Photo By Russell Toof | Charles K. Djou, American Battle Monuments Commission Secretary, provides remarks...... read more read more
The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) held its annual Memorial Day ceremony at Flanders Field American Cemetery today to honor the service and sacrifice of the U.S. Armed Forces buried overseas.
The ceremony, one of 26 held at ABMC sites across the world, was livestreamed to allow a global audience to participate the Memorial Day commemorations this centennial year.
The ABMC was pleased to welcome the public, supporters of the cemetery and long-standing partners including:
- Representative of the King of Belgium;
- U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, the Honorable Michael M. Adler;
- Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission Charles K. Djou;
- Commander, U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli; and
- Mayor of Waregem, Kurt Vanryckeghem.
"For 100 years the American Battle Monuments Commission has had this humble privilege and honor of commemorating America's Armed Forces by preserving hallowed grounds like this one, here, in Flanders Field,” said Djou. “At Flanders Field, we remember the more than 400 service members buried here or memorialized on the Wall of the Missing. They represent the diversity of our Nation, buried together without regard to rank, race or religion".
During the ceremony, former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey premiered a poem, “Meditation at the American Cemetery: On the Centennial of the American Battle Monuments Commission,” specially written for ABMC’s centennial. At the ceremony, Trethewey summed up the mission of the poem through an epigraph by Voltaire: “To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only truth.”
Also of note during this year’s ceremony was the singing of the U.S. and Belgian national anthems by local school children. The occasion during ABMC’s centennial year, marked the 100th anniversary of this unique tribute. The visiting crowd represented generations of former and current Belgian students who had participated.
The ceremony was attended by a Representative of the King of Belgium; featured remarks by Djou, Vanryckeghem, Cavoli, and Ambassador Adler; wreath layings; and a fly-over by the Air Component of the Belgian Defense.
For more information about ABMC, please visit our website abmc.gov or our social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Press contact:
Hélène Chaulin
Phone: +33 (0)1 40 75 27 55
Email: chaulinh@abmc.gov
About American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC):
The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) operates and maintains 26 cemeteries and 32 federal memorials, monuments, and commemorative plaques in 17 countries throughout the world, including the United States. The four memorials in the United States are: the World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C.; the Honolulu memorial located within the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii; the West Coast Memorial located within the Presidio National Park in San Francisco, Calif; and the East Coast Memorial located within Battery City Park in New York, N.Y. Since March 4, 1923, ABMC’s sacred mission remains to honor the service, achievements, and sacrifice of more than 200,000 U.S. service members buried and memorialized at our sites. For more information about ABMC, visit abmc.gov.
| Date Taken: | 05.28.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.30.2023 09:23 |
| Story ID: | 445739 |
| Location: | WAREGEM, BE |
| Web Views: | 131 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The American Battle Monuments Commission commemorates Memorial Day at Flanders Field American Cemetery, by Helene Chaulin, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
Memorial Day
