The US dedicated a memorial to the fast-thinning ranks of World War II veterans on Saturday, a poignant last hurrah drawing together tens of thousands of old soldiers, sailors and heroes of the home front.
Frail now, full of vigor then, they were thanked for service that "helped save the world."
The National Mall offered a last-of-a-lifetime scene of commemoration as veterans assembled by the sweeping monument of granite and bronze that was more than a decade in the planning.
"We have kept faith with our comrades from a distant youth," said former Senator Bob Dole, a driving force for the memorial. An Army lieutenant in the war, Dole lost the use of his right arm when a shell hit him while he served in Italy.
"What we dedicate today is not a memorial to war. Rather it is a tribute to the physical and moral courage that makes heroes out of farm and city boys, that inspires Americans of every generation to lay down their lives for people they'll never meet," Dole told a crowd estimated at 140,000 by police.
Many veterans gripped canes. Others sat in wheelchairs. The hardiest among them grabbed their wives and danced in the aisles when 1940s swing music wafted over the crowd. Young people came up to old people and said thanks.
"I figured this would be the last time to wear a uniform," said William Ryan, 80, a retired colonel from Fairfax, Virginia, who fought in France and Germany with the Army's 3rd Infantry. He was in full-dress whites, a Purple Heart among his chest decorations.
The World War II Memorial was built with a sense of urgency once Washington resolved to go ahead with it. Veterans are in their late 70s and in their 80s. Of the 16 million who served, only about 4 million are still alive and veterans from that war are dying at a rate of 1,056 a day.
"These were the modest sons of a peaceful country," said US President George W. Bush. "They gave the best years of their lives to the greatest mission their country ever accepted."
Many veterans lamented that the nation's tribute came too late for their comrades.
"I wish they would have done it much sooner, because there's a lot of people from that generation who are gone," said Don LaFond, 81, a Marine Corps veteran from Marina del Rey, California.
Dole, 80, called the gathering "our final reunion."
At a morning service at Washington National Cathedral, a few kilometers north of the Mall, dignitaries spoke of celebration and thanksgiving.
Former president George Bush, a Navy pilot shot down over the South Pacific in 1944, said the World War II generation was remarkable for the challenges it faced, but Americans today, as in any point of history, can rise to the same level of commitment.
"These were average men and women who lived in extraordinary times," said Bush, who turns 80 on June 12. Singling out the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, he paid tribute to the millions of fighters who "helped save the world."
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