Fort Campbell, KY – Maj. Gen. JP McGee and Command Sgt. Maj. Charles Walker, the commander and command sergeant major for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), welcomed special guests, veterans, and Mayors Jean-Pierre L’Honneur, of the City of Carentan, and Kees van Rooij, of the Municipality of Meierijstad, to a Memorial Day Ceremony to honor all those who have paid the ultimate price in service to our nation at the division headquarters May 23rd, 2023.
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day as a desire to honor the dead after the Civil War, is a day designated for the purpose of placing flowers on or decorating the graves of service members in remembrance of those who have died in service to the country.
“Today’s ceremony is tremendously important to our community as it honors the sacrifices of all Screaming Eagle Soldiers from all conflicts since World War II”, said McGee. “This historic division has lost more than 7,000 Soldiers across our eight-decade history, the sacrifices of Screaming Eagle Soldiers from World War II to today are immense.”
The purpose of this ceremony was to remember all veterans and to pay tribute to the fallen in combat and conflicts, in particular, those 101st Soldiers who liberated western Europe 80 years ago.
“It is an honor to be mayor of Carentan and to stand here in front of the glorious 101st Airborne Division,” said L’Honneur. “We, together, with our friends and colleagues from Meierijstad in the Netherlands, are very proud to preserve the memory of your division today. We owe our freedom to the 101st and the peace your Soldiers fought so hard to restore.”
As a key objective of the Normandy invasion, Carentan was liberated by the 101st on June 12th, 1944.
“Your division and our towns are forever linked by friendship, and we look forward to proving it to you in a few days in Normandy where we [will] remember and celebrate all of your Soldiers who liberated Carentan in June 1944,” said L’Honneur. “Our bonds are written in history forever.”
Even though the Normandy invasion was the focus of today’s ceremony, veterans from other campaigns were in attendance as well.
“I was really impressed with the mayors coming here from Europe to speak and to talk about the history of the 101st during 1944,” said Edward Stancombe, a Sgt. 1st Class with the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment during Desert Storm. “It really meant a lot to me because my father-in-law was the commander of the 3rd Brigade, 101st during that time, and for the mayors to come here to show their appreciation it really gives you a little bit more appreciation for the day as well.”
