For France, Trump at Bastille Day was Deeply Symbolic

via The Voice of America

PARIS — U.S. President Donald Trump was the guest of honor Friday at France’s Bastille Day celebrations, an elaborate display that included military bands, flyovers by American jet fighters, and a parade that lasted more than two hours to mark the centennial of the U.S. entry into the First World War.

French Republican Guards ride their horses past the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, July 14, 2017. The annual Bastille Day parade is being opened by American troops with President Donald Trump as the guest of honor to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the United States entering World War I.The American flag flew along with the French flag on Paris’ famed Champs Elysees, where U.S. troops marched in a parade with thousands of French soldiers, tanks, missile launchers, and armored personnel carriers.

More than 3,500 police took positions along the parade route to guard against potential terrorist attacks.

"We have also found sure allies, friends, who came to help us," Macron said."The United States of America are among them. This is why nothing will separate us, never.The presence today of the U.S. president, Donald Trump, and his wife is the sign of a friendship that lasts through time."

In saying goodbye Friday, the Trumps, President Macron and his wife, Brigitte, walked together before Macron took Trump's hand and shook it firmly for several seconds -- in what has appeared to become a tradition for the two men. President Trump and first lady Melania Trump then went by motorcade to Orly Airport, where they boarded Air Force One for their flight to their next stop in New Jersey.

Read the whole story of the Voice of America web site.

U.S troops march down the Champs Elysees avenue, with the Arc de Triomphe in background, during the Bastille Day parade in Paris, Friday, July 14, 2017. (AP photo via the New York Daily News.)

 U.S troops march down the Champs Elysees avenue during the Bastille Day parade in Paris, Friday, July 14, 2017. Paris tightened security before its annual Bastille Day parade, which this year was opened by American troops with President Donald Trump as the guest of honor to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the United States' entry into World War I. (AP/Photo/Markus Schreiber)

 

 Members of various ranks of the US Military take part in the 2017 Bastille Day parade, marking 100 years since the US entered World War I. (Photos via DW | Europe)

 

 U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron take part in parade activities on July 14, 2017 marking 100 years since the United States entered World War One and France's annual Bastille Day holiday. (Photo Alain Jocard, AFP)

 US troops at Paris parade, 14 July 17. (Reuters photo via the BBC.)

 F22 and F16 Thunderbirds of US Air Force, fly over Paris during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris on July 14, 2019 (via Polisblog.)

The US Air Force Thunderbirds fly over the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel during the traditional Bastille Day military parade in Paris [Reuters photo via The Express UK.)