Red, White and Blue Wreath Ordered for Bitburg Ceremony
BONN — The wreath President Reagan is to place in the Bitburg military cemetery will be decorated in the red, white and blue colors of the American flag, it was reported today.
The Bild Zeitung newspaper said the wreath has already been ordered for Reagan’s visit Sunday to the cemetery where 1,800 German World War II soldiers--among them 49 Nazi SS troopers--are buried.
Bonn government spokesman Peter Boenisch told reporters today that he thinks the American criticism of Reagan’s Bitburg visit is a “scandal” and he reiterated that the visit is still on.
A government press office program indicates that Reagan will probably place the wreath at a monument to the German war dead.
The ceremony will not include the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” or the German national anthem, “Deutschland Ueber Alles,” the newspaper said.
Reagan adamant on visit, Page 2.
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