
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994                   TAG: 9406050049
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder Newspapers
DATELINE: LA CAMBE, FRANCE                                LENGTH: Medium

VETS, GERMANS WONDER: IS D-DAY ONLY FOR WINNERS?

Hans Siegel, once a young German soldier, stands in this dark place of Teutonic intensity, a rarely visited cemetery of Iron Crosses, a cemetery filled with his comrades.

It is time, finally, for complete reconciliation, he says. The Germans should be in Normandy on Monday, the 50th anniversary of D-Day. "We must reach our hands over the graves. We must agree that it is over."

His friend, Hubert Meyer, also once a young German soldier, disagrees. "This is a day to celebrate victory. It is for the winners of war and that was not us."

Even here, at the German military cemetery at La Cambe, close to the beaches of D-Day but off the usual tourist trail, where 21,222 Germans are buried, the controversy is heard:

Should Germany be included in the 50th anniversary commemoration of D-Day?

Opinions are divided, their sources unpredictable. It is too late anyway: German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was not invited, and he has barred his diplomats from attending.

As a gesture of goodwill, the French instead invited Kohl to attend the traditional Bastille Day parade July 14. He has agreed.

Many U.S. veterans say it is proper that Germany not be represented at the D-Day ceremonies. Even a half-century cannot erase all of the hostility, they say.

"They weren't our allies then," says David Wallace, 70, of Tamarac, Fla., once an infantryman at Omaha Beach. "They were our enemies then. That's what this whole thing is about."

Many U.S. veterans think otherwise. The time has come to turn the corner, they say.

"I think they should be invited," says John Mackel, 76, of Homestead, Fla., once an infantry officer at Omaha Beach. "Look at France and England. They fought for hundreds of years and now they're friends. I had the utmost respect for the German soldier. I really did."

A message written in the visitors book by a teacher from England:

"We visit every year and try to help the children understand the horror of the last world war, and that in death, there are no enemies. We hope and pray that they grow up in a peaceful world and never know the suffering that war brings."

by CNB