Rasp
Senior Editor
German P.O.W.s to be honored at Fort Drum
German POW's to be honored at Fort Drum
Watertown’s German American Club will gather this weekend to honor the memory of six German soldiers and one Italian soldier held at Fort Drum as POW’s during World War II.
The remembrance ceremony is being held in conjunction with the German holiday 'Day of National Mourning' Sunday November 19th, and will mark the fifth anniversary of rendering honors to the memories of the men who died.
A Fort Drum bugler will play taps at the ceremony and a recording of a traditional German song, Der Gute Kamerad, will also be played. The president of th
e German-American Club, Ursula Mickle, will read a message from the German Consulate and will be joined by Col. Albert Franke from Fort Drum chaplain's office in laying a wreath at the site of the graves.
The post, called Pine Camp at the time was the site of a stockade from 1943 to 1946 that housed between 1,500 and 4,000 captives from Nazi armies, and another 2,500 Italian prisoners.
The men died before or shortly after Hitler’s forces surrendered and in the confusion of postwar Europe, their families never were found. Their bodies lie in a small plot off State Route 26 north of the entrance to Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield beneath headstones marked only with name and date of death.
The deceased German and Italian Soldiers to be honored are:
German Prisoners of War
Obergefreiter (Corporal) Otto Edelmann, died Aug. 3, 1944
Gefreiter (Private First Class) Karl Elert, died Dec. 21, 1944
Hilfszollassistant (Customs Assistant) Franz Heitmann, died July 7, 19
45
Obergefreiter (Corporal) Heinrich Schmidtmeier, died Aug. 18, 1945
Obergefreiter (Corporal) Josef Mueller, died Aug. 31, 1945
Obergefreiter (Corporal) Christian Huppertz, died Sept. 21, 1945
Italian Prisoner of War
Private Rino Carlutti, died Oct. 17, 1944
German POW's to be honored at Fort Drum
Watertown’s German American Club will gather this weekend to honor the memory of six German soldiers and one Italian soldier held at Fort Drum as POW’s during World War II.
The remembrance ceremony is being held in conjunction with the German holiday 'Day of National Mourning' Sunday November 19th, and will mark the fifth anniversary of rendering honors to the memories of the men who died.
A Fort Drum bugler will play taps at the ceremony and a recording of a traditional German song, Der Gute Kamerad, will also be played. The president of th
e German-American Club, Ursula Mickle, will read a message from the German Consulate and will be joined by Col. Albert Franke from Fort Drum chaplain's office in laying a wreath at the site of the graves.
The post, called Pine Camp at the time was the site of a stockade from 1943 to 1946 that housed between 1,500 and 4,000 captives from Nazi armies, and another 2,500 Italian prisoners.
The men died before or shortly after Hitler’s forces surrendered and in the confusion of postwar Europe, their families never were found. Their bodies lie in a small plot off State Route 26 north of the entrance to Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield beneath headstones marked only with name and date of death.
The deceased German and Italian Soldiers to be honored are:
German Prisoners of War
Obergefreiter (Corporal) Otto Edelmann, died Aug. 3, 1944
Gefreiter (Private First Class) Karl Elert, died Dec. 21, 1944
Hilfszollassistant (Customs Assistant) Franz Heitmann, died July 7, 19
45
Obergefreiter (Corporal) Heinrich Schmidtmeier, died Aug. 18, 1945
Obergefreiter (Corporal) Josef Mueller, died Aug. 31, 1945
Obergefreiter (Corporal) Christian Huppertz, died Sept. 21, 1945
Italian Prisoner of War
Private Rino Carlutti, died Oct. 17, 1944