US Secretary of State John Kerry has feted the 1944 liberation of a Breton village linked to his family and paid tribute to his country's "eternal" links with France.
Kerry on Saturday joined his first cousin Brice Lalonde, a former Green Party candidate for the French presidency and ex-mayor of Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, in paying respects to three US soldiers who died on June 15, 1944 during the battle to free the wealthy seaside resort.
"It's great to be here and to celebrate the eternal bonds between the United States and France," said Kerry, speaking in French.
Hundreds of locals and scores of American tourists turned up for the ceremony.
"France has rebuilt itself painstakingly and is now stronger than ever," a smiling Kerry said.
Kerry and Lalonde are grandsons of James Forbes, an heir to the Forbes family of Boston.
James Forbes had built a mansion in the village in the 1920s. It was burnt by German soldiers during World War II but rebuilt later.
The Secretary of State was accompanied by former GI Tony Vaccaro, whose photograph of an American soldier kissing a French girl after the liberation of Saint-Briac became an enduring image of the end of the war.
Kerry's mother Rosemary Forbes was born in Paris in the 1920s and served as a nurse in the French capital during World War II.
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