A beautiful moment of intergenerational understanding unfolded at Charles de Gaulle Airport recently. An 83-year-old British veteran, fumbling with his passport, was chastised by a French border agent for not being prepared despite previous visits to France.
The gentleman’s response stopped her in her tracks: “When I last arrived in France on June 6, 1944, there weren’t any passport controls on Omaha Beach.” This powerful reference to the Normandy landings served as both a witty comeback and an unintentional history lesson about the sacrifices made for European freedom.
The exchange reminds us how living history walks among us, and how sometimes the most profound statements come wrapped in dry British humor.
