PARIS – President Donald Trump is being criticized for not finding a way to visit a cemetery in France for Americans killed in World War I.
Trump was slated on Saturday to visit Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near the village of Belleau, France. It’s the site of a 1918 battle in which the American and French repelled German forces. More than 1,800 Americans died there.
The battle looms large in the history of the U.S. Marines Corps. Trump was supposed to participate in a wreath-laying and a moment of silence at the site on Saturday, but the White House canceled the trip because of bad weather, which grounded the presidential helicopter that was to fly him to Belleau, about a two-hour drive east of Paris. The White House sent a delegation that included chief of staff John Kelly in his place.
David Frum, once a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, tweeted that he thought it was “incredible” that a president would travel to France for a WWI ceremony and not pay respects to the U.S. servicemen who died in France during WWI.
Trump is to visit a different cemetery on Sunday.
