Charging Across Nazi Germany and Liberating Dachau Concentration Camp | Alan Lukens

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  • Опубликовано: 22 апр 2024
  • Alan Lukens comes from a family steeped in military and academic tradition. His father, and both his father's brothers attended and graduated from Princeton University. The three brothers would all serve in World War I, only two would come home.
    in 1942, Lukens found himself in his freshman year at Princeton, but like his father and uncles before him, he felt it was his duty to serve and joined the U.S. Army. An avid skier Lukens originally joined the 10th Mountain Division, but eventually found himself transferred into the 20th Armored Division.
    Lukens arrived in France in early 1945 and was attached to the Third Army under command of General George Patton. His unit moved quickly towards Munich where they would discover and liberate the Dachau Concentration Camp. The horrors of the camp would stay with Alan all his life.
    Alan W. Lukens passed away on January 5, 2019.
    Interview recorded on January 28, 2015
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    Video Credits:
    Interviewer - Greg Corombos
    Editor - Daniel Taksas

Комментарии • 291

  • @americanveteranscenter
    @americanveteranscenter  Месяц назад +32

    HISTORY LOVERS - before you comment, be sure to subscribe to this RUclips channel and ring the notification bell so you never miss a future upload!

  • @LucysMom1
    @LucysMom1 15 дней назад +155

    I’m so grateful for all the men who liberated my Polish Catholic Grandpa from Dachau. I would not exist if it wasn’t for them. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. ♥️🇺🇸

    • @SteveSmith-eb6ze
      @SteveSmith-eb6ze 10 дней назад

      Bee there,that place will give you the creeps.

    • @Carolinel673
      @Carolinel673 9 дней назад

      Yea I love the polish people. Let’s not forget 27 million Russians died .

    • @LucysMom1
      @LucysMom1 8 дней назад +7

      @@Carolinel673 The entire video is about the liberation of Dachau. Your comment is irrelevant. 🙄

    • @pattysouza2954
      @pattysouza2954 7 дней назад

      I'm so happy your Grandfather was saved. They were truly our Greatest Generation. I am American Indian and my Father's older sister joined the Navy during WW ll and my Father had to get permission from his parents from his parents because of his young age and he joined the Navy too. Everyone wanted to help in whatever way possible. We were very lucky because both my Father and his older sister returned home safely.

    • @Carolinel673
      @Carolinel673 7 дней назад

      @@LucysMom1 It was the Russians that liberated MOST of the camps & killed 80% of ALL NAZIS .

  • @robinshankland3499
    @robinshankland3499 23 дня назад +68

    My Grandfather never,ever recovered.
    My great uncle returned in his little metal box in the late 1950s when roadwork was being done near the French border.
    He and a number of other American servicemen were identified by their dog tags and finally came home.
    Nothing about what happened to the Jewish people in World War 2 had ANYTHING to do with battle, with fighting, with the rigors of war.
    What was done to the Jewish people was an attempt at annihilation.
    Nothing else but evil drove the torture, degradation and murder of the MILLIONS of innocent Jews.
    We're seeing anti-Semitism raise it's head again in the United States...
    Many of us feel concerned but not afraid.
    I say "Hello" to the Police Officers on my way into the Synagogue and carry on.

    • @deborahs2593
      @deborahs2593 22 дня назад +13

      I'm a boomer, so grew up listening to some of my uncle's war stories- but not all- some were too awful to tell aloud.
      I am utterly shocked watching hatred for the Jewish people rise again. I believed we would never see it on a scale like this. To this day there are many who deny the Holocaust happened. I knew some who survived- the tatoos on their arms with the # assigned to them was sickening, horrible.
      I pray for the eyes of the ignorant to be opened.

    • @Carolinel673
      @Carolinel673 9 дней назад

      It’s called ANTI ZIONOST don’t get them confused. 🇮🇪.

    • @tinamckenzie1229
      @tinamckenzie1229 6 дней назад +4

      I agree. It's shocking to see this on the rise with all the information about the horrors of the Holocaust so available.

