52nd Fighter Wing honors fallen service members for Memorial Day

Photo By Senior Airman Kyle Cope | U.S. Air Force Airmen of the Spangdahlem Air Base Honor Guard serve as a colors detail during a Memorial Day ceremony at Lorraine American Cemetery, France, May 26, 2019. The cemetery contains the remains of 10,482 American service members who died during World War II. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Kyle Cope)  

SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, RP, GERMANY

05.31.2019

Story by Airman 1st Class Kyle Cope 

52nd Fighter Wing

Members from the 52nd Fighter Wing gathered at Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, in Luxembourg, on May 25, 2019 and at Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial, in France, on May 26, 2019, to honor members of the United States Armed Forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

The ceremonies included the participation of the Spangdahlem Air Base Honor Guard as Saber Nation remembered the fallen with a particular remembrance of those who stormed the beaches of Normandy 75 years ago.

“16 million Americans served in World War II and more than 400,000 made the ultimate sacrifice,” U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Andrew Rohling, U.S. Army Europe deputy commanding general. “Today, thousands rest in an everlasting peace in U.S. cemeteries in Europe, in France, in Belgium, in Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Italy and the United Kingdom.”

June 6, 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion and is one of several major WWII anniversaries this year.

As we celebrated the 75th anniversary of D-Day and are crossing important milestones, it is huge to have our team representing the 52nd FW at these events at Luxembourg and Lorraine, said U.S. Air Force Col. Jason Bailey, 52nd FW commander.

Memorial Day is a time when the nation pauses to remember those members of the Armed Forces who gave their lives for freedom, both the freedom of our nation and allies.

“Many have given their lives in defense of their nation,” Rohling said. “We cannot measure or repay their sacrifice, but we can honor it. By retelling their stories, we keep their memories alive. We can best understand their sacrifice by what it was not. It was not about fame, it was not about fortune, it was not about glory. Instead, these timeless heroes gave their lives for freedom, for peace, for democracy, and for human dignity.”

For Bailey, Memorial Day is a particularly impactful day of remembrance.

“Memorial Day is a pretty special day for me,” Bailey said. “I take time to sit down and take time to look back through my friends and unfortunately the list has gotten far too long over the years of friends who have sacrificed, given their life in defense of a nation, in defense of an ideal, in defense of our allies. And then I sit and I think about now, for my periods of command, those who have either done so under my command or folks we have supported as part of the team and obviously those numbers grew while I was in Afghanistan.”

Memorial Day is a time to reflect on the sacrifices made by Americans in past conflicts and a time to refocus on the future.

“It is an important note for any member of the military to remember several things: one, the price that you may need to pay and the importance of those individuals who went before you who have done that, but also for me as a commander the importance of taking our nation’s sons and daughters and training them to the absolute best that we can should it be that they do have to wage war,” Bailey said. “That they are ready and that they can do so proudly and professionally. Then the ever important thing that we have to all remember is that the principle reason that we train and prepare, along with being ready to go fight, is in the hopes that that level of training also help others decide that maybe they do not want to fight and that maybe we can deter conflict instead of have to wage it.”

• Date Taken: 05.31.2019
• Date Posted: 05.31.2019 01:46
• Story ID: 324716
• Location: SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, RP, DE