{"id":564738,"date":"2025-08-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=564738"},"modified":"2025-08-01T15:42:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T15:42:32","slug":"usag-bavaria-reaffirms-decades-of-german-american-friendship-with-volksfest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=564738","title":{"rendered":"USAG Bavaria reaffirms decades of German-American friendship with Volksfest"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n TOWER BARRACKS, Germany — U.S. and German leadership cut the ribbon to open U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria’s 62nd annual German-American Volksfest Aug. 1, 2025 in the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck military communities. The Volksfest continues for three days, and it includes vendors selling both American and German food and beverages, games and rides for families, displays of German and American military equipment, and live musical entertainment. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Gatchell, USAG Bavaria Public Affairs)
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\n TOWER BARRACKS, Germany — A band leads a parade during the opening of the U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria’s 62nd annual German-American Volksfest Aug. 1, 2025 in the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck military communities. The Volksfest continues for three days, and it includes vendors selling both American and German food and beverages, games and rides for families, displays of German and American military equipment, and live musical entertainment. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Gatchell, USAG Bavaria Public Affairs)
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\n TOWER BARRACKS, Germany — A color guard leads a parade during the opening of U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria’s 62nd annual German-American Volksfest Aug. 1, 2025 in the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck military communities. The Volksfest continues for three days, and it includes vendors selling both American and German food and beverages, games and rides for families, displays of German and American military equipment, and live musical entertainment. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Gatchell, USAG Bavaria Public Affairs)
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\n TOWER BARRACKS, Germany — A wind ensemble plays during the opening of the U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria’s 62nd annual German-American Volksfest Aug. 1, 2025 in the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck military communities. The Volksfest continues for three days, and it includes vendors selling both American and German food and beverages, games and rides for families, displays of German and American military equipment, and live musical entertainment. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Gatchell, USAG Bavaria Public Affairs)
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\n TOWER BARRACKS, Germany — From left, Tobias Rei\u00df, vice president of the Bavarian parliament, and Dr. Florian Herrmann, chief of the Bavarian state chancellery, listen as Col. Stephen C. Flanagan, U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria commander, speaks during the opening of USAG Bavaria’s 62nd annual German-American Volksfest Aug. 1, 2025 in the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck military communities. The Volksfest continues for three days, and it includes vendors selling both American and German food and beverages, games and rides for families, displays of German and American military equipment, and live musical entertainment. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Gatchell, USAG Bavaria Public Affairs)
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\n TOWER BARRACKS, Germany — Dr. Florian Herrmann, chief of the Bavarian state chancellery, speaks during the opening of U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria’s 62nd annual German-American Volksfest Aug. 1, 2025 in the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck military communities. The Volksfest continues for three days, and it includes vendors selling both American and German food and beverages, games and rides for families, displays of German and American military equipment, and live musical entertainment. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Gatchell, USAG Bavaria Public Affairs)
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\n TOWER BARRACKS, Germany — Brig. Gen. Terry Tillis, commanding general of the 7th Army Training Command, speaks during the opening of U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria’s 62nd annual German-American Volksfest Aug. 1, 2025 in the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck military communities. The Volksfest continues for three days, and it includes vendors selling both American and German food and beverages, games and rides for families, displays of German and American military equipment, and live musical entertainment. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Gatchell, USAG Bavaria Public Affairs)
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\n TOWER BARRACKS, Germany — Edgar Knobloch, mayor of Grafenwoehr, speaks during the opening of USAG Bavaria’s 62nd annual German-American Volksfest Aug. 1, 2025 in the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck military communities. The Volksfest continues for three days, and it includes vendors selling both American and German food and beverages, games and rides for families, displays of German and American military equipment, and live musical entertainment. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Gatchell, USAG Bavaria Public Affairs)
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\n TOWER BARRACKS, Germany — Hans Martin Schertl, mayor of Vilseck, taps the ceremonial keg during the opening of U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria’s 62nd annual German-American Volksfest Aug. 1, 2025 in the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck military communities. The Volksfest continues for three days, and it includes vendors selling both American and German food and beverages, games and rides for families, displays of German and American military equipment, and live musical entertainment. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Gatchell, USAG Bavaria Public Affairs)
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\n TOWER BARRACKS, Germany — U.S. and German leaders hold aloft their ceremonial steins of beer during U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria’s 62nd annual German-American Volksfest Aug. 1, 2025 in the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck military communities. The Volksfest continues for three days, and it includes vendors selling both American and German food and beverages, games and rides for families, displays of German and American military equipment, and live musical entertainment. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Gatchell, USAG Bavaria Public Affairs)
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TOWER BARRACKS, Germany \u2013 U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria\u2019s 62nd annual German-American Volksfest in the Grafenw\u00f6hr and Vilseck communities opened Aug. 1, 2025 with good cheer and an emphasis on the ongoing importance of the friendship between two nations.<\/p>\n

