The memory of an American veteran was honored at a memorial service at the Thanks, America! city officials and American ambassador Bijan Sabet.
They also laid flowers at the 16th Armored Division monument. City Hall spokeswoman Hana Josefová told ČTK. Thompson, one of the last surviving American liberators of Pilsen and a longtime guest of May’s Freedom Celebration, died on July 12 at the age of 99.
Thompson has become a long-time friend of Pilsen and the Czech people, said Sabet during the memorial service. “I am honored to join you today in humbly paying tribute to an outstanding man and a great patriot, Mr. George Thompson. Today, in commemorating his memory, I also want to appreciate the friendship between our countries. I have said many times that American-Czech relations have never been stronger. And although I often talk about cooperation between our states, I am convinced that the ties between our people are even stronger,” said Sabet. As an ambassador, he visited Pilsen repeatedly, today for the third time he laid a wreath at the Thanks, America! in honor of the soldiers who liberated the city. “I would also like to say: Thank you, Pilsen. Thank you, Czech Republic. Thank you for remembering. Thank you for honoring great Americans like George Thompson. And thank you for your friendship,” he added.
Thompson was one of the most prominent veterans who regularly traveled to Pilsen for the Freedom Celebration. He arrived for the first time in 1991 and became a regular participant in the Freedom Celebrations in Pilsen. “I don’t know another country where people value their freedom more than the Czechs,” he said.
Today in Pilsen, in addition to wreaths and flowers at the monuments, his memory is also commemorated by the American and Czech flags and a black banner at the town hall and a condolence book in the mázhaus, in which people can record their memories and words of comfort for the bereaved.
Mayor Roman Zarzycký (ANO) recalled that Thompson risked his life in the fight for our freedom and said that Pilsen was his second home. “I am very grateful that he regularly returned to the Freedom Celebrations and we had the opportunity to pay tribute to him and personally thank him. But during these celebrations, he also openly recalled the horrors of war that he had to experience as a young man. He reminded himself and us of the unpleasant moments, which he experienced in addition to the euphoria of liberation,” the mayor recalled. He considers it his duty to honor the memory of someone so special and to pay his last respects to a man who has been etched in the hearts and memories of many Pilsen residents.
Thompson was born on October 1, 1924, on a farm in Kansas. He joined the army as a volunteer at the age of 19. After completing training, he joined the 16th Armored Division. Through France and Germany, he reached Czechoslovakia, on May 6, 1945, he participated in the liberation of Nýřany, then Pilsen, from which the soldiers continued via Mariánské Lázně back to Regensburg, Germany.
Source: zpravy.tiscali.cz
