Dutch royals and WWII veterans mark 80th anniversary of Netherlands' liberation

euronews (in English)

American troops from the 30th Infantry Division, known as Old Hickory, were among Allied forces that liberated parts of Belgium and the southern Netherlands from German Nazi occupation in September 1944.

Transcript

00:00The Dutch King and Queen have attended an event with World War II veterans to mark the

00:0680th anniversary of the country's liberation from German occupation.

00:11American veteran Kenneth Thayer returned to the tiny Dutch village he and his compatriots

00:15liberated from the Nazis.

00:17King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima were driven in a vintage military truck into the

00:22village of Mesh, a tiny settlement of about 350 people.

00:27German troops from the 30th Infantry Division, known as Old Hickory, were among the Allied

00:31forces that liberated parts of Belgium and the southern Netherlands from German occupation

00:36in September 1944.

00:38First of all, it wasn't just me.

00:42And look at the hundreds and hundreds of guys who didn't make it.

00:48They're not here.

00:49Thayer was one of the guests of honor at the Mesh commemoration, which begins nearly a

00:53year of events marking the anniversary of the country's liberation.

00:58Residents of Mesh were among the first Dutch citizens to taste post-war freedom at about

01:0310 a.m. on September 12, 1944.

01:06That's when Thayer and other American infantry troops crossed the border from Belgium.

01:11A day later they reached Maastricht, the provincial capital of Limburg and the first Dutch city

01:16to be liberated.

01:18It would take several more months for the whole country to finally be freed.

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