This is what the president* has cost us. These are World War II reenactors.

The people in the first two photos are French.

Those in the second two are British.

They want to play heroes, and to honor them, too. So they chose us.

When Amber Derbidge and I took AGHS kids to northern France, a Frenchwoman insisted on giving us a tour of the Rouen Cathedral simply because we were Americans.

When AGHS German teacher Mark Kamin took his students to Bavaria, an older woman approached the group with tears in her eyes.

“Your soldiers,” she said, “were so kind to me when I was a little girl. I just wanted to thank you.”