European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 31, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday May 31,1994 the stars and stripes Page 5 a Day anniversary by the stars and stripes Wierville sur Mer France the final countdown began monday in Normandy As . Military and French officials watched the deadline for the 50th anniversary of a Payslip inside one week. Planners at All the ceremony Sites expressed Confidence that construction work was on schedule. But everyone seemed to be keeping an Eye on the weather which generally had been bad in recent Days until sunday when the Sun was out All Day. It was overcast Cool and Windy monday but it did not rain. At Omaha Beach site of the main International ceremony monday june 6, construction workers continued to assemble the grandstands and speakers platform. A Crew Foreman told reporters that the work was on schedule. At the Normandy american cemetery above Omaha Beach workers bolted Down grandstand seats and Laid the final plywood for a veterans1 seating platform at the reflecting Pool. President Clinton will address returning . Veterans during an american sponsored ceremony at the cemetery in late afternoon monday. A we Are on track. All bleacher seats Are in a said maj. David Swindell project officer for work at the cemetery. Swindell said soldiers from the 41st Field arty brigade at Babenhausen Germany and the 92nd my co at Darmstadt Germany were among those putting in Long hours to keep the plans on schedule. At Pointe do hoc where Clinton will speak monday morning an army spokesman said construction by army engineers and French contractors was going As planned. A weather has not been a problem a said it. Col. Timothy a Thomas. Soldiers from the 130th engr brigade at Hanau Germany Are a putting the finishing touches on the ceremonial platform a Thomas said. About 30 sol Diere from the 440th signal in at Darmstadt Are running a communications Node at Pointe do hoc Thomas added. Security at the Pointe is being handled by the 127th my co from Frankfurt Germany. Wet weather has hampered preparations at , where paratroops of the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions and members of the 3rd in on 325th airborne combat team from Vicenza Italy will jump sunday. Wet pasture land forced planners to move the ceremony site and has delayed construction of the viewing platform for veterans. The paratroops will jump into what is now extremely soggy pasture land outside the Village of Umfreville about three Miles from . A a it a coming along at ste.-m6re-�g-Lise a said maj. Guy Shields spokesman for activities at and Utah Beach. At Utah Beach French construction workers a assure us they Are right on schedule a Shields said. The workers were Busy All Day sunday bolting Down seats in the grandstands being built behind the Beach dunes. All along the 50-mile stretch of invasion coast from Ouist Reham to , towns and villages seem in Competition to see which one can Plant the largest number of Flowers and shrubs at traffic circles town entrances and on the main squares. Tens of thousands of French american British and Canadian flags Are Hung from houses suspended from Telephone wires and Strung from Church and Public building towers. Clinton from Page 1of the High Cost of our he said Many Well known heroes Are buried there along with a americans whose names Are not famous whose lives Are not legend but whose deeds were the Backbone that secured our nations Liberty. Today we Honor v a a a / he also previewed his eight Day trip to Europe that begins wednesday and culminates with a Celebration of the june 6,1944, Allied Landing at Normandy that turned the tide against Adolf Hitler. More than 5,200 soldiers were killed or wounded in the invasion. A but the Battle that was fought there a was not just Between two armies. It was As clearly As any conflict in All of human histone a Battle Between two ways of life a Clinton said. It led to the Allied Victory Over a to Talit Arians who thought democracies were too soft and lacked resolve. A in the chaos of Battle it was the Independence and the can do Confidence of the sons and daughters of american and other democracies that won the Day a the president said. Clinton born two years after the Normandy invasion paid homage to families left behind by the dead of All wars and to american soldiers who returned Home after world War ii to build a better nation for his generation. A we will never forget your valor your sacrifices the daily lives that you have made possible a he said after a White House breakfast meeting with veterans. Clinton a father William Jeffersoni Blythe served in Italy during the War and died six months after his from Page 1 tended almost exclusively by French citizens. The town of , near in Southwest Normandy is the site of the Brittany cemetery one of five american world War ii cemeteries in France. Brittany often is called the lost cemetery because it is overshadowed by the Normandy american cemetery above Omaha Beach. Rather than creating a solemn mood at the Brittany cemetery the mayor of , Michel Shoury opted to Combine the service with the town s 50th anniversary of liberation from nazi occupation. Hence the children. A the child is pure a Shoury said in an interview with the associated press. Youngsters Are a uncontaminated by political problems. We Are using these children As ambassadors of peace and a the american soldiers liberated France and other lands from nationalism and Hitler a said Theo Moll a middie school teacher who brought 24 children