Carl S. Rovinsky and James M. Buffenmeyer died being prisoners of war

A beautiful tradition of remembering two fallen US Army soldiers in a Polish cemetery

Wars have led soldiers to die in the most remote places on the planet, sometimes as combatants and sometimes as prisoners. It is the case of two American soldiers.

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Carl S. Rovinsky was a private of the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th United States Army Infantry Division. He was born in Pennsylvania on May 17, 1923, and was taken prisoner by the Germans in Italy. Born to a prisoner of war camp in Poland, he died during his captivity on November 3, 1943.

Sergeant James M. Buffenmeyer belonged to the 1st Armored Division, the "Old Ironsides" of the 6th US Army. He was born in Missouri on May 31, 1923 and was taken prisoner by the Germans in Tunisia on February 12, 1943. Like Carl, he was taken to a prison camp in Poland and died during his captivity on December 2, 1943.

In total there were 30 prisoner war camps of the German Army and 2 of the Luftwaffe in occupied Poland. In Poland they are very aware of those who fell in that horrendous war. Carl and James could possibly have been forgotten like many other compatriots of theirs, but in Poland they raised two gravestones with the emblems of their units and their data in Polish and English, on their graves in the cemetery of the Polish city of Słupsk, in Pomerania.

Every day of All Saints, soldiers of the Polish Army and sailors of the US Navy guard next to their graves. American sailors are part of the staff of the North American detachment in Redzikowo, Poland. On these lines you can see the guard of last year, and then the guard of last Friday.

In the following photo we see Commander John Brown (right), executive officer of the US naval detachment in Redzikowo, and Major Mariusz Warta (left), commander of the Polish Battalion of said base, depositing a wreath in the graves of those two soldiers American people.

This joint tribute demonstrates that the memory of those killed in combat is an act of honor common to both Nations, which were allied in World War II and today are again after the fall of communism in Poland.

And just as Polish soldiers and sailors pay tribute to those two American soldiers, US sailors also pay homage to the fallen Polish of that cemetery.

Cześć ich pamięci!
Honor to their memory!

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Photos: Naval Support Facility Redzikowo / US Navy / DVIDShub.net.

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