U.S. Military Won’t Observe Linkup at Elbe

The State Department said Monday it will not send U.S. military representatives to take part in an April 25 ceremony of Soviet and American World War II veterans because of the killing of a U.S. Army major by a Soviet sentry in East Germany on March 24.

“We don’t consider it appropriate under the circumstances,” department spokesman Bernard Kalb said, adding that he does not know whether the Reagan Administration plans to send civilian representatives.

The ceremony will mark the 40th anniversary of the linkup between the Red Army and U.S. forces at the Elbe River in Germany, about two weeks before the war in Europe ended with the surrender of Nazi Germany.

Kalb gave no details on the size of the military delegation that the administration had been planning to send to the ceremony.

However, Robert Swan Jr., one of the U.S. veterans involved in organizing the ceremony, said last week that Washington had intended to send at most a military color guard to the event. About 200 veterans are expected to take part in the ceremony at the Elbe River, which now forms part of the boundary between East Germany and West Germany.

U.S. Anger Over Shooting

The decision to have no military representation reflects continuing U.S. anger over the shooting of Maj. Arthur D. Nicholson Jr., 37, while he was monitoring a Soviet military installation in East Germany.

The United States has maintained that Nicholson did nothing wrong, while the Soviets have said the officer entered a restricted area.

“We remain deeply concerned over the Soviet behavior in this tragic incident,” Kalb said.

The tensions generated by the death of Nicholson appeared to ease somewhat Saturday when Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin and Secretary of State George P. Shultz agreed to arrange a meeting of the top Soviet and American commanders in the two Germanys to discuss ways of preventing additional killings.

Kalb said future U.S. decisions concerning the Nicholson case will depend on the stand taken by the Soviets in the meeting of the commanders. He added that no date has been set for the meeting.