Bush Pays Homage to Fallen WWII Soldiers


MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands - As a chilly rain soaked thousands of white crosses marking American war dead, President Bush paid homage Sunday to the "terrible price" paid by World War II soldiers who never came home from their fight against tyranny.



From the ceremony, Bush flew to Russia where he landed in a driving rain and prepared for an evening meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, followed by a private dinner with their wives.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said talk of democracy was high on Bush's agenda for the private meeting with Putin, on the eve of a massive commemoration of V-E Day during a Red Square military parade.

"While we need to acknowledge the painful history, it's now time also to honor the memories of those who sacrificed by moving on and building strong, free democracies," Rice told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Bush marked the 60th anniversary of the May 1945 signing of the Berlin armistice that ended the war in Europe in a solemn remembrance at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, where 8,301 U.S. veterans are buried.

"On this peaceful May morning, we commemorate a great victory for liberty," Bush said at Europe's third-largest cemetery for American veterans in Margraten. "We come to this ground to remember the cause for which these soldiers fought and triumphed"

In socially liberal Holland, Bush is widely unpopular. But in the region around the cemetery, within walking distance of the German and Belgian borders, Americans are fondly remembered for their wartime rescue. In honor of the deaths incurred by U.S. forces as they set off from near here for the deadly but successful blitz toward Berlin, many local Dutch still bring flowers.

"Each man or woman buried here is more than a headstone and a serial number," Bush said before thousands of locals and about 100 aging Dutch and American WWII veterans.

The losses incurred during World War II, the president said, should be honored by a constant pursuit of freedom in places where it still doesn't exist.

"On this day, we celebrate the victory they won and we recommit ourselves to the great truth that they defended: that freedom is the birthright of all of mankind," Bush said.

Before his brief, 13-minute remarks, members of the White House delegation donned orange, plastic raincoats against the cold and drizzle as Bush and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands laid wreaths of tribute, a bugler played taps and military aircraft streaked above the graveyard's sweeping arcs of headstones.

First lady Laura Bush laid flowers at the grave of a Medal of Honor winner who was in the 104th Division, in which her late father served during the war.

"Our debt of gratitude is too great to express in words," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said of the American liberation of the Netherlands from the ****s. "They gave us the most precious gift — freedom. Today, I salute them."

In Russia, victory in the "Great Patriot War" is treasured as an unvarnished triumph, while many of its Eastern European neighbors regard the Red Army's success also as the start of 50 years of brutal Soviet oppression.

Anger over that unacknowledged history remains particularly potent in the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which were annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 and won independence just 14 years ago. Bush's meeting Saturday in Latvia with the leaders of those countries was meant to help temper his attendance at the Moscow ceremony that offers only a one-sided version of the Soviet Union's war legacy.

Rice said Bush will tell Putin that Russia should try to improve relations with the Baltic nations because they are neighbors and have a long history.

"The experience of the Baltics with the Soviet Union was an unhappy and tragic one," she said. "The experience of the Baltics with Russia does not have to be."

Putin said the United States has little business criticizing Russia's internal affairs because the U.S. system of electing presidents, including the Electoral College, has its own flaws. "But," Putin said in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" to be aired Sunday, "We're not going to poke our noses into your democratic system, because that's up to the American people."

There are a host of other items on the agenda for the leaders whose cooperation is crucial: stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons materials, ending the nuclear pursuits of nations such as Iran and North Korea and securing a Mideast peace. The relationship also has soured of late amid U.S. unhappiness with Russian missile sales to Syria and crackdowns on business and Moscow's complaints of American meddling in its traditional sphere of influence.

Rice denied there would be tension between Putin and Bush, despite their disagreements.

"I've watched them together and they are friendly," Rice said. "Their wives are going to be at this dinner."