MARGRATEN, Netherlands — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte paid tribute Sunday at a Memorial Day ceremony to U.S. troops who fought and died liberating the Netherlands from Nazi occupation in World War II, while NATO’s supreme commander said the fight to defend freedom continues to this day.
Thousands of people attended Sunday’s ceremony at the American cemetery in Margraten, a patch of 65.5 acres in the hills of the southern province of Limburg that contains 8,301 headstones.
The cemetery is on land close to the Dutch border with Germany that was liberated from Nazi occupation Sept. 13, 1944, by the U.S. 30th Infantry Division.
“We say thank you to our liberators,” Rutte said. “Thank you for enabling us to stand here today in freedom, and we bow our heads in memory of the fallen.”
NATO’s supreme commander, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, reminded the crowd that the freedom Allied soldiers died defending in World War II cannot be taken for granted. “Recent world events have shown us the concept of armed conflict in Europe remains possible,” he said.