Rep. Berkley to visit World War II graves, wounded soldiers in Europe

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Shelley Berkley leaves today for Europe to visit the graves of American soldiers killed during World War II and servicemen wounded during the Iraq war, her office said.

During a weeklong congressional recess, the Nevada Democrat will travel in Italy, Luxembourg and Germany in a delegation of five other lawmakers led by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Jim Nicholson, secretary of Veterans Affairs, will also make the trip.

The delegation on Memorial Day will visit the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, where nearly 8,000 Americans are buried, and where there are memorials to 3,000 others who were killed but whose bodies were never recovered.

During the trip, Berkley "will pay respects to fallen American service members," her spokesman David Cherry said.

In all, lawmakers will stop at three cemeteries, all of them operated by the American Battle Monuments Commission, which oversees 24 military cemeteries abroad.

The group also is scheduled to spend a day in Rome, where it will meet with Ronald Spogli, the U.S. ambassador to Italy, and U.S. officials at the Vatican.

Lawmakers also will meet with injured troops at the Landstuhl Army Medical Center and troops stationed at the Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.

Berkley is scheduled to return on June 1, Cherry said. She is being accompanied on the trip by her husband, Dr. Larry Lehrner.

Berkley is the only member of Congress from Nevada who is scheduled for official travel during the recess, according to delegation aides.