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American assault troops move onto a beachhead during the D-Day invasion of German-occupied France on the beach of Normandy, June 7, 1944 during World War II.Photo: AP
Seven decades after Allied troops stormed Normandy’s beaches and saved France from the Nazis, the surrender-happy nation is turning its back on hundreds of US veterans who want to return next month to mark the invasion’s 70th anniversary.
France has broken its promise to pay for the vets to fly to this year’s commemoration, according to Rep. Michael Grimm.
“Our chief-of-staff heard it from the French Embassy in DC — that they would be flown out to France [for free],” said Nick Iacono, a spokesman for the Staten Island congressman.
But when The Post contacted the embassy Friday, the French turned up their noses as if smelling rotten Camembert.
“The French government never offered to pay for the plane tickets of the veterans traveling to France for the 70th commemoration of D-Day,” said Dana Purcarescu, a spokeswoman for the French Embassy in Washington.
On June 6, World War II veterans from America, France and Britain and other Allied countries will gather at Sword Beach to remember the largest sea invasion in history and the campaign that turned the tide in the war against Hitler. Within a year of the bloody battle, the Nazis and the Axis powers would be on their knees.
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John Tulli, a D-Day veteran and a Purple Heart recipient, will not be brought to France for the 70th anniversary of the invasion.Photo: Steve White
President Obama and French President François Hollande will preside over the anniversary and the presentation of Legion of Honor medals, France’s highest honor to American veterans.
Veterans and even US military officials were shocked by the news of France’s financial betrayal of the very troops, now in their 90s, who saved them.
“France was supposed to pay for our airfare, hotel and transportation,” said Theresa Tarangelo, whose Staten Island dad fought in the offensive. “Now they’re telling us they have nothing to do with it . . . It’s really frustrating.”
Army Master Sgt. Manuel Perez, a coordinator of the event and a liaison between veterans’ families and the French government, as late as Friday was still getting scant information about airfare for as many as 400 vets.
“Their office is very vague. Nothing is solid,” he said. “I’m frustrated — I’m not getting any clarification.”
Perez said “it was common knowledge” that France was footing the bill for airfare — as much as $7,000 for two people — especially since it sponsored the trips of American vets 10 years ago for the 60th anniversary.
Among those now in the lurch is 90-year-old Felice John Tulli. He was only 18 when he landed at Omaha Beach with the 29th Army Infantry Division’s 116th Battalion.
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John Tulli, holding the gun on the left, with his brother, Sgt. Daniel Tulli, in France in 1944.
“The 115th, they’re the ones who made the actual June 6th invasion. We got in there a day or two after that. They mopped up, but we saw a lot of action,” the Staten Island retiree said.
From the beach, his battalion advanced southwest 26 miles through hedgerows and Panzer tank divisions. “When we were going to Saint-Lô, the Nazis had a sniper — one or two — terrorizing us the whole way,” he said. “Anybody that tells you they weren’t scared, they’re lying.”
In April, his daughter got a call from Grimm’s office telling her the French government wanted to honor Tulli.
“They told us he would receive the French Legion of Honor medal from President Obama and the French president, that he and a guest could go and that airfare, hotel and other travel would be included,” Tarangelo recalled.
France will pay for lodging and travel within the country, the embassy confirmed.
Tulli realizes this might be his last chance to honor his fallen brothers. So his daughter is organizing a Memorial Day baseball betting pool to help pay for it.
“Are we rolling in the money? No,” she said. “Can we afford to go? It’s tight.”
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