News-Info-Alerts

Re: POW-MIA Memorial Dedicated in Europe

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: September 25, 2002

"Stuttgart dedicates POW/MIA memorial

By David Josar, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Tuesday, September 24, 2002

courtesy of the Stuttgart Clan of Motorcycle Enthusiasts
About 70 people from the Stuttgart community on Friday dedicated this POW/MIA memorial at the U.S. European Command headquarters. Local nationals, military and civilian personnel and businesses raised about $5,300 for the memorial.

STUTTGART, Germany — Members of the local and military communities raised more than $5,000 for a POW-MIA memorial that was dedicated Friday outside U.S. European Command headquarters.

“It went really well,” said Robert Saylor, one of the organizers and a European Command civilian employee. “There was a tremendous amount of support from the community.”

The memorial, which was the focus of a ceremony Friday that coincided with POW-MIA Remembrance Day, cost approximately $5,300. Saylor said about an extra $600 was raised that the group hopes will be used to fund the placing of a wreath on behalf of the 6th Area Support Group community, which encompasses Stuttgart, each year on POW-MIA Remembrance Day.

About 70 people, including local Germans, civilian and military Department of Defense employees and representatives of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, attended the ceremony.

The idea for a memorial began last year when members of the Stuttgart Clan of Motorcycle Enthusiasts — a 6th Area Support Group-recognized organization whose members include Americans and Germans — wanted to find a way to remember prisoners of war and those missing in action.

The group held fund-raisers, wrote letters to businesses and even held a motorcycle rally and rodeo over the summer.

In a speech Friday, Saylor, “chieftain” of the Stuttgart Clan, said that motorcyclists enjoy freedom, such as the freedom of the road and the freedom to travel safely.

“We enjoy that freedom others have provided for us,” he said. “This memorial is our way to dedicate, honor and remember those that paid the price for freedom as POWs [and] MIAs. We do this to remember those we lost, and [to] never forget that freedom isn’t free.”

The POW-MIA site is near a new memorial that was built to honor those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

In the rain Monday, Army Sgt. Chaz Kupeck paused to look at the memorial on Patch Barracks in Stuttgart.

“It does make you think,” Kupeck said. “Especially with such war talk going on right now, you are reminded that there have been many who have gone before us who have made the ultimate sacrifice or were never heard of again.”

Financial support for the memorial came from the Special Forces Association, the American Legion, the Masons, the VFW, Cars International, Manfred Angster, Harley-Davidson, Veterans Motorcycle Club, the Air Force Sergeants Association, Exchange New Car Sales, Steelcase Corps, SAIC, POW/MIA Programs and many individuals.

© 2002 Stars and Stripes"