German-Italian Memorial Cemetery

On a little road surrounded by pine trees and quaint houses in Anniston, Alabama, you can find a number of headstones that mark the final resting places of German and Italian soldiers who were held as prisoners of war.

From 1943 to 1946, German and Italian soldiers from the North African Campaign were brought to Fort McClellan as prisoners of war. More than 400,000 Axis soldiers were held as prisoners in camps throughout the United States, and some 3,000 were interned at Fort McClellan, which was widely regarded as a model camp.

A total of 29 men are buried at the cemetery, 26 of them German and three Italian. The Italians that came to the cemetery were reburied there after other camps closed. Most of the deaths had been accidents, at least at Fort McClellan, however, there was one case of a soldier who died by suicide after suffering from psychosis. When these soldiers died they were given the same rights as an American soldier, including proper headstones. In one case the ambulance that took the POW to the hospital came to the funeral. 

In recent years, a project was set in place to restore the graves, where they were all cleaned up and a big fence was put up. There are still events going on to continue the respect for the soldiers, such as every third Sunday of November there is a ceremony of placing wreaths with the ROTC color guard and military.