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POWs page 15

CONTEMPORARY

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10

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(Less than 20 minutes from Maple & Orchard Lake Roads)

cians, including the mayor of
Battle Creek.
"Well, the mayor didn't
send anyone to our veteran's
ceremony," a woman com-
plained as the speaker ap-
proached the podium.
Dr. Detlof von Berg, consul
general in Detroit for the
Federal Republic of Ger-
many, stressed the impor-
tance of fair treatment for
all POWs, praising the
United States for the way it
handled Nazi POWs and the
nation of Germany itself
which, following World War
II, "became a kind of
prisoner" of the Allies, he
said.
As ..the program came to a
close, the Teutonia Mixed
Choir, together with mem-
bers of German-American
clubs from throughout the
state and of American veter-
ans organizations, perform-
ed "Ich hatt' einen
Kameraden" (I had a com-
rade). One elderly woman,
her hair covered by a green-
and-white scarf, needed no
sheet music; she stared
ahead steadily, with re-
strained emotion, as she
joined in the song.
Four sharp shots pierced
the frigid air, fired by mem-
bers of the United War Vet-
erans Council, after which a
local veteran performed
"Taps." In his closing
remarks, the Rev. Delmer
Case offered a prayer that
the deceased men "know
they are not forgotten."
The ceremony concluded,
visitors passed by the graves
of the former POWs, referred
to in Fort Custer brochures
as "the forgotten 26." Some
brought wreaths, some laid a
single flower on the graves;
some women wept.
Fort Custer was one of
hundreds of U.S. military
sites that once housed Ger-
man POWs. About 4,000
German soldiers were held
at Fort Custer from 1943-
1946, many working at local
farms and vineyards.
Most of the men returned

GERMAN MEMORIAL SERVICE

DEDICATION OF
BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT

1992

VOLKSTRAUERTAG

NOVEMBER 15, 1992

BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN

FT: CUSTER NATIONAL CEMETERY, USA

"The Day of National Mourning."

home after the war. Sixteen,
however, were buried at Fort
Custer, killed Oct. 31, 1944,
on their way home from
work detail. The truck in-c
which they were riding
struck a train in Blissfield.
The memorial service to
honor the men was first held
in 1953. The ceremony was
conducted, at the request of
Congressman Paul=
Schaeffer, by American
Legion Post 54. Today, it is
sponsored by the United
War Veterans Council, the
umbrella organization for all
local veterans' groups.
Veterans at last Sunday's J
ceremony seemed untroubl-
ed that the men - they were
memorializing had once -'1
been their fiercest enemy.
"I don't think of them (the
26) as Nazis," said Bill
Penny, a member of the `)
Disabled American Veter-
ans Chapter 6, Buck Crosby,J
Chapter of Kalamazoo,
which planted a tree beside
their graves.
Said Mr. Penny, who was
stationed in Europe during ')
the war, "We were all
fighting for survival."
"We're all veterans," add- -'
ed Henry Bianchi, also a
member of the Buck Crosby
Chapter. "We all did our job,
we all died the same way —
for love of country."

❑

The Brandeis Award was presented to Gerson and Carol Cooper at the
Balfour 59 Concert. Shown are Dr. Harris W. Mainster, chairman of the
tribute committee; Anne Gonte Silver, ZOA president; Rabbi M. Robert
Syme; Gerson and Carol Rae Cooper and Sidney Silverman, honorary
chairman of ZOA's national board.

