Danish veterans of US wars say they feel betrayed by Greenland threats

More than 15 years ago, Danish platoon commander Martin Tamm Andersen was leading his countrymen and U.S. Marines through the heat and sand of southern Afghanistan after a Taliban attack.

As Andersen’s vehicle moved at the rear of the column, everything was normal — until in one instant the world turned sand-colored. His body shook violently.

“I had no idea what was going on,” he recalled. He ran his hands over his arms and legs to make sure they were still there.

When the dust settled, he saw one of his soldiers bleeding heavily from his face. Another had been hurled from the turret and lay on the ground, groaning in pain, his back broken in two places. The blast had torn the vehicle apart.

Andersen called in help from the U.S. Marines, who halted a firefight with the Taliban , returned to secure the site, treated the wounded and helped prepare them for evacuation.

Martin Tamm Andersen's destroyed vehicle in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Aug. 19, 2010. (Martin Tamm Andersen via AP)

At the time, American and Danish troops were comrades in arms who risked their lives for each other in common cause.

Andersen can barely believe what has come of the U.S.-Danish alliance today as President Donald Trump escalates his threats to seize Greenland, a semiautonomous territory belonging to Denmark. Trump has repeatedly said the United States must take control of the strategically located and mineral-rich island, and views force as one way to get it.

“When America needed us after 9/11 we were there,” the 46-year-old veteran said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“As a veteran and as a Dane, you know, you feel sad and very surprised that the U.S. wants to take over part of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he said. “It’s a betrayal of the loyalty of our nation to the U.S. and to our common alliance, NATO.”

He spoke from the Danish War Museum in Copenhagen, where his armored personnel carrier that hit the improvised explosive device in 2010 in Helmand Province is on display.

Before his deployment to Afghanistan, Andersen had also served in Iraq. Good friends were killed and wounded in both wars. He believed his service in the U.S. wars served the cause of freedom and democracy.

Martin Tamm Andersen at the danish War Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark, Jan. 13, 2025. (Anders Garde Kongshaug/AP)

As the U.S. intensifies its threats to seize Greenland, that initial shock felt by many across Europe has evolved into a profound sense of sadness, betrayal and fear of what such a move could mean for Europe’s security at a time of Russian aggression. Denmark’s prime minster has said it would mean the end of NATO.

For Danish veterans, it feels profoundly personal.

A NATO member since 1949, Denmark has been a stalwart ally to America. Forty-four Danish soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, the highest per capita death toll among coalition forces. Eight more died in Iraq.

“It feels surreal. It feels like it’s a bad joke somehow,” Andersen said. " I mean, you can’t really fathom that this is actually something that is being said out loud. It just seems too crazy.”

Packing away a medal and a U.S. flag

Søren Knudsen, a Danish veteran who served twice in Afghanistan, was watching television last year when he heard U.S. Vice President JD Vance say on Fox News that Denmark was “not being a good ally.”

Vance was making Trump’s argument that the United States needed to take more ”territorial interest” in Greenland for the sake of U.S. security, and accusing Denmark of “not doing its job.”

He could not believe it. In his Copenhagen home, the 65-year-old Knudsen keeps a photo of himself flanked by children in the Afghan city of Qalat.

The mission, as Knudsen understood it at the time, was to help the Americans safeguard the future of Afghanistan’s youth. At the end of his second tour, U.S. service members gave him an American flag as a parting gift.

For years he proudly displayed the framed flag and a U.S. Bronze Star honoring his service in Afghanistan alongside other medals from his military service.

He recently removed the medal and the flag in anguish and packed them away.

Retired Danish Col. Søren Knudsen and his wife Gina Schaar at their home in Copenhagen, Denmark, Jan. 13, 2026. (Anders Garde Kongshaug/AP)

He told his wife that he will take them out of storage only when the U.S.-Danish alliance is restored.

Knudsen, who is the deputy president of the Danish Veterans Association, said he hears daily from other veterans who express sorrow and hurt at how the U.S. administration has turned against Denmark.

