Bush Honors WWII Dead
Pays Tribute At Dutch Graveyard Where 8,301 U.S. Veterans Rest
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President Bush on Sunday paid homage Sunday to the "terrible price" paid by World War II soldiers who never came home at the U.S. cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. (AP)
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In socially liberal Holland, Bush is widely unpopular. But in the region around the cemetery graveyard, within walking distance of the German and Belgian borders, Americans are fondly remembered for their wartime rescue. In honor of the deaths incurred by U.S. forces as they set off from near here for the deadly but successful blitz toward Berlin, many local Dutch still bring flowers.
Bush thanked them for that gesture that comforts their loved ones.
"Each man or woman buried here is more than a headstone and a serial number," he said before thousands of locals and about 100 aging Dutch and American WWII veterans. As Bush wrapped up his remarks, the drizzle stopped and the sun began to emerge from behind the clouds.
The losses incurred during World War II, the president said, should be honored by a constant pursuit of freedom in places where it still doesn't exist.
"On this day, we celebrate the victory they won and we recommit ourselves to the great truth that they defended: that freedom is the birthright of all of mankind," Bush said.
Beforehand, veterans reflected amid the gravestones adorned with U.S. and Dutch flags.
"This will probably be the last hurrah for most of us," said Dee Eberhart of Ellensburg, Wash., who was among the liberators of the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.
The event was one in a series of ceremonies worldwide on milestones in the conflict that drew in 61 countries and claimed 55 million lives, including 405,000 Americans. Last year, Bush went to France for the 60th anniversary of the pivotal D-Day landing by American soldiers at Normandy. In January, Vice President Dick Cheney traveled to Poland to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz and Birkenau Nazi concentration camps.
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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