Kennedy & Kerry Join Forces

Buchenwald 1945

UPDATE ON MISSION
by Kathleen Cowley

Tristan Takos, the superb military liaison from Senator Kennedy's office called yesterday to let us know that they and Senator Kerry's office are drafting a joint letter to be sent to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates this Wednesday, May 13. She explained that they must follow protocol and contact him before approaching the President to request an Executive Order. Senators Kennedy and Kerry remain committed to gaining liberator status for the 94th Infantry as soon as possible with a goal of declaration by Memorial Day.

Jamie White, this web site's editor, has pointed out that we hope the recognition of the 94th as a Liberating Unit will closely coincide with President Obama's upcoming visit to Buchenwald during the trip to France and Germany for the 65th anniversary of D-Day. It would be marvelously fitting for President Obama to honor the 94th Infantry Division as representative of all the liberators and the victims of the Holocaust prior to that trip. The fact that it is the 65th anniversary of D-Day points out just how crucial time is getting to be for the men of the 94th.

Our sincerest thanks to Senators Kennedy, Kerry, and your marvelous staffers for your dedication to the soldiers of the 94th Infantry Division and the untold victims of the Holocaust!

Message From Eisenhower

In his Victory Order of the Day, May 9, 1945, Gen. Eisenhower sent this message from Headquarters 94th Infantry Division to every member of the command:

"The crusade on which we embarked in the early summer of 1944 has reached it’s glorious conclusion. It is my especial privilege, in the name of all nationalities represented in this Theater of War, to commend each of you for valiant performance of duty. Though these words are feeble they come from the bottom of a heart overflowing with pride in your loyal service and admiration for you as warriors.

Your accomplishments at sea, in the air, on the ground and in the field of supply have astonished the world. Even before the final week of the conflict, you had put five million of the enemy permanently out of the war. You have taken in stride military tasks so difficult as to be classed by many doubters as impossible.

You have confused, defeated and destroyed your savagely fighting foe on the road to victory. You have endured every discomfort and privation and have surmounted every obstacle ingenuity and desperation could throw in your path. You did not pause until our front was firmly joined up with the great Red Army coming from the East, and other Allied Forces, coming from the south. Full victory in Europe has been achieved.

Working and fighting together in a single and indestructible partnership you have achieved perfection in unification of air, ground and naval power that will stand as a model in our time.

As we celebrate victory in Europe let us remind ourselves that our common problems of the immediate and distant future can be best solved in the same conceptions of cooperation and devotion to the cause of human freedom as have made this expeditionary force such a mighty engine of righteous destruction."

Tom Manthey first on left, Tony Carrach, Ed Cowley with Shell