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Semi-related: "Passports please! British paratroopers met by French customs after D-Day airdrop British paratroopers recreating an airdrop behind German defen

Semi-related: "Passports please! British paratroopers met by French customs after D-Day airdrop British paratroopers recreating an airdrop behind German defences to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day were met by French customs officials at a makeshift border checkpost. Moments after the paratroopers had hit the ground and gathered up their chutes, they formed an orderly queue and handed over their passports for inspection by waiting French customs officials in a Normandy field." https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/passports-please-british-paratroopers-met-by-french-customs-after-d-day-airdrop-2024-06-06/ https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/passports-please-britis... Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7ZY4rlAQus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7ZY4rlAQus

ceejayoz 1y ago
Reminds me a bit of when the UK accidentally invaded Spain on a training exercise. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-invade-spain-2002-accidentally-royal-marine-lord-west-gibraltar-first-sea-lord-beach-a7665716.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-invade-spa... > Lord West said: "It wasn't one of the best days in my time. I had a phone call from the military commander saying, 'Sir, I'm afraid something awful's happened.' I thought, 'Goodness me, what?' And he said, 'I'm afraid we've invaded Spain, but we don't think they've noticed.' > "They charged up the beach in the normal way, being Royal Marines—they're frightfully good soldiers of course, and jolly good at this sort of thing—and confronted a Spanish fisherman who sort of pointed out, 'I think you're on the wrong beach.'
- medstrom 1y ago
  "First Sea Lord" is such a great rank.
  - pyuser583 1y ago
    One of my favorite.
- skeezyboy 1y ago
  the british armed forces are atrocious. i simply cannot fathom how britain controlled so much of the planet at one point
  - oaththrowaway 1y ago
    Because the food was so bad and the women were so ugly that they had no choice to but leave
  - bigyabai 1y ago
    > i simply cannot fathom how britain controlled so much of the planet at one point Boats, optionally guns. When you reflect on how easily America became an imperialist crybaby, it can't have been hard for Britain either.
  - lenkite 1y ago
    Because they had a good officer corps producing some ridiculous military geniuses in their age of empire. As an example, the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley) was a monster who was unstoppable in the military conquest of India. Many other British commanders failed battling Indian states, but he seemed to win just about every battle, at times being both outnumbered and outarmed. I would go on to say that it wasn't for that man, it is likely the British conquest of India would have been confined to only a limited territory. Indian states were modernizing and militarizing rapidly (relatively for that era), so any delays in conquest would have made India a hard nut to crack.
  - bee_rider 1y ago
    This was 2002. They are friendly countries, seems like everyone responded appropriately.
- School-Cotton 1y ago
  Swiss soldiers have accidentally crossed into Liechtenstein a few times. Similarly, nobody made a fuss.
- ahi 1y ago
  "Juan Carlos Juarez, the town's mayor, said at the time: "They landed on our coast to confront a supposed enemy with typical commando tactics. But we managed to hold them on the beach."" I would not have been able to get this out without giggling.
bitwize 1y ago
These French customs officials seemed more on the ball than the one I encountered. (Checked my passport, but didn't stamp it, causing problems for me upon landing for my next leg in Helsinki.)
- metabagel 1y ago
  I don’t think there is any requirement to stamp passports. Some people specifically ask for a stamp, because they want the memento.
  - ta1243 1y ago
    In the Schengen area, if you are a non-EU person, until recently you needed to ensure you are stamped in and out otherwise you'll run into issues with them thinking you may have overstayed. After UK went all freedumb and left the EU this caused a lot of issues, I have a UK colleague that visited his wife's family in Poland over a Christmas, didn't get a stamp on the way back, then ran into problems a few months later as they argued he had been in Europe for months.
  - bitwize 1y ago
    The stamp is acknowledgement of your tourist visa. Maybe EU citizens don't need one, but as an American entering France I certainly did. If I didn't, I sure wish the visibly armed Finnish lady who led me back near one of those beat-you-up interrogation rooms had known, it could've saved us both some hassle and me a major scare.
peeters 1y ago
> Passports please! British paratroopers met by French customs after D-Day airdrop Err, D-Day anniversary airdrop. That headline has only one correct literal interpretation, and it's wrong (not ambiguous, wrong).
- glimshe 1y ago
  I'm not a betting man, but I were, I'd bet on most readers having understood it correctly. I suspect it was meant to be click bait, though.
  - simonklitj 1y ago
    Made me do a double take for sure.
  - lucianbr 1y ago
    The headline definitely didn't make any sense to me (I was thinking maybe an Onion article?) before reading the rest.
- arrowsmith 1y ago
  I don't know about the US, but in the UK you can definitely say "D-Day" to mean "an anniversary of the original D-Day", not strictly 6/6/1944. It's not wrong. Just like you can say "Independence Day" to mean July 4th of any year, not only the specific historical date on which the US declared independence.
  - nemomarx 1y ago
    This would make sense if there's often D Day ceremonies. In the us I think that's all moved to memorial Day, so D-Day pings only as the original event here
    - arrowsmith 1y ago
      You could say e.g. "today is D-Day" to mean "today is June 6th". But if you said "D-Day" without context people would assume you meant the event in WWII. So yeah, I guess the original headline is definitely misleading, if not strictly inaccurate.
wat10000 1y ago
Strange article. Of course you have to go through passport control when you cross an international border.

