In the fall of 1998, I traveled to Denmark to take up my duties as the American Ambassador in Copenhagen. Often referred to as the “Fairytale Kingdom,” courtesy of its native son, Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark is a remarkable country that has been an exceptional ally of the United States for well over 200 years. The Danes have built a nation that combines Viking valor with a deep sense of duty to be one’s brother’s keeper. The admirable character of the Danish people was perhaps best exemplified when it became the only country in Europe to rescue virtually its entire Jewish population through a daring evacuation to neutral Sweden under the very noses of their Nazi occupiers. Their courage and decency during that moment of testing will continue to testify to the Danish character down through the generations.
My first official trip outside of Denmark proper was to visit the Thule Air Base, now known as the Pituffik Space Base. This impressive facility was America’s crucial “Top of the World” Arctic base, which served as our nation’s early missile warning and missile defense base from the 1950s onward. Of course, I could not help but be impressed and amazed by this first visit to Greenland. This vast land, the largest island in the world, has now been thrust into a roiling global debate over the current administration’s determination to “acquire” Greenland.
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