The United States honored tens of thousands of World War II veterans on Saturday, with the dedication of a national memorial to commemorating their service some six decades ago.

Over 110,000 seats were set aside for the former soldiers, who are now in their late 70s and 80s, and their families for the official dedication of the 1939-1945 war memorial, which is located in the National Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument in downtown Washington, D.C.

Speaking to the veterans, some gripping canes and others sitting in wheelchairs, US President George W. Bush said the country owes "a long-standing debt" to those who fought in the war.

"They gave the best years of their lives to the greatest mission their country ever accepted," he said, praising the 16 million Americans who served in the military during World War II, of whom only about 4 million are still alive.

"At this place, at this memorial, we acknowledge a debt of longstanding to an entire generation of Americans - those who died, those who fought and worked and grieved and went on. They saved our country, and thereby saved the liberty of mankind," he said.

"The years of World War II were a hard, heroic and gallant timein the life of our country," he said.

The president did not mention Iraq in his speech, but in his weekly radio address earlier on Saturday, he said "a new generation of Americans" has stepped forward to defeat "new enemies of freedom" in Iraq and Afghanistan and vowed to "see it through to victory."

Among those on the stage with Bush were Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, former presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush.

The 175 million US dollar memorial, which opened to the public late last month, features some stone pillars and arches representing the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of the war and US states and territories, and includes a fountain and a wall with sculpted gold stars to commemorate the 400,000 Americans who died during the war.

The idea for building a memorial to honor WWII veterans emergednearly two decades ago, and its construction was authorized by theCongress in 1993.

Source: Xinhua