PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron, who starts a three-day state visit to the United States today, will seek to please his host Donald Trump with a gift that taps into US Marines lore.

Macron will offer an oak sapling taken from the scene of a key World War One battle, where the Marine Corps repelled a German offensive in the final year of the conflict almost exactly a century ago, the French presidency said on Sunday.

The sapling grew close to the so-called “Devil Dog” fountain, a spot that has become legendary within Marines ranks.

It is where US soldiers are said to have gathered after the battle, which took place in June 1918 in Belleau Wood, about 100 km northeast of Paris in the Champagne region.

The “dog” in the fountain’s name refers to its spout, which resembles the head of a bull mastiff. But the nickname also stems from the German moniker “Teufelhunden”, or “devil dogs”, thought to have been used by the Germans to describe the Marines due to the ferocity with which the Americans fought. “Devil Dog” soon became a common nickname for Marines.

By choosing a clear military reference with the present for Trump, Macron is playing again to the US president’s admiration for the armed forces.

Macron had already done so by inviting his counterpart to the annual Bastille Day celebrations on July 14, coupled with dinner at the Eiffel Tower, last year.

Whether Macron’s oak sapling will help sway Trump on issues from Syria to Iran and trade remains to be seen. The immediate goal, for the time being, is to see it planted in the White House gardens next week.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2018