The short answer is that...as bad as the hedgerow country was, the low countries would have been worse.
Remember too that without the French, the victory of our revolution would have been much more difficult. Who cares if Chirac is a Clinton? When I go to France I find good rightwingers.
I do remember Lafayette, as a matter of fact my grandfather helped make a payment on that debt at a place just outside Paris called Belleau Wood. @0 years later my uncles raced across Europe cleaning up any interest.
Since then however France clearly has decided to make herself our enemy. Argue anything you want BUT France armed Saddam with modern weapons taken from her own military. Some deliveries were made only days ahead of our invasion. This is not the act of a friend or ally.
I will never again visit France, buy anything from France, and do never miss an opportunity, no matter how insignificant, to express my displeasure with France and all things French.