The President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė visited Fort Indiantown Gap this week in what appears to be the first visit to the county by a foreign head of state.
The Lithuanian president was joined by other Lithuanian senior officials in the visit, the first of its kind since the Pennsylvania National Guard and the Republic of Lithuania created a partnership 25 years ago that paired US states with three nations in 1993.
Maj. Gen. Anthony Carrelli, Pennsylvania’s adjutant general, greeted the delegation. The visit included a history and synopsis of the partnership program and an overview on PANG operations and capabilities relevant to the partnership with Lithuania.
After the meeting, Carrelli and Grybauskaitė visited the Penn State Hershey Rehabilitation Hospital to see a Pennsylvania National Guard member, Renee Metzinger, who has Lithuanian ancestry. The entourage later returned to base and saw some other training facilities at the Gap.
In addition to President Grybauskaitė, the Lithuanian delegation included Nerijus Aleksiejūnas, chief advisor to the president for foreign affairs, Rolandas Kriščiūnas, Lithuanian ambassador to the U.S., and Col. Grazvydas Liubinas, Lithuanian embassy defense attaché.