RPT - US WWII Veteran On Canceled Elbe Meeting Ceremony: Shame Not To Celebrate This Event

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2022) The cancellation of the traditional commemorative ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington to mark the anniversary of the meeting between American and Soviet troops on the Elbe River in April 1945 is pitiful, US veteran and participant of the historic meeting Frank Cohn told Sputnik.

On Sunday, Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov announced that the US authorities had canceled the annual ceremony held at the Spirit of the Elbe war memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Russian diplomats, their colleagues from the Commonwealth of Independent States, World War II veterans and US officials participated in the ceremony in previous years.

"All I can say is that the entire situation is pitiful and that it is a shame that we are not celebrating the most important event in my generation and in the generations since, the fact that we were friends and allies during World War II," Cohn said.

Speaking of the Ukraine conflict, Cohn, now a 96-year-old retired US Army colonel, said it should never have happened.

"We have so many common goals in this world - fighting the coronavirus, fighting global warming, improving the world's economy and the economy of our respective nations," he stated.

The veteran, who has participated in the ceremonies at the Arlington cemetery for many years, and was the first to bring flowers to the monument from the American side, said he would like to place his wreath next to the wreath from the Russian side. He expressed the hope that both Washington and Moscow will not go further in their tensions over Ukraine, but is afraid that the new cold war may last longer than the previous one.

"My meeting with the Russians at the Elbe will always be remembered. It took me years to understand that what was celebrated on the Russian side was their survival, since they had to fight their way to the Elbe, every meter at a time and the sight of an American uniform meant that there were no more Germans in front of them," Cohn said.

Asked to share personal memories, the veteran noted that it was the first time he, then nineteen, tried Russian vodka. "It was too strong for me," he smiled.

Soviet and American troops met on the Elbe River in Germany on April 25, 1945, which is considered the highest point in relations between the countries of the anti-Nazi alliance.