2008 10 29 

U.S. Commemorates War Veterans in Lithuania

On Thursday, 30 October 2008, at 13:30, the Commanding Officer and crew members of the USS Doyle along with the Commander of the U.S. Air Force detachment currently conducting Baltic Air Policing in Siauliai will be joined by the Chief of the Lithuanian Naval Staff and representatives of the Lithuanian Navy for a memorial wreath-laying ceremony at the Macikai village cemetery.

The ceremony will honor three United States Army Air Corps Airmen who were shot down, captured, and held at Stalag Luft 6, a Nazi War Prisoner camp outside of Macikai during World War II.

Staff Sergeant George B. Walker, Staff Sergeant Walter Nies, and Technical Sergeant William F. Teaff died while in captivity and now rest near the site of the old camp.

The exact location of the three B-17 airplane crewmember’s remains within the cemetery is unknown. A small monument sits in the approximate spot where the three are buried. The cemetery is also the final resting place for Belgian, Polish, Canadian and German military personnel affiliated with the former camp, as well as Lithuanians.