The federal government shutdown has affected 125 overseas cemeteries, including the one in Normandy where so many young men fell.

Imagine planning a trip to the D-Day cemetery for months only to find the place shuttered when you get there.

Reuters:

American tourists visiting a D-Day cemetery in Normandy, northern France, expressed anger upon discovering that the white-cross memorial they had travelled thousands of miles to see was closed due to a U.S. government shutdown.

Thousands of Americans flock to Normandy each year to see the beaches and sharp cliff-faces where Allied soldiers made their first entry into Nazi-occupied France during a massive invasion on June 6, 1944, known as D-Day.

A year from the invasion's 70th anniversary, many came especially to visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, known for its pristine rows of white crosses, only to discover that its gates were chained shut.

"Due to the U.S. Government shut-down this site is closed to the public," read a sign on the gate. Dozens of roses had been strewn underneath by visitors.

A political standoff in Washington between Republicans and Democrats over the U.S. budget has shut down non-essential government services, including the American Battle Monuments Commission (AMBC) that manages dozens of cemeteries for U.S. servicemen in foreign countries.

The AMBC's website said its cemeteries and memorials commemorating some 125,000 American war dead abroad were closed temporarily due to a funding gap linked to the shutdown.

Visitors from the United States, some of whom said they had been planning their trips for months, blamed the political opportunism of congressmen for a gridlock that had deprived them access to the cemetery where ancestors were buried.

Danny and Elizabeth Ferguson, a couple from North Carolina, said they were shocked to find the cemetery closed.

"We were very very sad, after travelling so far and making such plans, to find that the government has elected to shut this place down," said Danny, a lawyer. "We think it's all political, and we think it's terrible."

The Normandy cemetery is the final resting place for most servicemen who died in France. The ground is US soil, a gift from the French people to the American people. Was it really necessary to close the shrine?

No. Someone made the conscious decision that the cemeteries had to be shut, knowing full well that some Americans had booked their trips months ago. If there is anything more despicable in this whole, rotten drama, I can't think of it.