Patricia Mallett asked Stephen P. Kiernan:

This question contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

Stephen P. Kiernan First things first: My condolences about your dad. I imagine him as a young man, taking that heroic leap, and how he rose to face the great challenge of an entire generation. Gratitude to him.

Second thing: There is a myth that the French people are not grateful for what Americans did to liberate them from Nazi control. I did not see it anywhere in that country during my research. In fact I found the opposite: appreciation and honor everywhere I went. High school kids write reports on the people and hometowns of the graves in the American cemetery, for example. People bought me glasses of the local calvados when I told them why I was there. And there are only two statues of people in all the heralded coast. One is a Scotsman playing the bagpipes, based on a real guy who did exactly that as his countrymen stormed up the beach. Armed with nothing but his music, he was not hit by any of the fire in his direction. And the other one, at the end of a long boulevard, is of General Eisenhower, commander of the D-Day invasion.

That statue might as well be of your dad, for the gift that he gave the French people in his youth, and for his valor in facing possible death as he parachuted into battle.

God bless your dad, and you, and your family.

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