    • @yishaihalpin
      @yishaihalpin 5 дней назад +1

      Until Moshiach comes my brother, we will be persecuted. It is deeply disturbing but a reminder of the truth of the spiritual battle we are in. Theres no other explanation but that out G-d is true, and our enemies are really against Him and not us. I am a Yid and a Police Officer so I like how you said you greet the Police officers on the way to Shul. You must be in Brooklyn. I’m from Crown Heights but moved to Texas four years ago and am a cop just outside of Dallas. Always a Police presence outside of 770 I remember. I think that rubbed off on me a little bit.

    • @catalhuyuk7
      @catalhuyuk7 5 дней назад +2

      I’ve watched docs and read books about the holocaust for years and thought how horrible to starve, torture and murder innocent people.
      I’ve lost sympathy for the people of Israel for doing the exact same thing to the Palestinians. It’s equally disgusting!

  • @jimp6984
    @jimp6984 Месяц назад +327

    My father was in the 42nd division and was there. He was deeply affected by what he saw. He once told me, "I can't believe how human beings could treat other human beings that way."

    • @eatassonthefirstdate
      @eatassonthefirstdate Месяц назад

      That's the last great American generation.
      they were the beginning and the end of the American dream.
      after they saw JFK shot, right after that is when inflation and the wage gap started slowly turning the middle class into the lower class.

    • @joemello7888
      @joemello7888 Месяц назад +21

      My father was there also. In General Patch’s army. He didn’t talk about it much and died in 1967. Wish I knew more. I remember him talking about one of his buddies killing the commandant. For years it was always in the back of my mind. Recent history and RUclips showed there might be a grain of truth to it.

    • @rebeccasjodal9769
      @rebeccasjodal9769 Месяц назад

      They were de-humanised! That's how the Nazis could treat them in such horrible ways

    • @CockadoodleDont
      @CockadoodleDont Месяц назад

      ⁠​⁠@@joemello7888There’s definitely some truth there with the Dachau guards being shot, so you really never know. I have 2 similar stories from my grandfather and I’ve been thinking lately that maybe it wasn’t all exaggerated. You can research and request your dads service records if you haven’t already but as you know you can’t get the stories back.

    • @liveinthepresent219
      @liveinthepresent219 Месяц назад +17

      And it's still happening today in 2024!

  • @catelynch7417
    @catelynch7417 29 дней назад +226

    Very bright man - very articulate. Yes, he did start rocking while he was talking about Dachau. At age 19 my Dad was with troops that liberated Flossenberg concentration camp. He wouldn't discuss it. To think that these brave men came home and went to school, went to work, raised families, lived a pretty normal full lives is astounding to me. Greatest Generation indeed!

    • @LindaLee-vt9lr
      @LindaLee-vt9lr 10 дней назад +3

      God bless your Dad for being part of liberating Flossenburg. I had a distant cousin that had been there. And survived due to men like your father. BTW, my rel

    • @LindaLee-vt9lr
      @LindaLee-vt9lr 10 дней назад +5

      BTW my relative made it back home and became a police officer. Please tell your father that.

    • @janinebell488
      @janinebell488 8 дней назад +3

      Yes I agree, a very articulate man. Saw the worst of human behaviour, Saw the results of that
      I noticed also, he started to rock back and forth, also the almost entirety of the video, He folded his arms across himself. Physiological damage is extremely debilitating. The damaged parts of your brain, your psyche, will Never Ever heal. This type of mental anguish follows you until your last breath. So horribly sad 😢

  • @curiousviews4611
    @curiousviews4611 25 дней назад +137

    My dad was there. He was just a young kid, but what he saw as a young soldier stayed with him his entire life. I remember the terrible dreams he would have where he would wake up crying. He tried to find solace in the bottle, which ended up killing him young. I wish I’d had him a lot longer.

    • @skwabo
      @skwabo 25 дней назад +8

      Sorry for your loss 😢

    • @unseelie63
      @unseelie63 25 дней назад +9

      I'm so sorry.Absolutely heartbreaking.

    • @claragould4654
      @claragould4654 23 дня назад +4

      God bless you

    • @user-wu1tn5ww1b
      @user-wu1tn5ww1b 23 дня назад +1

      😢very sad sir! May he rest in the heavens

    • @kimhayes3828
      @kimhayes3828 20 дней назад +4

      I'm so sorry for him, for your family and the exponential number of people who were victims of this barbarism! This is why we must ALL speak out about hate and violence.

