Representatives of the 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion "Warhammers" and the German War Grave Caring Association gather together to count the donations made by the 18th CSSB. The 18th CSSB Soldiers collected 775 Euros this year, exceeding la...

Stabsfeldwebel Gerhard Lindthaler (far left) smiles as he dumps out the donations made by the 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion "Warhammer" Soldiers to the German War Grave Caring Association as Norbert Bucherl, (back left) the mayor of Freih...

FREIHUNG, Germany - Representatives from the 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade and the German War Grave Caring Association met at the Freihung Rathaus here Nov. 30 and counted the donations made by Warhammer Soldiers for the grave sites fund. The 18th CSSB Soldiers collected 775 Euros this year, exceeding last year's donation of 600 Euros.

The fund is supported largely through private donations, and its members travel throughout Europe setting up and preserving gravesites and memorials where German soldiers have fallen during times of war.

"It is very unique how the 18th CSSB Soldiers have collected the donations internally; no other foreign military has done this before to support our organization. This represents the real, living camaraderie between soldiers no matter their nationality," said Kasper Becher, the German War Grave Caring Association representative for the Oberpfalz region.

"On behalf of the Warhammer Soldiers, I want to thank you for allowing us to contribute. It is only right to see these soldiers remembered and buried properly," said the 18th CSSB commander, Lt. Col. Reed Hudgins, a native of Reisterstown, Md.

"This all works due to the living partnership between the town of Freihung and the 18th CSSB," said Becher.