"Sachez qu’il y aura toujours ici, un homme ou une femme pour se souvenir de vous" (Normandy, 6th June 2004).
"Know that there will always be a man or a woman here to remember you!"
This promise expressed by the French to the Allied soldiers who landed in Normandy from the 6th June 1944 onwards, is also expressed by the Government of Luxembourg, on behalf of all Luxembourgians, to those young Allied soldiers who liberated Luxembourg.
Today, on the 60th anniversary of Luxembourg’s Liberation, a special "thank you" is addressed to the soldiers of the 5th American Armoured Division who, on the 10th September 1944, came to Luxembourg to free it from occupation.
Although Luxembourg did not have its own armed forces then, several Luxembourgish volunteers fought to free Europe from Nazism, serving with the Allied Troops in American, English and French divisions, and especially in the Belgian Piron Brigade. We would like to express our gratitude today to those soldiers who contributed in giving back Luxembourg’s freedom and independence, again allowing it to freely decide on its future.
The joy experienced at the Liberation is unique in Luxembourg’s history, as the pain that the population had to endure before stands out as an exceptional period in its history.
Nowadays, many of our fellow citizens cannot imagine what it means to live under a dictatorship, and the Liberation is for them a historical event known only through history books.
The Government of Luxembourg will make sure that the history of the Second World War will not be forgotten, and that there will always be someone in Luxembourg to remember our liberators.
Long live Luxembourg! Long live our liberators!