“Many veterans who have wounds, whether on their souls or their body, certainly feel this as a an offense straight to their heart,” he said.

Understanding U.S. security needs

Danish veterans are furious at how the White House rhetoric disregards the right to self-determination of Greenland and Denmark.

They also strongly object to Trump’s claim that Denmark, after fighting alongside U.S. forces in wartime, is incapable of protecting the West’s security interests in the Arctic.

Both Andersen and Knudsen say they understand concerns about security in the region but are convinced that Denmark is ready to continue doing whatever it takes within the NATO alliance to defend the region.

Both men describe maintaining a bond and friendship with American troops they served with.

Knudsen’s wife is American-born, and his brother-in-law is a U.S. Marine. They are convinced that their onetime comrades do not share Trump’s views about the Danes.

Danes often note that the U.S. already has access to Greenland under a 1951 defense agreement, and northwestern Greenland already houses the U.S. Pituffik military base that falls under the Pentagon’s Space Force.

It is the U.S. that has chosen to reduce its military footprint in Greenland in the past years — and Denmark and Greenland say they would accommodate a beefed up American military presence.

But Trump told the The New York Times last week that “ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.”

Knudsen says a U.S. invasion of Greenland “would probably bring me to tears.”

“I would be very sorry if it happened, because I would also see this as the final moments of the NATO alliance,” he said. “And I would probably see it as the final moment of my admiration and love of what has been the American experiment for 250 years.”

Associated Press writers Vanessa Gera and Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland, Stefanie Dazio in Berlin and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

15 多年前，在塔利班发动袭击后，丹麦排长马丁·塔姆·安德森带领他的同胞和美国海军陆战队员穿越阿富汗南部的酷热和沙砾。

安德森的车行驶在车队后方，一切都很正常——直到某一刻，世界变成了沙色。他的身体剧烈颤抖。

“我当时完全不知道发生了什么，”他回忆道。他用手摸了摸自己的胳膊和腿，确认它们还在那里。

尘埃落定后，他看到一名士兵脸上血流不止。另一名士兵被从炮塔上抛了下来，躺在地上痛苦地呻吟着，背部两处骨折。爆炸将车辆炸得支离破碎。

安德森向美国海军陆战队求助，海军陆战队制止了与塔利班的交火，返回现场控制了局势，救治了伤员，并帮助他们做好撤离准备。

2010年8月19日，马丁·塔姆·安德森在阿富汗赫尔曼德省被毁的车辆。（马丁·塔姆·安德森供图，美联社发布）

当时，美国和丹麦军队是并肩作战的战友，为了共同的事业互相冒着生命危险。

安德森简直不敢相信如今美丹联盟竟沦落至此，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普不断升级其夺取格陵兰岛（丹麦的半自治领土）的威胁。特朗普一再声称美国必须控制这座战略位置重要且矿产资源丰富的岛屿，并将武力视为实现这一目标的途径之一。

“9·11事件后，当美国需要我们的时候，我们就在那里，”这位46岁的老兵在接受美联社采访时说。

“作为一名退伍军人，同时也是一名丹麦人，你知道，美国想要吞并丹麦王国的一部分领土，这令人感到悲伤和震惊，”他说。“这背叛了我们国家对美国以及对我们共同的联盟——北约——的忠诚。”

他在哥本哈根的丹麦战争博物馆发表了讲话，他2010年在赫尔曼德省遭遇简易爆炸装置袭击时驾驶的装甲运兵车就陈列在那里。

在被派往阿富汗之前，安德森也曾在伊拉克服役。他的好友在这两场战争中都有伤亡。他坚信自己在美国参与的战争是为了自由和民主事业。

2025 年 1 月 13 日，马丁·塔姆·安徒生 (Martin Tamm Andersen) 在丹麦哥本哈根的丹麦战争博物馆。（Anders Garde Kongshaug/美联社）

