Seven U.S. warships joined a flotilla of 34 ships Sunday to celebrate the Allied liberation of southern France 50 years ago.
The floating parade opened celebrations marking Operation Dragoon, also known as the Champagne Campaign or "The Other D-Day," which brought Allied troops to the shores of Provence 10 weeks after the landings in Normandy.Two thousand pleasure craft surrounded the warships, and warplanes, including 40 U.S. aircraft, flew overhead.
Presidents, princes and envoys from 20 African nations attended the celebrations, which paid special tribute to the many Africans who fought for their colonizer.
U.S. paratroopers and infantry spearheaded the invasion Aug. 15, 1944, but three-quarters of the invading force of 350,000 was under French command, most of them Africans.
By contrast, a token 177 French commandos landed at Normandy.
"We wanted the French to feel they contributed decisively to the liberation of their territory," Defense Minister Francois Leotard said on French television.
The Allied troops met relatively little resistance and captured the key ports of Marseille and Toulon within two weeks.
George Belhomme Jr., 75, a former landing craft sailor originally from Houston, remembers a warm welcome from the French.
"Maybe they'd been cozy with the Germans a week before, but I was beyond caring," Belhomme said. "It was wonderful having champagne and sunny parties. It wasn't like war after the first day."
During the celebrations, Leotard awarded the National Order of Merit to Angelos Chatas of Dallas, an ex-U.S. Navy demolition diver who landed on Normandy's Utah Beach on D-Day ahead of American soldiers.