Rolling clouds and occasional breakthroughs of sunshine greeted U.S. Army leadership and German leadership as they cut the ribbon to officially begin the large-scale festival.<\/p>\n

A color guard and band led the officiating parade to the festival tent, where the leadership gathered on stage to welcome the visitors and tap the festival beer keg. The group included Dr. Florian Herrmann, chief of the Bavarian State Chancellery; Tobias Rei\u00df, vice president of the Bavarian parliament; Dr. Julius Tsai from the Consulate General of the U.S. in Munich; Edgar Knobloch, B\u00fcrgermeister of Grafenw\u00f6hr; Hans Martin Schertl, B\u00fcrgermeister of Vilseck; Brig. Gen. Terry Tillis, commanding general of the 7th Army Training Command; Col. Florian Rommel, the German military representative at Grafenwoehr Training Area; and Col. Stephen C. Flanagan, USAG Bavaria commander.<\/p>\n

Flanagan opened the fest tent ceremony by thanking those who came the Volksfest and reminding them that the ties between the U.S. and Germany date back to the founding of the U.S. when Prussian officer Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben helped train and professionalize the new U.S. Army.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur German-American friendship has also grown immensely in the last 80 years right here in Bavaria,\u201d he said. \u201cWe work together to uphold our shared values of freedom and democracy and defend all we hold dear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEighty years ago, it was the first summer after six years of war, and the war was ended because of brave American Soldiers, who made all the sacrifices from the United States to Europe to free Europe and to free Germany,\u201d Herrmann said.<\/p>\n

Herrmann went on to say the Grafenwoehr Training Area is the \u201cheart chamber\u201d of NATO readiness and that there is \u201cno readiness without training and no training without Grafenwoehr.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillis, during opening remarks, iterated the importance of readiness and emphasized the role community partnerships have in maintaining readiness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be ready to respond wen we\u2019re called into action,\u201d he said. \u201cI do think that the partnership here at Grafenw\u00f6hr, spearheaded by our teammates here with Mayor Knobloch and then also Mayor Schertl of Vilseck help us do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knobloch also thanked the leadership and the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Volksfest is as important for us as for you is the Super Bowl,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n TOWER BARRACKS, Germany — The U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria 62nd German-American Volksfest runs Aug. 1 through 3, 2025 at the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck military communities. It includes vendors selling both American and German food and beverages, games and rides for families, displays of German and American military equipment, and live musical entertainment. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Gatchell, USAG Bavaria Public Affairs)
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The Volksfest continues for three days, and it includes vendors selling both American and German food and beverages, games and rides for families, displays of German and American military equipment, and live musical entertainment.<\/p>\n

To learn more about the 62nd German-American Volksfest, visit the page here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 10 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 TOWER BARRACKS, Germany — U.S. and German leadership cut the ribbon to open U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria’s 62nd annual German-American Volksfest Aug. 1, 2025 in the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck military communities. The Volksfest continues for three days, and it includes vendors selling both American and German […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564740,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-564738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=564738"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":564752,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564738\/revisions\/564752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/564740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=564738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=564738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=564738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}