随着美国加大了吞并格陵兰岛的威胁力度，欧洲许多人最初感受到的震惊已经演变为深深的悲伤、背叛感以及对这一举动可能给欧洲安全带来的后果的恐惧，尤其是在俄罗斯咄咄逼人的当下。丹麦首相表示，这将意味着北约的终结。

对于丹麦退伍军人来说，这感觉意义非凡。

自1949年加入北约以来，丹麦一直是美国的坚定盟友。在阿富汗，44名丹麦士兵阵亡，是联军部队中人均死亡率最高的国家。另有8名丹麦士兵在伊拉克阵亡。

“感觉很不真实，就像是个糟糕的玩笑，”安德森说。“我的意思是，你很难相信这竟然是真的有人在公开谈论这件事。这简直太疯狂了。”

收起一枚奖牌和一面美国国旗

曾两次在阿富汗服役的丹麦老兵索伦·克努森去年在看电视时，听到美国副总统 JD Vance 在福克斯新闻上说丹麦“不是一个好盟友”。

万斯当时是在为特朗普的论点辩护，即为了美国的安全，美国需要对格陵兰岛表现出更大的“领土利益”，并指责丹麦“没有尽到自己的职责”。

他简直不敢相信。在哥本哈根的家中，65岁的克努森保存着一张他在阿富汗卡拉特市与孩子们合影的照片。

克努森当时理解的任务是帮助美国人守护阿富汗青年的未来。在他第二次任务结束时，美国军人送给他一面美国国旗作为临别礼物。

多年来，他一直自豪地展示着装裱好的国旗和一枚表彰他在阿富汗服役的美国铜星勋章，以及他服役期间获得的其他勋章。

他最近痛苦地取下奖章和国旗，并将它们收了起来。

2026 年 1 月 13 日，退役丹麦上校 Søren Knudsen 和他的妻子 Gina Schaar 在丹麦哥本哈根的家中。（Anders Garde Kongshaug/美联社）

他告诉妻子，只有当美丹联盟恢复时，他才会把它们从储藏室里拿出来。

丹麦退伍军人协会副主席克努森表示，他每天都会收到其他退伍军人的来信，他们对美国政府与丹麦的对抗表示悲伤和痛心。

他说：“许多身心都受过创伤的退伍军人，肯定会觉得这是对他们心灵的直接冒犯。”

了解美国安全需求

丹麦退伍军人对白宫的言论无视格陵兰和丹麦的自决权感到愤怒。

他们还强烈反对特朗普的说法，即丹麦在战时与美国军队并肩作战后，无力保护西方在北极的安全利益。

安德森和克努森都表示，他们理解人们对该地区安全的担忧，但他们确信丹麦已准备好在北约联盟内继续采取一切必要措施来保卫该地区。

两人都表示，他们与曾一起服役的美国士兵保持着密切的联系和友谊。

克努森的妻子是美国人，他的姐夫是美国海军陆战队员。他们确信，他们昔日的战友并不认同特朗普对丹麦人的看法。

丹麦人经常指出，根据 1951 年的一项防务协议，美国已经可以进入格陵兰岛，而格陵兰岛西北部已经建有美国皮图菲克军事基地，该基地隶属于五角大楼的太空部队。

近年来，美国选择减少在格陵兰岛的军事存在——而丹麦和格陵兰岛表示，他们愿意接受美国加强军事存在。

但特朗普上周告诉《纽约时报》，“所有权能给你带来一些仅仅签署文件无法获得的东西和要素。”

克努森说，美国入侵格陵兰岛“可能会让我泪流满面”。

“如果这真的发生，我会非常遗憾，因为我也会把这视为北约联盟的终结，”他说。“而且，我可能也会把这视为我对美国250年来所进行的实验的敬佩和热爱的最后时刻。”

美联社驻波兰华沙记者 Vanessa Gera 和 Claudia Ciobanu、驻柏林记者 Stefanie Dazio 以及驻布鲁塞尔记者 Lorne Cook 对本报道亦有贡献。