(FORTUNE Magazine) – The last U.S. soldiers will be leaving Berlin on September 8. The same day, CEOs from various U.S. corporations will be arriving in their place to take part in a three-day conference entitled "New Traditions." The get-together could also be called "Nobody here is going AWOL." Departing U.S. Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke is inviting top U.S. brass to show that corporate America has no intention of retreating from Europe's economic powerhouse. His more than 80 guests, most with business interests in Germany, include Louis Gerstner of IBM, Anthony O'Reilly of H.J. Heinz, and Charles Harper of RJR Nabisco Holdings. Their local counterparts include Edzard Reuter, chairman of Daimler-Benz, and Hilmar Kopper, a director of Deutsche Bank. The conference will also figure political luminaries like Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Vice President Albert Gore. The session will be the closing act in a series of summer events designed to redefine German-American relations now that a 49-year U.S. military presence is drawing to an end.