{"id":529098,"date":"2010-04-15T20:12:40","date_gmt":"2010-04-16T00:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com\/?p=16520"},"modified":"2010-04-15T20:12:40","modified_gmt":"2010-04-16T00:12:40","slug":"holocaust-survivors-liberators-honored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/529098","title":{"rendered":"Holocaust Survivors & Liberators Honored"},"content":{"rendered":"

65 years after liberating six million Jews from Nazi concentration camps, 120 World War II veterans were honored in Washington on Thursday, perhaps the last time many of them will be able to gather together. With the average age of the World War II\u00a0vets lying somewhere around 86 years old, no one knows how many Liberators will be here for the 70th anniversary.<\/p>\n

CENTCOM Commander General David Petraeus led the ceremony at the U.S. Capitol and told the veterans in attendance that today’s servicemen and women stand on the shoulders of their generation. \u201cThe liberators with us here today should know that their actions continue to inspire those who wear our nation\u2019s uniform,\u201d Petraeus said. \u201cTheir units remain proud of their noble actions. Their courage and compassion feature prominently in the histories of the storied divisions whose colors are represented here today, and those qualities are etched in the hearts of all who hear of their valiant deeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cA generation of Americans fought in World War II and hundreds of thousands of them died, staring evil in the face, in the effort to defeat the Nazis and bring the Third Reich to an end,\u201d Petraeus went on to say. \u201cWe, and indeed all of humanity, owe them an eternal debt of gratitude for accomplishing their mission in Europe and for giving Holocaust survivors the greatest gifts of all \u2013 their lives and their freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a former commander of the 101st Airborne Division, Petraeus is keenly aware of the key role that unit played in the war against the Nazis. During World War II, members of the 101st division liberated Landsberg, a subcamp of Dachau.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that some of you have arrived at a point in your lives when individuals inevitably begin to wonder what kind of footsteps they\u2019ve left in the sands of time,\u201d Petraeus said, addressing the Liberators. \u201cWell, all of us here today and all those watching around the world want to assure you that you have written an extraordinary chapter in the history of mankind, that you have left huge footsteps and a clearly marked path of accomplishment, sacrifice, service, and compassion.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s ceremony is part of a weeklong series of events. In a private ceremony at the National Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday, Petraeus presented each Liberator with a coin, in the shape of the patch for the U.S. Central Command. On the back of the coin was the four-star flag of a U.S. Army General and the inscription \u201cFor Excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Wednesdays\u2019 tour, Petraeus spent the time taking photos and listening to the personal stories of many Liberators including Thomas Humphries of the 42nd Infantry Division. Humphries has a message for anyone who denies the Holocaust, \u201cDon\u2019t say it didn\u2019t happen. I was there. I saw the bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill Creech of the 2nd Infantry Division summed his feelings about the weeklong event by saying \u201cI\u2019m honored to be in his (Petraeus\u2019) presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox News was there to see these WWII veterans honored this week. Tune into America’s News Headquarters this Sunday at 12:50PM ET to see the piece we put together.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

65 years after liberating six million Jews from Nazi concentration camps, 120 World War II veterans were honored in Washington on Thursday, perhaps the last time many of them will be able to gather together. With the average age of the World War II\u00a0vets lying somewhere around 86 years old, no one knows how many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6463,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-529098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6463"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529098\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}