Charles medals : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6147544.stm[/quote]Because she didn't want to bloody well go, the French knew she didn't want to go so they never asked her!!! She was already booked for the Derby months ago. Doing her duty, my arse, remember where she was the day after Diana had died!!Funny all those old boys can sit at the Cenotaph for three hours in November but in a French town 30 minutes is too long for them, all done deliberately of course as a snub, if there were no politicians they would have had no ceremony in the first place!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 They will be there next year Ron those who are left who can make it....as they have been in past years when there has not been a politicion in sight ...As for the Cenotaph ...now there is a lesson in how to organise these things ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 Because she didn't want to bloody well go, the French knew she didn't want to go so they never asked her!!! More fool them then, because if they had asked and she had refused they would not have been open to criticismShe was already booked for the Derby months ago. Doing her duty, my arse, remember where she was the day after Diana had died!!Following protocol, and doing what she thought was her duty and looking after her grandsons ! Funny all those old boys can sit at the Cenotaph for three hours in November but in a French town 30 minutes is too long for them, all done deliberately of course as a snub, if there were no politicians they would have had no ceremony in the first place!! Oh, I daresay the Normandy Veterans Association would have managed very nicely somehow or other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 [quote user="puzzled"]Another (dare I say more balanced) perspective on this 'snub'.Why truth is a casualty of war in the battle of Obama beach[/quote]Thanks for that Puzzled.A clear explanation in contrast to the anti-French hysteria whipped up by the usual suspects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 The pity of the whole thing is that the powers that be did not realize that their policy of only celebrating the '10's gets progressively less valid as the years go on....at this stage with the veterans in their eighties and nineties doing something every five years seems a lot more realistic, whether it be something smaller or not.So if this year it was a French /American affair, when is the British / French affair ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 I glimpsed on French TV a crowd of hecklers booing Gordon Broan when he arrived at one places, I dont know if it was the American cemetary at Omaha beach or later on.What was interesting was all that you could here was a lot of people shouting "BOO!!" no other dialogue in French or English was audible, were these French or English? Can one say "boo" in French or should it be "beuh" like the cows? [:)]It strikes me that if they were English they would have said more than just that, perhaps "shame on you" etc, I am wondering if it was a militant French rent-a-mob with one small French-English dictionary between them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackyfrance Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 It wasn't just the UK press. The Canadian press picked up on the story and took it as a personal insult that they were not being represented. While a lot of it was media-inspired frenzy, I think it also shows that the underlying suspicion between the UK and France that France could and should have done more to protect it's own people still exists and that sitting in Paris having a cafe with the Germans while thousands of allied troops died trying to liberate them still sticks in the craw of many British people, rightly or wrongly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Nerver forget, yes, but forgive and move on Macky, after all that was the last millenium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gastines Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 I think the insult might have come from Gordon's direction. My wife and I attended the Ceremony at the British Cemetary at Bayeux. The atmosphere was brilliant although not very well organised by the UK end. Most of the Veterans we spoke to said that it had been a total co-k-up as far as information was concerned. Any financial help is expected to be made AFTER the veterans get back ,having paid out of their own pockets first. Many said that some who wanted to come couldn't for this reason!! Having visited the American Cemetary at Colleville -sur-mer the day before one couldn't fail to see the difference. 7000 chairs installed on nice red carpet,huge speaker systems, hundreds of extra loo's available, easy access for wheelchairs with every step or bump dealt with etc.etc. At Bayeux not a chair,not a loo,some miniscule speakers at one end.No one could hear a word of the service outside the immediate circle. However, the veterans spirit,their escorts help and the general comraderie made up for it all. The added bonus was that The Prince Of Wales took well over an hour passing through the crowd talking to everyone and anyone and so did the French Prime Minister and his wife. Going on to Arromanche ,the Veterans waited for 3 hours ,mostly in the pouring rain,fortunately chairs were provided. Standing in the crowd getting soaking wet like the rest of us bystanders, was a UK MP, I won't mention his name but he did mention that he had been unable to get any info from the M.O.D. two weeks prior as to who,or anyone, would be attending. By the way G.B. P.M. did get boo'd by many and rightly so.He wasn't in the rain either.The parachutists at St.Mere-Eglise were worth the wait in the again pouring rain. They managed to come in during the few sunny spots even though 2 managed to land in the crowd and 7 were injured. A point worth mentioning, after returning to Bayeux after the thousands watching the vehicle parade,there was no litter to be seen.The arrangements made at this end seem to have gone off remarkably well. A visit I'm very glad we made.Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1191500/How-I-Robert-Hardman-documents-65th-D-Day-commemorations-veterans-Normandy.htmlIf you scroll to near the bottom it says that Ministers may re think celebrating the '5's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Avery Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Sorry don't read or believe anything in the Daily Mail, surprised that you read it though RH, being so european minded[Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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