D-Day observances have always been part memorial, part politics.
Charles de Gaulle, France's wartime leader-in-exile and postwar president, boycotted Normandy ceremonies because he was kept out of the 1944 invasion; Ronald Reagan turned the 40th anniversary, in 1984, into a Cold War morality play.
As dwindling numbers of veterans make their way to France for the 70th commemoration Friday, the semiwelcome guest is Russian President Vladimir Putin, representing a World War II ally, Cold War foe, post-Cold War friend-in-the-making and latter-day nemesis in the struggle over Ukraine.