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The annual Kindergraves memorial ceremony will take place May 19 at the Kaiserslautern main cemetery (Waldfriedhof).
From 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 service men and women serving in Europe during the buildup of the Cold War.
Since 1961, members of the German-American and International Women’s Club and the Ramstein Area Chiefs’ Group maintain the gravesites.
Parents, siblings and other family members have come to Kaiserslautern to visit the memorial site ever since.
KMC Commander Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin and Kaiserslautern’s Lord Mayor Dr. Klaus
Weichel will be key speakers.
The women’s club’s German president, Marlein Auge, and the American chairwoman, Kassi Piggee, will lay down the wreath for the club. Pastor Frank Schuster will say the closing prayer.
Attendees of the Kindergraves memorial ceremony will meet at 9:45 a.m. May 19 at Daenner Chapel, Mannheimer Strasse in Kaiserslautern.
The Air Force JROTC Color Guard will lead 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.
“The ceremony is always very sentimental and touching,” Auge said. “We hope a lot of people will attend it.”
The Kindergraves memorial ceremony is a public event open to the entire community. After the ceremony, there will be a reception in the chapel.
For more information regarding the ceremony and the history of the Kaiserslautern Kindergraves, visit www.gaiwc.com.
(Courtesy of German-American and International Women’s Club Kaiserslautern)
