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On this day after Memorial Day, as the 75th anniversary of D-Day approaches on June 6, I am reposting on this thread some of he pieces I have written about the Normandy Landings and their commemorations over the years. There is in all of them a mix of mourning and anger.
From D-Day 2004, when George W. Bush came to the Normandy cemetery to pay his respects one year after he launched his war in Iraq — Shadowland: The Last Roll Call newsweek.com/shadowland-las…
From 2009, when Barack Obama visited the Normandy Beaches and I spent several days exploring the coast, the hedgerows, and the history — Normandy: Then and Now departures.com/travel/travel/…
In 2014, a note about extraordinary photographs by my friend John Morris —"From Robert Capa’s Editor, Unearthed Scenes of Normandy, Summer 1944." ... John died in 2017, age 100. thedailybeast.com/from-robert-ca… via @thedailybeast
That same year, 2014, Obama returned to Normandy, where he had two interesting encounters: one with Putin, who had just annexed Crimea and launched a hybrid war in eastern Ukraine, and one very moving conversation with a D-Day veteran. thedailybeast.com/what-the-d-day… via @thedailybeast
This June 6, Trump will visit the cemetery at Colleville-sur-mer above the D-Day beaches where so many brave men died. Last year, he insulted the dead of WWI, this month he flirted with pardons for war criminals. Once again, the moment for me will be one of mourning and anger.
I'll be in Normandy June 6 reporting for @thedailybeast, commenting on @msnbc. Always when I'm there I think of a column Ernie Pyle had in his pocket when he was killed in 1945. He had written about seeing "dead men by mass production." 
And now, I think about bone spurs.
