The United States played a key role in the Allied effort to liberate Western Europe from the Nazis, but not everyone sees it in the same light. As France marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, an American veteran reflects on the differing ways the US and France remember the war. Meanwhile, historians recall the large number of civilians killed during the Allied invasion and explain why US soldiers were not always welcomed as heroes.
As French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes world leaders, the real stars of the commemorations are the surviving veterans themselves – the men who landed on the Normandy beaches on 6 June 1944 and started liberating France from Nazi occupation. The youngest of the remaining D-Day veterans are now in their late 90s. Alan Shapiro, 99, was too young to take part in the landings, but joined the European Allied forces in the autumn of 1944 and flew transport carriers in the US air corps. He's struck by the love and recognition he's received in France, where war was a lived experience rather than a distant newsreel. He came to France through the association Retour des veterans en Normandie (Veterans Back to Normandy), based in the village of Créances. Its founder, Valerie Gautier, talks about the lasting need to show gratitude for D-Day and WWII veterans. (Listen @4'20)