ceejayoz 1y ago

Reminds me a bit of when the UK accidentally invaded Spain on a training exercise. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-invade-spain-2002-accidentally-royal-marine-lord-west-gibraltar-first-sea-lord-beach-a7665716.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-invade-spa... > Lord West said: "It wasn't one of the best days in my time. I had a phone call from the military commander saying, 'Sir, I'm afraid something awful's happened.' I thought, 'Goodness me, what?' And he said, 'I'm afraid we've invaded Spain, but we don't think they've noticed.' > "They charged up the beach in the normal way, being Royal Marines—they're frightfully good soldiers of course, and jolly good at this sort of thing—and confronted a Spanish fisherman who sort of pointed out, 'I think you're on the wrong beach.'

medstrom 1y ago
"First Sea Lord" is such a great rank.
- pyuser583 1y ago
  One of my favorite.
skeezyboy 1y ago
the british armed forces are atrocious. i simply cannot fathom how britain controlled so much of the planet at one point
- oaththrowaway 1y ago
  Because the food was so bad and the women were so ugly that they had no choice to but leave
- bigyabai 1y ago
  > i simply cannot fathom how britain controlled so much of the planet at one point Boats, optionally guns. When you reflect on how easily America became an imperialist crybaby, it can't have been hard for Britain either.
- lenkite 1y ago
  Because they had a good officer corps producing some ridiculous military geniuses in their age of empire. As an example, the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley) was a monster who was unstoppable in the military conquest of India. Many other British commanders failed battling Indian states, but he seemed to win just about every battle, at times being both outnumbered and outarmed. I would go on to say that it wasn't for that man, it is likely the British conquest of India would have been confined to only a limited territory. Indian states were modernizing and militarizing rapidly (relatively for that era), so any delays in conquest would have made India a hard nut to crack.
- bee_rider 1y ago
  This was 2002. They are friendly countries, seems like everyone responded appropriately.
School-Cotton 1y ago
Swiss soldiers have accidentally crossed into Liechtenstein a few times. Similarly, nobody made a fuss.
ahi 1y ago
"Juan Carlos Juarez, the town's mayor, said at the time: "They landed on our coast to confront a supposed enemy with typical commando tactics. But we managed to hold them on the beach."" I would not have been able to get this out without giggling.

bitwize 1y ago

These French customs officials seemed more on the ball than the one I encountered. (Checked my passport, but didn't stamp it, causing problems for me upon landing for my next leg in Helsinki.)

metabagel 1y ago
I don’t think there is any requirement to stamp passports. Some people specifically ask for a stamp, because they want the memento.
- ta1243 1y ago
  In the Schengen area, if you are a non-EU person, until recently you needed to ensure you are stamped in and out otherwise you'll run into issues with them thinking you may have overstayed. After UK went all freedumb and left the EU this caused a lot of issues, I have a UK colleague that visited his wife's family in Poland over a Christmas, didn't get a stamp on the way back, then ran into problems a few months later as they argued he had been in Europe for months.
- bitwize 1y ago
  The stamp is acknowledgement of your tourist visa. Maybe EU citizens don't need one, but as an American entering France I certainly did. If I didn't, I sure wish the visibly armed Finnish lady who led me back near one of those beat-you-up interrogation rooms had known, it could've saved us both some hassle and me a major scare.

peeters 1y ago

> Passports please! British paratroopers met by French customs after D-Day airdrop Err, D-Day anniversary airdrop. That headline has only one correct literal interpretation, and it's wrong (not ambiguous, wrong).

glimshe 1y ago
I'm not a betting man, but I were, I'd bet on most readers having understood it correctly. I suspect it was meant to be click bait, though.
- simonklitj 1y ago
  Made me do a double take for sure.
- lucianbr 1y ago
  The headline definitely didn't make any sense to me (I was thinking maybe an Onion article?) before reading the rest.
arrowsmith 1y ago
I don't know about the US, but in the UK you can definitely say "D-Day" to mean "an anniversary of the original D-Day", not strictly 6/6/1944. It's not wrong. Just like you can say "Independence Day" to mean July 4th of any year, not only the specific historical date on which the US declared independence.
- nemomarx 1y ago
  This would make sense if there's often D Day ceremonies. In the us I think that's all moved to memorial Day, so D-Day pings only as the original event here
  - arrowsmith 1y ago
    You could say e.g. "today is D-Day" to mean "today is June 6th". But if you said "D-Day" without context people would assume you meant the event in WWII. So yeah, I guess the original headline is definitely misleading, if not strictly inaccurate.

wat10000 1y ago

Strange article. Of course you have to go through passport control when you cross an international border.