from Erkelenz a suburb of Cologne Germany. As part of the ceremony 4,410 children released Carrier pigeons from behind each of the grave markers. The release of the pigeons from the grave Sites symbolized Freedom and liberation Shoury said. About 400 Birds were also released from the cemetery a Wall of the missing which contains 498 names. When a French paratrooper dressed As an american world War ii Soldier descended into the cemetery in the Middle of the service the thousands of children snapped toy crickets like those used by paratroops during the a Day landings to help them find one another in the dark. Joining the French 8 to-12-year-Olds at the grave markers were several Hundred youngsters from Britain Germany and Norway. As the German children joined the others who stood behind crosses and. Stars of David at the american cemetery Moll said that a every child stands by a Soldier of America who brought Freedom for this country and for Germany according to Butler 75, his monthlong journey to european battlefields is a world War ii saw a a tremendous waste of life compared to the attitudes of people now a said Butler from Kalamazoo mich., who was a surgeon with the 9th div. With the attitude of winning the War at All costs the deaths of soldiers were a just water Over the dam a he said. He has been looking Over letters he sent to his wife 50 years ago. In one he wrote that a life is pretty cheap and its like swatting flies around but he said most of the letters were less bitter intended to keep up morale on the Home front. ,. Charles Scheffel 75, was travelling in a rented car along with Clark and Butler. A a a a a a a a i told my wife the 50th til make the 100th i done to know about a said Scheffel from Oklahoma City who fought with the 9th div from North Africa to Germany. He a missing his right forefinger because of gunfire from a German aircraft but it Wasny to until his outfit reached Lammersdorf Germany that he received the wound that put him in a Hospital for two years. A a in be got some of my men buried Here a Scheffel said at the Entrance to the cemetery. Arid at the Normandy american cemetery up along the English Channel he said a a in be got lots of friends there.�?�. Although Clark Butler and Scheffel might not make it to the 100th anniversary services for a Day the approximately 6,000 children who stood and Sang by Graves monday will be in their late 50s and Early 60s in the year 2044. The mayor of has asked them to return in 50 years and thus keep alive the message of Freedom and liberation that was set aloft monday with the Wing beat of nearly 5,000 pigeons. _ a we Are asking these children in 50 years to be the bearers of a historic message a Shoury said a and messengers of off ., . From wire reports Moscow a Russia has stopped aiming nuclear missiles at the United states and Britain a russian parliament Leader announced monday during a meeting with . Senators. The declaration by Sergei Mushenkov who Heads the defense committee of the Duma the russian parliaments lower House was amplified in a foreign ministry statement later monday. A Day to Day control of the russian sides nuclear Force is now based on the Assumption that the United states and great Britain Are not russians enemies a the statement said. The .-russian agreement to Stop aiming Long Range nuclear missiles at each others countries was reached during Percsi Dent Clinton a visit to Moscow in january. Britain later joined the agreement which said the former cold War adversaries would no longer aim nuclear weapons at each other after May 30. Instead of coordinates for . Targets the missiles guidance systems now have Quot Zero flight task a col. Gen. Igor Sergeyev commander of russians strategic troops told the inter fax news Agency. That Means that the missiles have no target coordinates in their computer memory and will not move even in the Case of an unauthorized launch Sergeyev explained. Mushenkov made his announcement atthe opening session of a two Day meeting Between some members of the Senate armed services committee and their russian counterparts. The committees chairman. Democratic sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia leads the . Delegation. Pope stands firm against women Vatican Tyty a seeking to mid further debate Pope John Paul ii gave his definitive a a not monday to whether women could Ever become roman Catholic priests. John Paul has consistently rejected the i idea despite pressures from Many Catho lies in the United states and Western Europe. In a new letter to Bishops the Pope made Clear he considered the matter Pope said the Church a has no authority whatsoever to Confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is a to be definitively held by All the churches for those pursuing women a issues it was the second setback in four Days. On Friday after an 18-month delay the Vatican unveiled an English language version of the catechism without gender Neutral language sought by american translators. The letter with the title a on reserving priestly ordination to men alone a was in part the Vatican a formal response to the ordination of women in the Church of England two months ago. The Pope rejected the possibility that women could become priests on grounds of Church tradition Church Law and the fact that Jesus chose Only men As apostles. John Paul said it should not be considered a question of discrimination or to mean that a women Are of lesser a rather it is to be seen As the faithful Observance of a plan to be ascribed to the Wisdom of the lord of the
