Americans have an impression (not defending or dismissing, just saying) that the French are snooty and rude. My father was a Normandy veteran. On the 60th anniversary on the invasion he went to Normandy for the first time since 1944. He said...my mother mainly really. Dad wouldn't talk about it much. He didn't talk about the war much either... anyway they said that the French people were so gracious and grateful for their sacrifice over there. She told me that he was walking.down the.beach and broke down crying uncontrollably. Amazing how you can bottle things like that up for that long.