Was this really necessary France 🇫🇷?

No. wwm, not at all.

As its one of the only threads without hashtags and promises of gold nuggets, quite possibly it was.

Was this thread really necessary.

So if there were 'hundreds' of paratroopers dropping in maybe
some 'terrorist' could have infiltrated from the shore and not be noticed untill some dire act had been committed and then the
French woud be accused of poor security. There have been
alot of such attacks in France , they come in all shape and sizes.
Producing your I.D. here is not a problem but always appears
to be an affront to a British Human Right.

MaizieD

OMG. petra followed the script!

I was just waiting for someone to say that no-one asked to see passports in 1944 🙄

Someone had to say it 🤷‍♀️

The women’s services certainly counted on D-Day and the run up to it. They (mostly WRNS) were heavily involved behind the scenes on the operational side, as they were, also, throughout the Battle of Britain.

When they arrived in 1944 they were greeted with German bullets , so they didn’t just stroll in that day.

My late DF was tickled pink when he and my late DM visited Arromanches some years ago, and got in for a reduced rate as he was a veteran (as was she, but the women's services maybe didn't count!). He was nowhere near Normandy in 1944, but with the Royal Navy elsewhere, but that still counted.

I am reminded of a story, possibly apocryphal of an elderly American who was having trouble with an over-officious French passport control jobsworth.
"I didn't get this sort of trouble last time I came to your country, son" the American protested
"I'm sure you would have, monsieur" replied the official snootily "the regulations have always been like this, when exactly was that?"
"6 June 1944" came the reply.

These idiots check passports of serving soldiers but let in every Tom Dick and Harry that come in on a rubber dinghy. Perhaps the French don't need to check illegal immigrants records as they will ship them all off to the UK on the day they arrive.

Surely it's all to do with the fact that they (like the rest of us) are only allowed so long each year in the Schengen area, so their passports have to be stamped.
It's a real problem for some people. Our tour guide recently told us one border official started checking his passport stamps and trying to add up his times in case he'd been there too much.

I'm sure that the security and risk management arrangements were planned and agreed to beforehand by a French/British team working together.

We don't know any threat assessment levels and best options were in the planning.

I watched some of it on TV, and from French schoolchildren up to pensioners, there was nothing shown but gratitude and respect.

The memorial they have built was lovely.

Let’s not use today as a French/`EU bashing day.😗

I'm very sure that the UK would want to see the passports of any military person who is visiting here, whether on exercise or not.

My passport was checked both in and out of Afghanistan when I was in the TA. The RAF took us in and out - they did the checking.

OMG. petra followed the script!

I was just waiting for someone to say that no-one asked to see passports in 1944 🙄

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.

Dinahmo

Ladyleftfieldlover

That’s a bit harsh Siope.

No it's not.

Too true it’s not.
Nobody asked to see passports in June1944 did they.
No!!!! They were grateful to us and all the other countries involved who delivered their freedom.

Kim19

Please can we just have some peace and gratitude today?

Try the DDay thread. It's very interesting and respectful.

I'm more concerned why Macron keeps turning up late to major events in his own country? Has he got a dodgy watch? I thought he was known for his expensive collection of Longines. Today, nearly 20 minutes late at the DDay memorial service which started without him. Yesterday, nearly an hour late in Brittany to honour the parachutists.

Another try.

Oreo

Maybe they thought they were illegal immigrants dropping in?
😄 I can’t see much harm in having a passport check, but yes I see your point about the MOD, they could have provided a list.

Of course their credentials had to be checked, it would be unwise not to have done so.

I think the ceremony went really well and the elderly D-Day veterans were given the status they deserved, well done France.

Siope

So you’d be okay if a few hundred young male foreigners arrived onto British soil and were just allowed in with no checks?

We are no longer in the EU; we cannot just pop in and out as if we are.

Honestly, I sometimes wonder if you ever understood what you were actually voting for in the referendum.

What do these paratroopers look like to you.

It’s the rules. Why nitpick on today of all days? Did you see the paratroopers complaining?

I find that a bit odd. I don’t know what period the journalist is talking about but as an Army wife who lived and travelled in five different countries between the sixties and the eighties, I had to have both an ID card and a passport. I have it somewhere with all the visa stamps in it. My children also had to have passports. My husband of course had his service ID card but also had a passport. Perhaps someone will tell me if I have been dreaming this?

Please can we just have some peace and gratitude today?