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Foreign military members honor vets at ceremony in STL

By Matt Sepic, KWMU

St. Louis – St. Louisans honored the nation's veterans today at ceremonies around the region Friday. At Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, it wasn't only Americans who took part in services.

Among the thousands of headstones at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery is a marker with the names of 100 soldiers from Australia, The Netherlands, Britain and the United States. They died in a Japanese POW camp.

Foreign military members stationed near St. Louis held a ceremony at the POWs' shared grave. Among those there was Colonel Peter Davis of the British Army.

"On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the nation falls quiet and remembers those who've given us our freedoms," Davis said.

After the prisoners' remains were brought to the U.S. in 1949, they were buried at Jefferson Barracks because of that cemetery's central location.

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