Donald Trump Heroically Avoids Wet Conditions

As leaders from around the world attended commemorative events on the centenary of the World War One armistice, one leader was conspicuously absent.

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The world commemorates

This past weekend saw a gathering of 70 world leaders in Paris to mark the 100 years since the signing of the Armistice to end World War One on July 11, 1918.

U.S. President Donald Trump, representing one of the key members of the Alliance that defeated the Germans was obviously there too. His first commemoration event was to honour the U.S. soldiers and Marines killed during World War One. The venue was the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in Belleau, Northern France. It is at the foot of the hill where the Battle of Belleau Wood was fought, with many American fatalities.

Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial

There are 2,288 burials in the cemetery, 251 of which contain unknown remains.

The battle

The Battle of Belleau Wood (1 to 26 June 1918) occurred during the German Spring Offensive in World War I, near the Marne River in France. At the time, the French had 103 divisions in France, of which 45 were unavailable to the Front. The Germans, on the other hand, had over 200 divisions. This left the French with the problem of not knowing where the next attack would come from and which divisions would defend it. Furthermore, General Foch, chief of the French army, would not let French reserve forces be used as he did not believe the Germans wanted to take Paris. (And he was right.)

So the French command asked General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Western Front, to make troops available to be used by the French. The French wanted 250,000 in June and another 250,000 in July. The problem was that the American troops were still arriving and were only expected to be at full force by the end of the year.

So Pershing allowed them 175,000 in June and 140,000 in July but under American command.

The Germans had reached within 50 miles of Paris. On 2 June, The French government and citizenry started preparing to evacuate Paris.

On 3 June the Germans crossed the Marne river, using ingenious ladders. The American forces met them at Belleau Hill. Rejecting the French idea of digging trenches at the rear, the American Marines were ordered to hold where they stood. They dug shallow fighting positions and waited for the Germans, bayonets raised. When the Germans were within 100m, the Marines opened fire, mowing down waves of Germans, who were forced to retreat into the Woods.

Fighting continued for the next three weeks. By On 26 June, the Americans had made 5 ferocious attacks on the Germans in Belleau Wood — often reduced to using only their bayonets or fists in hand-to-hand combat. On that morning they made their final attack which cleared the forest of the Germans.

U.S. forces suffered 9,777 casualties, included 1,811 killed. The number of German casualties is unknown.

After the battle, the French renamed the wood Bois de la Brigade de Marine (“Wood of the Marine Brigade”) in honour of the Marines' tenacity.

Too dangerous

Shortly before he was due to honour those brave American soldiers interred at the cemetery, President Trump cancelled. This was because of “scheduling and logistical difficulties” caused by the rain in Paris. The light rain must have been too much for Marine One, the presidential helicopter. One can only imagine Trump's fury at his staff who couldn't arrange a car to transport him and his wife to the memorial some 80 km away. Luckily he had his Chief of Staff, General John Kelly, on hand to brave the terrible conditions at the ceremony:

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The fake media and horrible people on social media have been unduly critical of him. Many opined that he avoided the trip in case it messed up his hair:

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But that would be petty and mean. Trump has previously not shied away from appearing at public events in the rain:

Trump joins motorcyclists to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in the rain at a “Bikers for Trump” event Image Source

Also, the U.S. President often has to grapple with very complicated technological issues, unlike most of us:

As we know, the safety and security of the American President is paramount, even if those close to him have to do their patriotic duty and suffer as a result:

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They would understand

Being President is not easy. Whatever you do seems to bring criticism. It's a tough, tough job. The fact that the President is doing his job for the country seems to make the criticism even more unfair.

But there is one group of people who would understand just how hard, how unforgiving the job is: the U.S. Marines lying in their graves at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery. They too suffered for their country. But they had the sort of rain you couldn't dodge — a rain of bullets. Trump is not afraid of bullets. We know how brave he is — the Marines would be so proud of him:

The heroes of the Battle of Belleau Wood would understand. Donald Trump typifies the determined spirit of the highly decorated Marine Sergeant Major Dan Daly, who shouted to his comrades in the forest of Belleau:

Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?

Yeah, but only losers die.

References:
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-canceled-his-trip-to-the-world-war-i-memorial-because-of-rain-2018-11?IR=T
https://metro.co.uk/2018/11/10/fury-as-trump-fails-to-make-one-hour-drive-to-wwi-cemetery-because-of-rain-8126006/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-paris-latest-cancels-memorial-visit-us-military-cemetery-remembrance-world-war-one-a8627571.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisne-Marne_American_Cemetery_and_Memorial
https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Belleau-Wood
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Belleau_Wood
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Pershing

Also posted on Weku, @tim-beck, 2018-11-12