Located in the archway entrance to the grounds of the church. Plaque

A brass inscribed plaque about 2 x 2 feet.

Camp Adelboden, also know as Camp Moloney, was a camp where mostly American Airmen were interned by Switzerland during the Second World War.  Switzerland was neutral during the the war, so foreign belligerents were held as internees rather than as Prisoners of War. 

From the Swiss Internees Association website:

Camp Moloney was named for Sgt. Joe Moloney, the first American to die in Switzerland during World War II. Located in Adelboden, it was the first internment camp for American internees. Initially all American internees were sent to Adelboden, but soon other camps were established to accommodate larger numbers of internees. From that point on, enlisted internees were sent to Adelboden or Wengen, and officers were sent to Davos. Adelboden is located in a deep valley in the Swiss Alps South of Bern, surrounded on three sides by steep mountains, and on a fourth side by a deep ravine. Only one road provides access to Adelboden, a summer resort town that was largely empty because of the war. This made it an ideal location to house the internees and deter them from attempting escape.

(Over 1500 US Service members, mostly aircrews, were interned in Switzerland during the war; the 134 internees held at the Wauwilermoos Camp were recognized as POWs in the US in 2014).

Special thanks to the B-17 Museum in Utzenstrorf, Switzerland for the photos of this memorial and for information concerning this monument.  For more on the B-17 Museum Utzenstorf, see the museum website at https://www.b17museum.ch 

The text is in English and reads:

These gates were presented 

by INTERNED AMERICAN AIRMEN

and ESCAPED PRISONERS OF WAR OF THE

BRITISH COMMONWEALTH 

In Memory of the many Pleasant 

Months Spent in Adelboden

1943-1945