A sign on the former U.S. Army hospital in Heidelberg, Germany, indicates the facility is permanently closed. The hospital, used by the U.S. Army garrison here since just after the end of World War II, is where Gen. George S. Patton died, 12 days after a car crash in nearby Mannheim in 1945. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
A sign on the former U.S. Army hospital in Heidelberg, Germany, indicates the facility is permanently closed. The hospital, used by the U.S. Army garrison here since just after the end of World War II, is where Gen. George S. Patton died, 12 days after a car crash in nearby Mannheim in 1945. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Plastic warning tape bars entry to the former U.S. Army hospital in Heidelberg, Germany. U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton, famous for commanding the Third U.S. Army in World War II, died at the hospital in 1945 after a car accident in nearby Mannheim. The base that houses the hospital, Nachrichten Kaserne, held its final retreat ceremony Monday, lowering the U.S. flag here for the last time before the base is decommissioned and handed back to the German government. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
The U.S. flag flies in front of the clock tower for the last time on Nachrichten Kaserne in Heidelberg, Germany, home of the U.S. Army hospital. Europe Regional Medical Command held a final retreat ceremony here Monday, lowering the U.S. flag at the base one last time before the post is decommissioned and returned to the German government. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
HEIDELBERG, Germany — A detail of medical soldiers marched to the flagpole Monday for the last retreat ceremony at Nachrichten Kaserne, the latest installation to close in the U.S. military community at Heidelberg.
The post was the longtime home of a U.S. Army hospital, which was visited by thousands of military members and their families over the years. The hospital was best known as the place where Gen. George S. Patton, the famed World War II general, died after a car crash in nearby Mannheim.
Nachrichten, along with other Army posts in the city, is being decommissioned and returned to the German government as part of the Army’s realignment in Europe.
