An Oct. 20 contributor trumpets there are only three occasions when a president of the United States failed to go to the D-Day monument, castigating President Barack Obama as the miscreant.
Really? Which D-day monument? There are dozens.
Perhaps the letter writer is referencing the one in France? Here are the facts: Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson and George H.W. Bush never went. The first president to travel to Normandy for D-Day was Ronald Reagan, who, in 1984, attended commemorative ceremonies there for the 40th anniversary of the Allied landings. Bill Clinton attended D-Day memorial ceremonies in Normandy on the 50th anniversary in 1994. George W. Bush did so on the 60th anniversary in 2004, and Barack Obama did likewise on the 65th anniversary of the landings in 2009.
Disliking the president is OK but not at the expense of the facts.
David L. Florence
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