Anders Baadsgaard Straarup holdt denne tale:
2. verdenskrig var mere end et opgør mellem nationer. Krigen mindes også af
mange mennesker.
På Svinø Kirkegård mellem Næstved og Vordingborg blev 108 allierede flyvere
begravet fra 1942 og til krigens slutning. De 46 amerikanere blev gravet op
i
1948 og ført til Den Amerikanske Kirkegård i Ardennerne i Belgien for
derfra
at blive sendt videre til U.S.A. til begravelse efter familiernes
ønsker. Og dog.
Af 133 amerikanere taget ud af Danmark, ligger der stadig
41 navngivne flyvere
i Europa,
de fleste af dem i Ardennerne.
Her mødte jeg i 2016 en belgier, der havde adopteret to flyvere, se
link.
Det betyder, at han hvert år på den årlige mindedag kommer med blomster
til
de to flyveres grave.
I Holland har man også skikken med at adoptere flyvere. På
Den Amerikanske
Kirkegård i Holland har hollændere adopteret amerikanske flyvere. Det gælder
også flyvere uden kendt grav, fordi de måske er forsvundet i havet. Der
er
1.722 navne på en mindemur og af dem har jeg
54 med i AirmenDK. Mens
Karen hjalp med at finde dem, så et foto med detaljer om hver af dem
kunne
komme med i AirmenDK, talte vi med en hollandsk familie, der også
havde
adopteret en amerikansk flyver, som de lige havde lagt en
blomsterhilsen til.
Efter krigen var der i en lang årrække år tradition for, at der fra gårde
ved
Svinø Kirkegård hver lørdag formiddag blev lagt blomster eller
buketter ved
flyvergrave. Hver gård havde ganske bestemte flyvere at
komme med blomsterhilsener til!
Her i 2022 er det 77 år siden krigen sluttede, og skikken i Svinø holdt op
for
mange år siden, men der er stadig hvert år den 4. maj en stor
højtidelighed i anledning af Danmarks befrielse.
Fint at foreninger, enheder af forsvaret og en række civile myndigheder kan
lægge kranse og buketter, men det er også vigtigt, at familier bringer
blomster
for at vise, at krigens udfald var vigtig for os alle. Vi kan i
Danmark glæde os
over at leve i fred og frihed, fordi vi værner om den
sammen med venner og
allierede. Og nu kan vi lægge blomster til 7 af de
mange, der satte livet til i
kampen for vores fælles værdier.
|
 Anders
Baadsgaard Straarup made this speech:
World War II was more than a showdown between
nations. The war is also remembered by many people.
108 Allied airmen were buried in Svinø Churchyard
between Næstved and Vordingborg from 1942 till the end of the war. The 46
Americans were disinterred
in 1948 and taken to the American Cemetery in
the Ardennes in Belgium. From
there they were taken to the U.S.A. to be
buried according to the wishes of their families. And yet, of
133 Americans
taken out of Denmark there are still 41
identified airmen in Europe,
most of them at the Ardennes.
In 2016 I here met a Belgian who had adopted two
airmen. That means that
every year, on the annual Memorial Day, he
brings flowers to the graves of the
two airmen,
see
link.
In The Netherlands they also have the custom of
adopting airmen. At The
American Cemetery in The Netherlands Dutchmen
have adopted American
airmen – also airmen without a known grave because
they might have
disappeared at sea. There are 1,722 names on a memorial
wall, and I include
54 of them in AirmenDK. While Karen was helping to
find them so that a photo
with details of each of them could be included
in AirmenDK, we talked to
a Dutch family. They had also adopted an
American airmen, and they had just
laid a floral tribute.
For a great many years after the war there was a
tradition on Svinø that
bunches of flowers were laid every Saturday
before noon on graves of airmen.
Each farm had certain airmen to take
floral tributes to.
In 2022 it is 77 years since the war ended, and the
custom on Svinø ended
many years ago, but on 4 May every year there is
still a large memorial
ceremony at Svinø Churchyard on the occasion of
the liberation of Denmark.
Fine that associations, units of the defence and a
number of civilian authorities
may lay wreaths and bunches of flowers,
but it is also important that families
bring flowers to show that the
outcome of the war was important to all of us. In Denmark we can be happy to
live in peace and freedom because we guard it
together with friends and
Allies. And now we can lay flowers to 7 of the many
who lost their lives
in the fight for our common values.
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Grønhøj
2022
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