  • @Aspett0
    @Aspett0 25 дней назад +117

    The way this gentleman moves his body back and forth when he's telling about the horrors he saw at Dachau... you know that never left him.

    • @maggieanne5340
      @maggieanne5340 11 дней назад +6

      I noticed that also. Not a pacing as a wild animal in a cage needing to be free... But, a rocking as to self soothe through such horrendous memories. God Bless him.

    • @angelasmith3750
      @angelasmith3750 11 дней назад +4

      I have so much respect for all these brave men who fought for all of our freedoms! The horror they had to endure escapes me! Im sorry they had to witness the horrible things the Nazi inflicted!

  • @johnarmstrong472
    @johnarmstrong472 Месяц назад +125

    Incredibly humble man. He went to Princeton, he was part of the American elite, but he was a private. That wouldn't happen today, no way!

    • @catelynch7417
      @catelynch7417 29 дней назад +13

      So true!

    • @stanleybroniszewsky8538
      @stanleybroniszewsky8538 23 дня назад +2

      If he completed his education and received a degree, he would have been a NCO.

    • @terrieormonde2340
      @terrieormonde2340 16 дней назад +1

      ​@@stanleybroniszewsky8538What would you know of it!!! This was WWII, so I do not believe your old or wise enough by your comment.

    • @johnsecord8539
      @johnsecord8539 13 дней назад

      A lot of the British aristocracy’s kids fought in both world wars. When the country is on the line or u need more people. Everyone has to fight

    • @Carolinel673
      @Carolinel673 9 дней назад +1

      27 million Russians died . Operation Barbarossa was the most ferociously fought battle in history according to war HISTORIAN’S . Most camps in Europe liberated by the Russians . I say RIP on all sides including the enemies . Little Shultz the grandson of a top SS leader . Putin’s maternal uncles died in WW11 he had no family left . Thank god for the Russians. Hitler or Stalin what a choose.

  • @Ivehadenuff
    @Ivehadenuff 25 дней назад +68

    Thank you, sir, for your service. My stepfather was POW in Germany and liberated by US soldiers.

  • @LLBP.
    @LLBP. 28 дней назад +87

    He's sharp as a tack. Thanks for your honesty.

    • @oliveoil7642
      @oliveoil7642 26 дней назад +3

      Definitely has Biden beat!

    • @rosedawson5445
      @rosedawson5445 25 дней назад

      Why the hell bring Biden into this? Let's see how you are when you get this gentleman's age. Good grief!

    • @seattlewa8500
      @seattlewa8500 3 дня назад

      @@oliveoil7642he doesn’t wear diapers like Trump.

  • @lynnwood7205
    @lynnwood7205 25 дней назад +70

    My mother's brother was an infantry scout with the 45th division and so found himself one of the first GI's to encounter Dachau. He would acknowledge that he was there but refused to speak any further of it.

    • @kparsa1
      @kparsa1 9 дней назад +1

      I can only imagine what he saw.

  • @kimberleebrackley2793
    @kimberleebrackley2793 7 дней назад +11

    Bless every veteran. Deepest, thanks for your service, we wouldn't be here without you.

  • @RonMeadows-ri1ec
    @RonMeadows-ri1ec 17 дней назад +28

    I visited Dachau when I was in the Army...Vietnam Era. It was very "Erie" as though you could "feel" the evil that had transpired there.

    • @BeefCake1012
      @BeefCake1012 11 дней назад +4

      I agree! I studied abroad in college on a Holocaust Studies trip.
      It was the greatest two months of my life between my junior and senior years of college. We visited Natzweiller-Struthoff and of course Dachau during our time there. I’ll never forget when I walked into the camp through those metal gates with the emblazoned words “Marcht Arbeit Frei”. To this day I swear the temperature dropped about ten degrees when I walked in. You could feel the haunted aura of the horrors that took place there and the clammy elements seep into your veins and every fiber of your being.
      One of the most surreal and eerie things to ever happen to me. #NeverForget

  • @KerryDavis-bd7cu
    @KerryDavis-bd7cu Месяц назад +89

    He starts rocking when he talked about the horror

    • @merylroberts1181
      @merylroberts1181 26 дней назад +11

      He folds his arms and closes off his posture too, it’s very telling.

