Sen. Tommy Tuberville last weekend criticized President Joe Biden for an unplanned stop to honor American soldiers killed in the D-Day invasion, saying it “ruined a once in a lifetime experience” for Jacksonville State University’s Marching Southerners Band.

However, JSU’s band director said the incident “did not put a damper on the trip.”

On Saturday, Tuberville made this post on the social media platform X:

“Joe Biden just ruined a once in a lifetime experience for @JSUnews students and high school students from around the country by cancelling their planned performance at Normandy,” Tuberville posted.

“Many of these students and their families paid their own way. Joe Biden is a national embarrassment.”

The Thursday ceremony at Brittany American Cemetery was cancelled when Biden made a stop at the cemetery, as part of D-Day ceremonies.

The Brittany American Cemetery event was only part of the JSU band’s six-day itinerary in France.

According to the university, the Marching Southerners performed with other ensembles, choirs, and JROTC students at an official public ceremony held at St. James American Cemetery, a graveyard which contains the remains of 4,404 Americans killed in the Normandy and Brittany Campaigns of 1944.

On Saturday, the band performed in a parade that began in the first village liberated by American troops following the landing, Sainte-Mere-Eglise. Boaz High School’s Marching Pirate Band also performed in the parade.

“This was an incredible and proud moment for our students,” JSU Director of Bands Ken Bodiford said. “We were deeply honored to pay tribute to the courageous men and women who fought to liberate Western Europe and change the course of World War II.”

The band members also toured Mont Saint-Michel, Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, and points of interest in Paris.

Ken Bodiford, director of bands at JSU, said the cancellation “actually gave us more time to take the students to Omaha Beach to see where the invasion took place…..it was very moving. We were sad that we did not get to see the National Cemetery, but the cancellation did not put a damper on the trip. We had three other wonderful performances while we were there and the massive crowds seemed to fall in love with The Southerners.

“The students realize that the schedule could change at any time due to security reason, and I think that they understood the concerns of both the French and American governments,” Bodiford said.

The Marching Southerners also participated in Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, and played for the 75th Anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In 2019, the band marched in the World Peace Day Parade at the Vatican and received a blessing from the Pope.