HAMM, Luxembourg—House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Ranking Member Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) presented a wreath at the American Cemetery in Luxembourg to pay tribute to the sacrifice of American World War II veterans.

“Our visit to the American Cemetery in Luxembourg was one of the most moving experiences of a lifetime,” said Chairman Skelton. “Those who are buried there gave their all fighting despotism so that we might enjoy the freedoms that we have today.”

"We paused to honor America's more than 5,000 American soldiers interred at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, and who gave their last full measure of devotion to their country fighting against tyranny and oppression on foreign shores,” said Ranking Member McKeon. “There are dozens of similar final resting places for nearly 125,000 brave soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who are interred in foreign lands.  We hope our small gesture on these hallowed grounds will echo across all of these eternal fields so that America’s military dead might know that all Americans remember their sacrifices."

The American Cemetery in Luxembourg is home to 5,076 of our fallen military heroes, many of whom lost their lives in the Battle of the Bulge and in the advance to the Rhine during World War II. The wreath laying ceremony was part of a stop at the cemetery by a bipartisan Congressional delegation led by Chairman Skelton and Ranking Member McKeon. Members of the delegation also toured the cemetery, visiting the gravesites of service members from their home states.

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