It's beautiful.
I've heard it said that the local French are still very appreciative of the Americans that died for them.
They don't all feel the way the news would lead us to believe.
I will back you up with my own experience.
My parents took my sister and me to France on two occaisions in the 1980's. We found that the further from Paris one goes, the ******* Curve trends downward very quickly.
As for Normandy, the people there LOVE, and I do mean LOVE, Americans. We weren't in Normandy one day, but we were nearby, and stopped for lunch at a restaurant. When the waiter sat us down, he heard my sister and I speaking English (up to that point, he had only heard my father speaking French (badly) and Spanish with my mother). Upon hearing English, his eyes lit up.
"American?" he asked.
"Yes" we all kinda said at the same time.
"Ah!" he said, and ran off.
Now, each table in this place had the flag of a European country on it. It was just part of the decor.
Suddenly, the waiter reappeared, removed whatever flag was on our table, replaced it enthusiastically with an American flag, and stood back proudly.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!"
It was July 4th.
He got one hell of a tip from my father, who is a notorious penny-pincher.