A ceremony to honour the US servicemen who perished in a swamp at the Pabradė training ground was held in Vilnius on Thursday.
The procession carrying the remains of the Americans first stopped at the Cathedral Square, where it was greeted by the Archbishop of Vilnius Gintaras Grušas, President Gitanas Nausėda, the Chief of the Armed Forces Raimundas Vaikšnoras, Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė, and other officials.
The Cathedral bells rang as the soldiers are escorted.
More than a thousand people gathered in the Cathedral Square and Gedimino Avenue, carrying Lithuanian and US flags.
“I came here out of civic duty, out of solidarity, because this is important for our country, for our citizens,” Inga, a 39-year-old lawyer, told BNS.
Antanas, 77, a former army volunteer who is now a social activist, told BNS that he came because he knows what it means to be a soldier.
“The emotion is that as we are defending our homeland and they came to help us, [...] they came from another country to defend us, it wouldn’t make sense not to show respect,” the man said.
Karolina Jočytė, a 25-year-old student, told BNS that she came to the farewell ceremony because she felt it was her duty to show solidarity with the fallen soldiers.
“I think the idea that foreign soldiers have died in our country, part of the NATO forces, is sensitive, as it is covered everywhere in the media, it shows our strength as NATO,” said the woman.
“Although it is a painful event, the whole rescue operation showed that our forces are strong enough to carry out complex operations,” she said.
The cortege travelled along Gedimino Avenue, then headed for Vilnius Airport, from where the remains will be flown back to the US.
The ceremony was organised by the Defence Ministry, the US Embassy in Lithuania, and the organisation Strong Together.
A fundraising campaign for the families of the four US soldiers, initiated by Laisvės TV, has raised over 200,000 euros.
The four US servicemen, travelling in an M88 Hercules armoured personnel carrier, disappeared on March 25 during a training exercise at the Pabradė training ground.
The search and rescue operation lasted a week. Lithuanian, US, Polish, Estonian troops, officials and civilians took part.
The armoured vehicle with the bodies of three soldiers was pulled out of the swamp on Monday, March 31, and the fourth drowned soldier was found on Tuesday, April 1.
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