Speech by Mayor Mogens Gade              På dansk                             Updated:  08 OCT 2013

  Mayor Mogens Gade, the Municipality of Jammerbugt, delivered this speech at the unveiling of the two memorial stones in Tranum Klitplantage
on 13 August 2013:       

Thank you for the opportunity to attend this ceremony in
Tranum Klitplantage in the Municipality of Jammerbugt.

Today we unveil two memorial stones to honour 6 British soldiers who lost their lives when their planes were shot down by Germans on 13 August 1940 in connection
with World War II.

Through the occupation in 1940 the people of Denmark lost all the rights that we considered obvious in a democracy in freedom, as we do today.

We ought to consider them obvious, but they have not always been so. Here we have a responsibility to guard these rights, so that they remain a natural part of  Danish society - something we are proud of.

In the evening of 4 May 1945 peace and freedom again came to Denmark after 5 long years of German occupation. It is important to keep in mind that in 1945 the most important thing was not peace but freedom.

Peace in freedom is the highest boon a people can achieve - peace without freedom can be compared with slavery and suppression.

In many situations people have had to choose whether they would submit to peace without freedom, or if they would fight for freedom at the cost of peace.

Every year when we mark the day of the liberation of Denmark, we must remember that freedom had a price.

Compared with so many other countries Denmark was lucky during World War II.

We did not experience very big and chaotic acts of war on Danish soil - and the number of dead in Denmark was smaller than in so many other countries, but some people paid for our freedom, some even with their own lives. We were liberated by soldiers from the United Kingdom and the USA.

Today we mark in our local community that we have not forgotten those who paid the ultimate price in the fight for peace and freedom, that is to say the British soldiers whom we commemorate here exactly 70 years after their contribution to peace and freedom in the world.

The memorial stones were erected on the initiative of members of groups in Lerup-Tranum interested in local history lead by chairwoman Lillian Carstensen.

In this connection I would take the opportunity to emphasize the great work of local history that is carried out in our area.

Quite a lot of effort is put into this useful work and in this way many people have had an interesting hobby. A hobby which is certainly rewarding on a personal level, but at the same time of great importance to all of us and to the past.

Thanks to the groups in Lerup-Tranum for the initiative. Thanks to the Danish Nature Agency for cooperation in connection with the good idea.

Actually, today is a good example of what has taken the Municipality of Jammerbugt to where we are now. What has made us an active municipality in steady operation with an eye for the future - we pull together.

The many positive results that we have achieved in the short life of the Municipality of Jammerbugt have only been reached because the basic rule has been that we pull together.

It is a fact that together we reach higher than each of us alone.

And in addition to the groups in Lerup-Tranum and the Danish Nature Agency also a number of others have contributed - Sparekassen Vendsyssels fond, the group behind the school books,  Tranum Landsbyråd, Guldhammer, the monumental mason in Manstrup, the Municipality of Jammerbugt and definitely more.

Thanks to all because you wanted to make the project come true. It makes me think of the old proverb saying:
A strong resolution to do something gives you the ability to do it.

We have every reason to show the fallen British soldiers our respect and gratitude - even if 70 years have passed now.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the liberation a well-known member of the resistance movement and a member of the Freedom Council from the time of the occupation stated: Whether evil will return or not depends on people's memory
 - that is why we have to remember those who gave their lives in the fight against evil and for freedom.

By making his word mine I would like to say, We will remember them!

Thank you.