COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France - There was a group of American tourists - many of them veterans of units like the 82nd Airborne Division - who had arranged to lay a wreath at the magnificent D-Day memorial on the cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach.

A platoon of 14 young French soldiers showed up unexpectedly with the same intent. The Americans reminded cemetery officials that his honor had been reserved and were told to proceed. As they did, they couldn't help but notice the French soldiers across the reflection pond, standing at attention, saluting.

Here on a bluff high over the English Channel are some 9,000 white crosses and Stars of David at the American Cemetery, permanent reminders that over the course of our democracy, emerging from the civilian population, hundreds of thousands have an

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