For just the second year running, Denmark’s National Flag Day was celebrated at Christiansborg Palace Square on Sunday to honour the country’s military personnel sent abroad.
Around 1,200 members of the military participated in the day’s parade, with songs from the Royal Life Guard Music Corps accompanying the hundreds in attendance. According to Berlingske Tidende newspaper, festivities went on until nearly midnight.
Prior to the celebration, however, a remembrance service was held at nearby Holmens Church in honour of the 11 soldiers killed so far this year in Afghanistan.
Family members of the fallen soldiers were joined by several representatives of the royal family, parliament and the prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
In the packed church, Rasmussen called the day a chance ‘for the affected people to unconditionally meet face-to-face to reflect on and remember’ the men and women who gave their lives in the service of their country.
In his speech, Rasmussen praised the ‘heroic choices’ soldiers, police and healthcare personnel have taken to participate in the global battle for freedom and security, adding that the human losses suffered ‘would not be forgotten’.
The Copenhagen Post
