MESCH, Netherlands — American World War II veterans and U.S. soldiers now serving joined the king and queen of the Netherlands on Thursday to mark 80 years since the start of the country’s liberation from Nazi occupation.
On Sept. 12, 1944, soldiers with the Army National Guard’s 30th Infantry Division crossed the Dutch-Belgian border into Mesch, making it the first Dutch village to be liberated by Allied forces.
Kenneth Thayer, 99, a former private first class who was assigned to the unit, drove into Thursday’s commemoration ceremony on a vintage military vehicle next to King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima.
“Today, 80 years later, we not only reflect on the event of that time, but also on the fact that we have been living in a free and democratic country since Sept. 12, (1944),” Jos Coumans, the chairman of the Netherlands’ Remembrance Committee, said while announcing Thayer’s entrance.
US soldiers and WWII veterans join Dutch royalty to mark 80th anniversary of the Netherlands’ liberation
- by: Phillip Walter Wellman
- 2024-09-19
- Source:
Stars and Stripes
- 09/19/2024
82nd Airborne Division commemorates 70th anniversary of Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands by Sgt. William Reinier is licensed under Wiki Commons United States Army
