Donald Trump has come under fire for cancelling a visit to a cemetery in France due to rain.
Independent.ie Newsdesk Twitter Email
November 10 2018 7:23 PM
Donald Trump has come under fire for cancelling a visit to a cemetery in France due to rain.
The US president was due to visit Belleau to pay respects to American soldiers killed during the First World War.
However, the White House cancelled the trip because of bad weather which grounded the presidential helicopter that was due to fly him to the cemetery about a two-hour drive east of Paris.
The president sent a delegation that included chief of staff John Kelly instead.
David Frum, once a speechwriter for President George W Bush, tweeted that he thought it was “incredible” that a president would not pay respects to the US servicemen who died in France during the First World War.
Mr Trump is due to visit a different cemetery on Sunday.
The battlefield of Belleau Wood is where US troops stopped a German push for Paris shortly after entering the war in 1917.
The fighting proved America’s mettle to allies and foes alike, and by the time the war ended US forces were at least an equal to any of the other major armies, which were exhausted and depleted.
Ben Rhodes, who served as deputy national security adviser in the Obama administration, said the White House should have had a fallback plan for the president.
“There is always a rain option. Always,” Mr Rhodes said.
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