{"id":426777,"date":"2025-04-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=426777"},"modified":"2025-04-26T18:40:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T18:40:05","slug":"ny-national-guard-commander-to-attend-dachau-liberation-80th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=426777","title":{"rendered":"NY National Guard Commander to attend Dachau Liberation 80th Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n An American Soldier is surrounded by survivors at the newly liberated Dachau concentration camp, April 29, 1945 in Dachau, Germany. American Soldiers of the U.S. 7th Army, including members of the 42nd Infantry and 45th Infantry and 20th Armored Divisions participated in the camp\u2019s liberation. U.S. Army photo courtesy of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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\n Survivors of the Dachau concentration camp cheer their American liberators. (Courtesy USHMM)
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\n U.S. Army Corporal Larry Matinsk puts cigarettes into the extended hands of newly liberated prisoners behind a stockade in the Allach concentration camp, near Dachau Germany on April 30, 1945. Also pictured are U.S. Army Soldiers Arthur Toratti and George Babel (second and third from the left). Allach was a subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp. American Soldiers of the U.S. 7th Army, including members of the 42nd Infantry and 45th Infantry and 20th Armored Divisions participated in the subcamp\u2019s liberation. The main concentration camp at Dachau had more than 120 subcamps in the area. U.S. Army photo courtesy of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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\n Newly liberated prisoners of the Allach concentration camp celebrate their liberation near Dachau, Germany, April 30, 1945. American Soldiers of the U.S. 7th Army, including members of the 42nd Infantry and 45th Infantry and 20th Armored Divisions participated in the subcamp\u2019s liberation. The main concentration camp at Dachau had more than 120 subcamps in the area. U.S. Army photo courtesy of the New York State Military Museum.
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TROY, New York \u2013 The commander of the New York Army National Guard\u2019s Troy-based 42nd Infantry Division will be on hand April 29 for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazis\u2019 infamous Dachau Concentration Camp.<\/p>\n

The 42nd is one of three U.S. Army divisions credited with liberating the camp, established near Munich by Adolph Hitler in 1933.<\/p>\n

Major General Jack James, the division commander, and division Command Sgt. Major Arnold Reyes, will represent the division.<\/p>\n

The division will be recognized with an award named after a French resistance fighter, imprisoned at Dachau and liberated by American Soldiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible honor to represent the Rainbow Division and accept the Andre Delpeche Award on behalf of our division\u2019s veterans \u2013 the liberators of Dachau,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis commemoration highlights the incredible history of our Rainbow Division \u2013 from the trenches of World War I, to defeating the last German offensive of World War II; to liberating Dachau; to the Global War on Terror and beyond,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible honor to lead such a storied division into its next major chapter as we prepare to deploy again later this year.\u201d James added.<\/p>\n

The 42nd Infantry Division has been nicknamed \u201cthe Rainbow Division\u201d since World War I.<\/p>\n

The 42nd\u2014along with the 45th Infantry Division, and the 20th Armored Division\u2014is credited with liberating more than 30,000 survivors of the camp.<\/p>\n

The Rainbow Division Veterans Foundation, a group which includes surviving veterans, their descendants, and current division members and veterans, is coordinating a trip to take part in the memorial events.<\/p>\n

Retired Lt. Col. Robert Giordano, a Capital Region resident and Iraq War veteran of the 42nd Division and memorials officer for the Rainbow Division Veterans Foundation is coordinating the event with the Army National Guard leadership in Troy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time we\u2019ve ever had all three divisions, the 42nd, 45th and 20th all involved in the planning for the Dachau liberation ceremonies,\u201d Giordano said.<\/p>\n

The 45th Infantry Division reorganized into a brigade of the Oklahoma Army National Guard in 1968.<\/p>\n

Commemorative events for survivors of the camp and its liberators, including their descendants, are scheduled from April 29, marking the camp\u2019s 80th anniversary of its liberation, through Sunday, May 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is likely one of the final opportunities to meet with survivors and liberators,\u201d James said. \u201cI am really looking forward to speaking with and recognizing these heroes their service and sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Situated on the outskirts of the town of Dachau, about 10 miles northwest of Munich, the camp was designed to hold about 5,000 political prisoners. Nearly 33,000 were present at the camp\u2019s liberation in 1945.<\/p>\n

The multiday ceremony is hosted by KZ-Gedenkst\u00e4tte Dachau, the camp memorial site and museum.<\/p>\n

The ceremonies will include dedication of memorial plaques for the 45th Division on April 29. There are already memorial plaques for the 42nd Division and the 20th Armored Division at the camp.<\/p>\n

Dachau included subcamps along with the main camp, and there will be events there on May 1 and 2. There will also be guided tours for relatives of former Dachau prisoners and liberators on May 3, including commemorating the victims of the Dachau Death March, and the central commemorative ceremony on May 4.<\/p>\n

During World War II, the division Soldiers knew Dachau as a political camp and had no comprehension of the reach of the Holocaust throughout Europe.<\/p>\n

“Up until April 29, 1945, the majority of us in my unit were not aware of the Nazi efforts to exterminate the Jews – certainly not its scope, nor its effect on the world; and certainly, none of us were aware of the Dachau Concentration Camp,\u201d wrote Lt. Jack Westbrook, a member of the 222nd Infantry Regiment.<\/p>\n

His remembrances were collected in the 2015 Sam Dann collection of memories in \u201cDachau 29 April 1945: The Rainbow Liberation Memoirs.\u201d<\/p>\n

A special \u201cNever Again\u201d commemoration is scheduled for May 3, supported by the International Dachau Committee, the original organization of former prisoners.<\/p>\n

The committee was formed even before liberation in 1945 and includes former prisoners from 37 countries. The group helps oversee the maintenance, upkeep and memorials of the campgrounds and buildings.<\/p>\n

What the Rainbow Division Soldiers discovered at Dachau left an impression of a lifetime, wrote division assistant chaplain (Maj.) Eli Bohnen, the division\u2019s Jewish chaplain.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing you can put in words would adequately describe what I saw there,\u201d Bohnen said in a letter to home on May 1, 1945.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe human mind refuses to believe what the eyes see. All the stories of Nazi horrors are underestimated rather than exaggerated,\u201d Bohnen remembered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 An American Soldier is surrounded by survivors at the newly liberated Dachau concentration camp, April 29, 1945 in Dachau, Germany. American Soldiers of the U.S. 7th Army, including members of the 42nd Infantry and 45th Infantry and 20th Armored Divisions participated in the camp\u2019s liberation. U.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426779,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426777","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\/426777","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=426777"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426784,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426777\/revisions\/426784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/426779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=426777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=426777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=426777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}