VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) – Lithuania’s political and religious leaders joined thousands of people on Thursday to bid farewell to four American soldiers who died during a training exercise in the Baltic nation.
President Gitanas Nauseda and other dignitaries were among those who stood in respect as hearses carried the bodies of the four young Americans to Vilnius airport before being flown to the United States for burial.
Many of the onlookers were in tears, and Nauseda said that the reaction of the population and the military to the disappearance of soldiers was rooted in Lithuania’s own difficult history.
“For us, it is more than a duty, it is an emotion. We have experienced trials in our history and therefore we understand well what
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