Press Releases

Over the weekend and on Monday, Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, led a bipartisan delegation in visits to Flanders Field and Henri-Chappelle American Cemetery, where the group participated in wreath laying ceremonies.

At Flanders Field, each member of the delegation took a Buddy Poppy provided to the cemetery courtesy of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and received information about the grave adoption program at Flanders started by American Legion Post BE02 in 2014. This November, the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) will host a ceremony at Flanders Field American Cemetery to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armistice of World War I.  

Both cemeteries are managed by ABMC, which falls under the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. This marks the first international oversight visit to ABMC sites for Chairman Roe since he assumed the chairmanship in January of last year.

In addition to the oversight stops at Flanders Field and Henri-Chappelle, CODEL Roe met with Charge’ d’ Affairs Matt Lussenhop and other senior defense officials and participated in a series of classified briefings on counterterrorism efforts, geopolitics and Members state Progress toward 2% GDP at North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels. The delegation also met with NATO Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchinson. The NATO visit comes just ahead of this summer’s NATO summit, which President Trump is expected to attend.

Chairman Roe is joined by Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Mike Bost (R-Illi.) and Reps. Neal Dunn, M.D. (R-Fla.), Lou Correa (D-Calif.) and Andy Harris, M.D. (R-Md.).

Some photos are below. Additional stops will be announced in the coming days.