France remembers WWII Riviera mission

Aboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, anchored off the Mediterranean port of Toulon, Chirac pinned France's prestigious Legion of Honor award on the chests of 21 veterans representing the countries that had contributed troops.

Chirac called the landings along France's southern shores a ''new stage . . . in the merciless struggle that would decide the fate of our nations" and said they ''opened a major new front."

''Sixty years ago, at the cost of immense sacrifices, the forces of freedom pursued their assault to smash the machine of death and hatred that was on course to enslave Europe," Chirac said in a speech on the carrier deck.

US soldiers and British paratroopers also were honored in two ceremonies Saturday; 18 received the Legion of Honor.

Overshadowed by the bigger and bloodier D-day landings in Normandy 10 weeks earlier, the southern landings have been largely overlooked and are often referred to as ''The Other D-day."

While veterans of Operation Dragoon were honored 10 years ago, on the 50th anniversary, the ceremony yesterday was the first time African veterans were so remembered with such military pomp and fanfare.

White-robed African veterans stood proudly to receive their honors and kisses on both cheeks from Chirac. Many expressed mixed emotions at being honored so long after combat.

''Sixty years after, they've remembered. It took a long time," 83-year-old Hamady Gadio of Mauritania said at a morning ceremony in the village of Cavalaire.

In an unusual gesture, the Chirac also gave a special award, the Cross of the Legion of Honor, to the city of Algiers, then part of France and the seat from 1943-1944 of the Provisional Government of the French Republic -- the government of General Charles de Gaulle that was opposed to the collaborationist Vichy regime.

Chirac said it was important to recognize the ''crucial and singular" role of Algiers, which had been ''the capital of fighting France."

A naval parade of 21 French and five foreign ships moved westward from Antibes and passed the Charles de Gaulle during the ceremony. A dozen airplanes also flew by.