David Beckham takes Galaxy to army

Nov 18, 2009, 9:25 GMT

David Beckham is to spend four days with the US army over Thanksgiving.

The soccer star - who has three sons with wife Victoria Beckham - and his Los Angeles Galaxy teammates are to undertake a morale-boosting visit to Kaiserslautern, South West Germany, to stay in US barracks from next Monday (23.11.09) to show support for soldiers in Afghanistan.

During the visit, the sportsmen will visit troops and their families in their homes at the base, as well as meeting injured soldiers at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre.

On November 26 - Thanksgiving Day - David and his teammates will play a friendly soccer match against Kaiserslautern FC, with around 25,000 tickets being made available to US servicemen, Defence Department staff and their families.

David - who met 30 British servicemen in March at the England national side's training ground - has been criticised for opting to visit US troops rather than their British counterparts.

However, Colonel Bob Stewart, Chairman of Action for Armed Forces, said the soldiers would be happy to be visited by other famous faces instead of the soccer star.

He said: "Beckham plays for an American team and I expect he goes wherever they want him to go.

"There are plenty of other people who can travel to support British troops instead of him. If he does want to visit them in the future that's fine. If not, someone else will."