Was this really necessary France 🇫🇷?

16:50grandtanteJE65

I would have thought France would have plenty of would be terrorists in situ already with open borders and such.

Urmstongran

Oh I do hope that story is true Grandmabatty. If so, that’d be wonderful (after all) and draw a line in the sand, pun intended.

Well no sand actually, it was a field inland (we drove past the day before).

I hope this officer kept his passport dry when he swam across the Channel on Wednesday!

France has a problem with terrorists, as we all do sometimes, but I very much doubt any would have been parachuting in with the paratroopers on Wednesday.

MaizieD

Kim19

Please can we just have some peace and gratitude today?

I think that the OP is working on the lines that the French ought to be grateful to the British for liberating them (singlehandedly of course) and demanding passports is just motivated by spite at the UK having left the evil EU and the French never liked us anyway...

I thought it was an amusing episode and it's a ridiculous thing to be indignant about.

Did we the British really do it on our own, oh dear, and I was taught, and knew from My Dad that it was brave men from different Nations who died on the French beaches 80 years ago today.
Sniping at people from this country on this day, when many families lost loved ones.
Really couldn't help yourself, could you.

,

We were part of a huge operation. There were brave people from virtually every nation in the allied forces - including those from the French resistance.

Sad that this moving occasion, which is was, is being marred by our disappearing PM and certain others having pot-shots at the French.

C'est un bureau de douane déporté spécialement pour l'évènement alors qu'habituellement nous contrôlons sur nos postes frontaliers, à Ouistreham. Ils arrivent d'Angleterre, donc hors de l'espace Shengen. La douane a un rôle de garde-frontière et pour ces raisons-là, nous faisons ces contrôles migratoires en validant leurs passeports.

Jonathan Monti, Chef divisionnaire Direction des Douanes

I did find a statement from the Chief Customs Officier in Calvados that they have to do things this way. No bending the law. C'est la vie!

Nice touch the patachutists had a French priest waiting for them after their drop. I still maintain it was all staged to within a whisker.

What is a bit strange is that passport control was so public, photos being taken by the crowds and TV cameras rolling. When I pass through the controls there are always signs up saying, No photography?

Grandmabatty

I have read that many of the British paratroopers asked for their passports to be checked so that they could have a stamp on that auspicious day on French soil and that is why it was set up. I haven't checked that though, so it should say 'allegedly'. If so, I can imagine why they felt a stamp in their passport on 6th June was important to them

Yes - it was in the nature of a souvenir of the day for the parachutists.

Why are people so keen to criticise the French?

Grannynise Because life here is better. The bureaucracy is appalling but if you can cope with that it's good.

Dinahmo

Grannynise Because life here is better. The bureaucracy is appalling but if you can cope with that it's good.

Haha, am not so sure that’s the answer😂

I disagree that people have a sour grapes attitude towards the French, though their wines are certainly the best! 🍇 🍷
I don't even think it's necessarily a negative attitude. It's not a dislike of the people per se because the French are rather amusing in their own uppish way.
If you really know them as friends, then I can tell you they are just as good at criticising the Anglais, (they don't include Scotland and Wales!), themselves.

I remember when the British government invited foreign nationals to come to the uk to support the British workforce and a great job they did. We were so short of nurses and other skilled people

Imagine how very embarrassing it would have been if terrorists had infiltrated the troops and what idiots the French would have seemed. No, they did the right thing.

But then equally the onlookers standing round with their mobiles could have been up to no good watching the process! The authorities could have erected a tent.
I'm not saying it was wrong, just strange.

I don’t agree that French wines are the best. They have a few of the more expensive wines that are good, but their wine is far more likely to give me a headache that wines from other countries which are more pure in my opinion. This has been the case with me for years. My choice of wines would be Italian or New Zealand wines.

My husband is a fluent French speaker but I’m not very good, although can make myself understood in shops, restaurants etc.
We’ve found most of the French to be pretty amenable if you can communicate with them.
They do seem to be more bolshie though, judging by the frequency of strikes, which seem always to involve a a fair degree of violence.

Diamond Lily I agree with you. I thought it was a very well organised ceremony and emotional. The local French school children handing out white roses to the veterans was a nice touch.

It’s the price we pay for the most heinous of crimes - voting for Brexit. We will continue to pay the price for this terrible outcome

I’ve read that the participating soldiers had requested stamps in their passports showing June 06, 2024!

I was quite teared up seeing Macron giving that lady the Legion d’honneur. Lovely moment.

ctussaud

I’ve read that the participating soldiers had requested stamps in their passports showing June 06, 2024!

Yes, they were interviewing some soldiers last night. They thought it was be a good memento of a memorable day.

vegansrock

I was quite teared up seeing Macron giving that lady the Legion d’honneur. Lovely moment.

Me too. I don’t even like Macron, but I found that very emotional. I was ready to go out, but stopped for ten minutes before leaving just to watch that live.

My Thought Exactly.

Thank you ,
It’s exactly what came to my mind.