European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 15, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday january 15, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 is Brenda Hosier soldiers and others walk through Darmstadt s Cambrai Fritsch Cavern on thursday in a re enactment of or. Martin Luther King s landmark 1963 March on Washington. Commemoration brings King s spirit to life is Brenda Hoster capt. Ronald Smith. Giving King s i have a dream speech by Jimi Jones staff writer Darmstadt West Germany More than 25 years after 250,000 people joined or. Martin Luther King or. In the most massive protest demonstration to occur in the United states nearly 300 soldiers and family members marched through Cambrai Fritsch Cavern in a re enactment of the 1963 March on Washington. The re enactment the stirring words of King s famed i have a dream speech and the Strong voices of the Darmstadt military Community gospel choir were highlights of the Community s commemoration of King s birthday. On monday the United states celebrates the fourth annual Legal Holiday in memory of the slain civil rights Leader. Carrying posters with messages of this year s theme living the dream let Freedom ring and singing we shall overcome the group marched thurs Day to the 440th signal in s dining Hall where the marchers were served a soul food lunch and heard gospel music speeches and a Reading of King s address. The peaceful civil rights March in the nation s capital on aug. 28, 1963, was an unprecedented demonstration of Solidar Ity against racial injustice and ultimately resulted in the passage of the civil rights act of 1964. The March that Day culminated in King s delivery of what has been called his most impressive Ora Tion. Capt. Ronald Smith the assistant chief of personnel for the 32nd army air defense come delivered King s speech thursday. For the audience especially those who weren t yet born when the crowd stood in the Shadow of the Lincoln memorial Smith presented the address with enough emotion to give them some idea of what spectators Many of whom wept Felt in 1963. It was very inspiring for me said Venetia Crew the choir s assistant director. There was a lot said that i did t know was part of the speech. I was 8 years old when or. King died but did t truly understand what it All meant until i was 17 and moved from Chicago to a Kansas. There i got my first experience with spec. Marcus David Ford born in 1967, has no memory of the civil rights movement. Hearing the speech and hav ing matured to know what was going on i still sometimes think wow you mean we really went through that much " seventeen years after King s april 1968 death the United states legalized the Nobel peace prize Winner s birthday As a National Holiday. Manuel Oliverez the defense depart ment s Deputy director for civilian equal Opportunity policy said a National holi Day in King s Honor is an absolute be there Are Between 40 and 45 million minorities in the country and Martin Luther King or. Is sort of a Beacon for All of us Oliverez said in an armed forces information service news release. He s not Black hispanic or White because he embodied a spirit Ideal and expectation of a better America that transcends All the differences that make up King s plans for a poor people s March to Washington in the Spring of 1968 were interrupted by a trip to Mem Phis tenn., in support of a strike by City sanitation workers. On april 4, he was killed by a sniper s Bullet on the Balcony of the Motel where he was staying. The murder of the civil rights Leader is etched vividly in americans memories. Tech. Sgt. Belton b. Mobley an audio visual technician at Ramstein a was in High school in Philadelphia when the news of King s death came he said in a Telephone interview. His feeling was one of fear at that age. Our protector was he remembers his family s sorrow and several weeks of rioting in Philadelphia schools after King s death. William f. Cochran station manager at the Darmstadt red Cross office said he was driving out of fort Jackson s.c., where he worked with the red Cross when he heard the news. I sometimes wonder Why we had to lose a Man of his capability Cochran said. He had so much to
