During a memorial ceremony Thursday morning at Fort Riley the 62 German and 11 Italian POWs buried at the Fort Riley Cemetery were remembered.

Representatives of both the German and Italian militaries were present and placed wreaths in honor of their fallen comrades.

COL Carsten Treder, German LiasonOfficer to the US Army at Fort Leavenworth spoke during the ceremony and said that remembrance is also a warning.

“This is another reason of why we mourn the casualties of war and the victims of dictatorship. It reminds us that we have indispensible responsibility of our history,” said Treder.

Fort Riley was one of about 600 prisoner of war camps in the United States. From 1943 to 1946, about 4,500 POWs were incarcerated at Fort Riley, where they performed farm work, road work, laundry services and building maintenance for a stipend of 80 cents per day. After World War II, some of the POWs stayed in the local area and were later buried at Fort Riley.