Ramstein-Miesenbach hosts National Day of Mourning ceremony

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Thomas Karol
  • 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN-MIESENBACH, Germany --  Leaders from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, attended a National Day of Mourning ceremony hosted by the Union Community of Ramstein-Miesenbach, Nov. 13, 2022 at St. Nikolaus Church in Ramstein-Miesenbach.

U.S. Air Force Col. Matthew Bartlett, 435th Air Expeditionary Wing vice commander, attended on behalf of RAB along with other leadership teams from the Kaiserslautern Military Community, German first responders, and members from the local community.

“It is important we come together as nations to honor and remember those who have fallen from war and tragedies in the past,” Bartlett said. “We honor them now as partners from many countries who are seeking peace and trying to prevent conflicts such as the ones the world has already witnessed.”

The National Day of Mourning, also known as Volkstrauertag, is a silent tribune to commemorate service members and civilians from all nations who have lost their lives in war and victims of violent oppression. This ceremony, which is one of many held across Germany, has occurred every year since 1952 two Sundays before the first Sunday of Advent.

“This commemoration is a critically important sign of friendship and reconciliation,” said Ralf Hechler, Union Community of Ramstein-Miesenbach mayor. “The common remembrance and the common mourning is the foundation for a peaceful future.”