Rutte in Margraten: ‘Freedom is not self-evident’ | 1Limburg

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On Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Mark Rutte commemorated the American soldiers who died in the liberation of Europe during the Second World War in Margraten, Limburg.

The Prime Minister laid a wreath at the American cemetery of honor and also gave a speech in English in which he did not take freedom for granted.

live streams
The commemoration could be followed worldwide via live streams on Facebook and YouTube. Nine veterans from the Second World War, as well as a large number of dignitaries from home and abroad took part in the ceremony.

Gratitude
The Prime Minister praised the Dutch volunteers who are making an effort to find out stories and photos of the fallen. “It illustrates the deep connection between our past and our present,” he said. “Between the Netherlands and the United States. It illustrates the enormous gratitude we still feel.”

“That feeling, I believe, is stronger than ever today,” he continued. “Because today there is war raging on our continent, we realize that a life in peace cannot be taken for granted. That freedom does not come by itself. Freedom costs something. That was the case more than 75 years ago, and it still is.”

Also read: Killed soldiers commemorated during Memorial Day Margraten

F-16s
As a salute, F-16s of the Royal Netherlands Air Force flew over the cemetery in a missing man formation around 4 pm. There lie 8288 American soldiers who died in Western Europe at the time. A memorial also lists the names of 1,722 missing American soldiers.

Due to the low overflying of the fighter jets, the municipality of Eijsden-Margraten has informed host families who receive Ukrainians in advance in several languages. It was also covered in various regional media.

United States
The commemoration in Margraten is held annually one day before the celebration of Memorial Day in the US. Only last year corona threw a spanner in the works and Memorial Day in Margraten was canceled.

It was not the first time that the Prime Minister attended Memorial Day. During Memorial Day in 2015, seventy years of liberation was commemorated in the presence of Prime Minister Rutte.

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