LUXEMBOURG -- More than 200 Luxembourgers and Americans honored the service and sacrifice of U.S. armed forces as part of a Veterans Day at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Luxembourg, Nov. 11, 2016.
David McKean, U.S. ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Col. Joe McFall, 52nd Fighter Wing commander, Col. Steven Horton, 52nd FW vice commander, Chief Master Sgt. Edwin Ludwigsen, 52nd FW command chief, and more than 50 Airmen from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, gathered to pay tribute to the men and women laid to rest at the cemetery and memorial site and all veterans as part of the national holiday.
“On Veterans Day, we salute the women and men who have proudly worn the uniform of the United States of America and the families who have served alongside them,” said President Barack Obama in a 2016 Veterans Day proclamation. “We affirm our sacred duty as citizens to express our enduring gratitude, both in words and in actions, for their service.”
In 1919, former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 the first commemoration of Armistice Day, which marked the conclusion of the First World War.
The cemetery, one of the fourteen permanent World War II American military cemeteries erected on foreign soil, serves as the final resting place of 5,076 American service members since its establishment Dec. 29, 1944 by the 609th Quartermaster Company of the U.S. Third Army in Luxembourg.
Photos from the ceremony can be seen in the following photo set on the Spangdahlem Air Base Flickr page.