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Children are not supposed to die, but they do. It creates an empty space in parents’ hearts and is a long, painful process of grief, especially when a grieving parent must leave their deceased child behind in a foreign country.
During the period of 1952 to 1971, American infants who died at birth or shortly after birth at the American military hospital at Landstuhl or at nearby civilian hospitals were buried in the Kaiserslautern main cemetery in an area designated as the American Kindergraves.
The Kindergraves serve as the final resting place for 451 American children of men and women who served in Europe during the buildup of the Cold War.
For more than 30 years, the Kindergraves were scattered throughout different areas of the Kaiserslautern cemetery. Members of the German-American and International Women’s Club maintained the gravesites early on.
In 1986, the cemetery management informed the ladies that the initial 25-year lease for the burial ground was expiring and the remains of the American babies would be removed, in accordance with local custom, to make room for cemetery expansion.
The women’s club and local military leaders were determined to save the children’s graves. They appealed to the local Air Force base legal office for help, but they determined the military could not officially do anything.
The club then appealed to the U.S. State Department, but that effort also proved unsuccessful.
After the German authorities realized the steadfast position of the women’s club, the cemetery management agreed to allow a private organization directly affiliated with the military to assume responsibility for the gravesites under a new lease.
The Ramstein Area Chief’s Group volunteered to assume this role and became the entrusted agent for the lease. The RACG joined with the KaiserslauternGAIWC in forming the Kaiserslautern Kindergraves Memorial Foundation.
The foundation worked with community leaders to consolidate the children’s graves to one centralized location. Donations from the community secured the new 25-year lease.
The Kindergraves memorial ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. May 16 at Waldfriedhof, the Kaiserslautern main cememtery, with attendees meeting at Daenner Chapel.
This is a public event hosted by the RACG and the GAIWC and is open to the entire community. In the early morning hours, volunteers meet to decorate each grave with an American flag and a flower.
The ceremony will begin with the Air Force Jr. Reserve Officer Training Corps Color Guard leading the procession to the gravesite where floral wreaths will be placed at the front monument and a candle lighting ceremony will take place in memory of the children. Key speakers include senior military and civilian leaders.
The KKMF receives no appropriated or non-appropriated funding. The upkeep of the Kindergraves is possible only through the generous monetary donations of the local community.
The RACG organizes volunteers to accomplish year-round maintenance for the cemetary grounds such as grass cutting, edging, trimming and stone
cleaning.
It should be noted that the current lease for the burial ground will expire in the year 2011 and the cost of renewal will exceed $8,600 (€6,800). Donations from the community are vital to securing the new lease.
For more information regarding the history of the Kaiserslautern Kindergraves, visit
http://kindergraves.delayineurope.com or contact Terence DeLay at american_kinder@yahoo.com.
(Courtesy of Ramstein Area Chief’s Group)
