France salutes brave Americans
100 veterans to receive Legion d'Honneur
LONDON, England -- France is marking D-Day with a special tribute to the United States and its role in the Normandy landings which brought the liberation of Europe in 1944.
Differences over a very different war, in Iraq 60 years later, are being put aside as President Jacques Chirac salutes America for its part in ending World War II.
One hundred American veterans are to be flown to France, and will not only being feted with VIP status during the D-Day commemorations, but will also be awarded France's top honor -- the Legion d'Honneur.
Along with their families, they will be flown to Paris on a special Air France flight, housed at top hotels and taken by special train to Normandy for the D-Day ceremony with Chirac and U.S. President George W. Bush.
It is being seen in France as a gesture to assure Americans that 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 U.S. media that France forgot what it owed the United States," said Nathalie Loiseau, spokeswoman for the French Embassy in Washington, D.C.
"Every French family has a story to tell ... we want to do all we can," she told Reuters.
In 1998, France observed the 80th anniversary of the World War I armistice by awarding Legion of Honor 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 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs helped with the selection of the 100 new recipients of the Legion d'Honneur.
About 500 Americans have previously been given the award for various feats.
France will also honor veterans of other countries but not in such large numbers.
Paris' overture comes after a difficult and at times acrimonious period in U.S.-French relations.
French opposition to the U.S.-led war that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein brought anger in America.
Cafes and restaurants in the U.S. renamed French fries as "freedom" fries and the country's embassy In Washington was inundated with hate mail.
 Men of the U.S. 4th Infantry ("Famous Fourth") wade ashore at Normandy. |  |
Retired Air Force fighter pilot Richard Candelaria from Las Vegas, 81, is one of the 100 veterans from all over the U.S. receiving the awards, and the French royal treatment.
Candelaria, whose wife, daughter and 18-year-old grandson will accompany him to Paris, says he did not share the anti-French feelings of some of his countrymen.
"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.
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.
|  The U.S. 8th air force flew P-51 Mustang fighters in World War II |
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, 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 told Reuters.
For all this, 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 Honor, 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 honor for me."
