As far as Hollywood is concerned, World War II was an all-American affair. They've been at it again at this month's Cannes Film Festival where Quentin Tarantino has rewritten the story of Britain's Jewish commandos and made them American for his new film, Inglourious Basterds.
The Great Escape? On screen, it's a bunch of brave Yanks plus a few plucky Brits. In reality, not a single American was involved.
Most famous of all is Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg's D-Day epic, which presents the Normandy landings as a U.S.- only affair, without a Brit or Canadian in sight.
Who won the war? America did - if you believe Hollywood (see Saving Private Ryan). But while it's one thing with film, it's wrong when governments take creative licence
Who won the war? America did - if you believe Hollywood (see Saving Private Ryan). But while it's one thing with film, it's wrong when governments take creative licence
It was the same with the film U-571. On screen, American heroes capture a U-boat, find the crucial code-breaking machine and win the war.
In reality, the British had captured the machine and were cracking the code before America had even entered the war, while U-571 was sunk by the Australians (the screenwriter did have the grace to apologise).
Personally, I do not have a great problem with this. Saving Private Ryan and The Great Escape are cracking movies and I do not begrudge Hollywood its artistic licence if that is the only way to get World War II on the big screen.
But I do object when this mindset creeps into real life, especially when it reaches the highest level. And that is about to happen ten days from now.
If you turn up in France on June 6, the 65th anniversary of D-Day - the invasion which really did win the war - you are in for a surprise. Because, if you did not know better, you would imagine that D-Day was all down to the Americans - with a little help from the French.
The British? The Canadians? The rest of the Commonwealth? The Poles? Just take a seat somewhere at the back and, please, don't bother President Nicolas Sarkozy while he's whispering sweet nothings to President Barack Obama.
After months of dithering and muddle, it has now been confirmed that only the heads of state of France and America will be marking D-Day on the beaches where it all happened. The head of state of Britain and Canada - who happens to be the same person - will not.
No matter that the Queen is the only head of state alive who served in uniform during that war. No matter that her father's British and Canadian troops stormed three out of the five Normandy beaches - codenamed Sword, Juno and Gold - while the Americans invaded two - Omaha and Utah.
No matter that this will be the last time that most Normandy veterans will be making what, to them, is tantamount to a pilgrimage.
No matter that the Normandy Veterans' Association has decided that this anniversary will be its last hurrah before, with great sadness, it closes down later this year.
The Queen will just have to watch it all on the telly. Because the French President has not invited her to join the commemorations. And a head of state can only go where he or she is invited by another head of state.
Windsor Castle may have rolled out its finest red carpet for Mr Sarkozy and his glamorous wife, Carla Bruni. But that was last year. The Queen has not been asked to next week's events and nor has any other member of the Royal Family.
The Queen travels light compared to most world leaders. She is, for example, the only head of a major industrialised nation not to have her own jet. She does not come surrounded by hundreds of men with suits, sunglasses, guns and talking cufflinks. It would not be difficult to accommodate her logistically.
But, in protocol terms, she - or the Prince of Wales - would be a serious obstacle to Mr Sarkozy's chief objective: a one-on-one love-in with Barack Obama, the man of the moment.
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If the Queen or the Prince turned up, Mr Sarkozy would have to divide his attentions between British-Commonwealth events and the commemorations in the American sector. As things stand, he can enjoy a whole day of uninterrupted ' face-time' with Mr Obama in front of the world's media.
French state television has announced that it will devote most of June 6 to a live Normandy broadcast called Barack Obama On The Invasion Beaches.
For the British and Canadian veterans of all those bloody encounters - from Pegasus Bridge to the carnage on the beaches, the horrific Battle of Caen, the massacres in the hedgerows and the Falaise Gap - and for all the relatives of those who never came home, this is a kick in the teeth.
There will still be rapturous welcomes for our old chaps throughout the region, of course. Although the Normandy campaign killed more French civilians than Allied troops, the locals have always been extremely grateful to their liberators.
At every town hall, there will be a vin d'honneur for men like George French, a young rifleman with the 2nd Battalion, an individual's Royal Rifles. He was just 18 when he waded ashore on Juno Beach with his 30-strong platoon in June 1944. By the end of the war, just three of that platoon were left. He is going back next week to remember the other 27.
Yesterday, I received a call from George's wife, Shirley, who wanted further information following a recent D-Day article I had written. Then George came on the line. 'What I want to know,' he asked, 'is where will I be able to see our Queen?'
Marching past her on the 60th anniversary of D-Day, he explained, remains one of his proudest moments. 'She's one of us,' he added.
Not this year, she isn't. The most senior figure at the Normandy Veterans' Association's final march through Normandy will be a junior defence minister called Kevan Jones.
Britain will not be without representation on D-Day. Unlike his Monarch, the Prime Minister and some of his New Labour ministers will be in Normandy, having requested last-minute invitations. Until a few weeks ago, the British Government had expressed no interest in this anniversary, arguing that it recognises only 25th, 50th, 60th and 100th anniversaries of major events.
Following the Daily Mail's campaign to mark the 65th on the grounds that it will be the final bow for the Normandy veterans, the Government suddenly promised funding for returning veterans. And having heard that Barack Obama was now planning to attend events in France, Mr Brown was determined not to be left out.
Everyone wants to be best friends with the most popular politician on Earth. Mr Brown asked President Sarkozy if he could be included. But, aware of the 11th-hour nature of his own request, the Prime Minister did not seek an invitation for the Queen - even though her officials have made it clear that she would gladly accept one.
So, Mr Brown is now expected at a British church service and may join other international delegations - including a contingent of German politicians - for a big 'International Ceremony For Peace' at the town of Ste Mere Eglise in the former American sector.
2004 memories: British veterans from the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry have their picture taken during a visit to Asnelles beach in Normandy for the 60th anniversary
2004 memories: British veterans from the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry pose during a visit to Asnelles beach in Normandy for the 60th anniversary
As things stand, there are no plans for Mr Brown to visit any of the beaches actually liberated by British troops. As far as British veterans are concerned, it is a very poor show.
So, the French government is not entirely at fault in this fiasco. The British government must take part of the blame for ignoring the entire event until Gordon Brown realised that Mr Obama was on his way.
It is, simply, yet another illustration that our new political class has little time for history. Mr Brown had not imagined that anyone would be too bothered by the 65th anniversary of a long-gone battle when there were Euro-elections taking place in the same week.
Neither Mr Sarkozy nor Mr Obama nor Mr Brown were born when 300,000 Allied servicemen launched that stupendous assault on occupied Europe.
The Queen, on the other hand, remembers it vividly. Her generation were in those landing craft. Her father even had to dissuade Winston Churchill from joining the invasion himself. She will remember the excitement and euphoria which swept the nation.
If any national head of state belongs on those beaches on June 6 with those gallant survivors, it is the one leader who not only appreciates their efforts but understands what it means to them.
But it's not too late. The address, Mr Sarkozy, is Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic ... d-war.html
See also: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... t-act.html
If Hollywood has such an influence over world culture that distresses you all,,, STOP watching. Your own countries film and theater can produce whatever they desire, do it.
That's only partial payment,,,, the debt for multiple thousands of Americans buried all over the world can not be repaid. If the Europeans had united against Hitler instead of appeasing him, millions of lives would have been saved.
I guess Sarkozy is just a small minded politician with bigger ambitions..