  • @connieverbeck1110
    @connieverbeck1110 23 дня назад +35

    Thank you for sharing. I had an uncle who liberated a death camp, but would never talk about it. He passed in 1974.

  • @lindamack1900
    @lindamack1900 27 дней назад +48

    Thank you for your service Mr.Lukens!🇺🇸

  • @lotusmanb3832
    @lotusmanb3832 Месяц назад +51

    My God! How could anyone look upon that and not feel changed forever. I can't even imagine .

    • @kathyraygoza3299
      @kathyraygoza3299 24 дня назад +2

      Just a few musings but like a string of beads they are all connected in a way. Anyone being in in war has had experiences they couldn't forget and like my Dad had nightmares sometimes. I remember reading about a British actor who gained his American citizenship either the day before or after Dec. 7th. He and a film crew were among other places at Tarawa. His marriage didn't last long when his wife said he wasn't the same man that returned home. His name was Louis Hayward. My father had purchased a book titled the Eyes Of The War and when someone would ask about the War he'd pull out the book and let them see for themselves. He wouldn't talk about it. The closest he could come to it was reminisces about old buddies. He kept up correspondences with a few. As a child I happened upon that book. Decades later Life magazine ran a photo of a poor little Vietnamese girl running down a road stark naked because napalm had burnt her clothing. I was instantly reminded of the introductory photo in the book. A Chinese baby of about 2 or 3 sitting in a war torn train station whailing for probably Mom. Also in the book were sections on the concentration camps. My Father told me the dead were people unwanted because they were different. My view of people was charged then and there. To this day I'm in wonder and awe of those men who returned home, some who were shattered for life and some who were able to pull some inner strength and went on to lead progressive lives. PS. It's a shame one of us children of these brave men didn't begin collecting family stories and publish them as a book. When the S F Chronicle had a Sunday supplement that carried a story written by a daughter about her father and what she found in a carefully hidden box. When in college don't know what brought it up but the subject of Daddy returning home brought up memories of our Dad's. At 81 there aren't to many of us left with those rememberences.

  • @carolinependleton8445
    @carolinependleton8445 22 дня назад +24

    What a lovely,caring,unassuming,brave man,thankyou for the video.

  • @christophedevos3760
    @christophedevos3760 24 дня назад +30

    My full respect for this man and all the soldiers involved in the liberation of Europe, it was an atrocious war, may it never be forgotten or repeated. All the best.

  • @tinalouise3783
    @tinalouise3783 7 дней назад +5

    My grandfather was an army physician who helped liberate Buchenwald. Like in the comments of so many others here, he would not talk about it except to say that “reports had not been exaggerated”and he struggled with alcohol for the rest of his life.

  • @user-ni2eh3ob4n
    @user-ni2eh3ob4n 22 дня назад +19

    I salute you for your unwavering courage in the face of such horror that you witness, I'm so proud of you for your service and congradulate you, SIR !!! God bless you !!!!

  • @karengilliland2439
    @karengilliland2439 25 дней назад +50

    I'm sure that experience was something that Mr. Lukens never forgot, but to have to retell that terrible story really affected him, he rocks back and forth, trying to comfort his younger self as he remembers. Bless him, and all the men who had to endure the horrors of war.

    • @willow_wolfe3949
      @willow_wolfe3949 9 дней назад

      You can see how difficult it was for him to relive the past, but he gave this interview because he didn't want what happened to ever be forgotten. What a brave and good man.

  • @michaelweeks9317
    @michaelweeks9317 24 дня назад +22

    That is absolutely heartbreaking.We should make every American child.Listen to this and watch the hamas video of October.The seventh the enemy's face becomes so much clearer when you see that!

    • @andrewmarkland4231
      @andrewmarkland4231 10 дней назад +2

      Those kids are already seeing piles of dead kids in Gaza everyday on social media. In fact, for years, they have seen images of them being brutalised.

    • @Carolinel673
      @Carolinel673 9 дней назад +1

      A child in Palestine 🇵🇸 is just as important as one in Israel. Over 70% of the victims in the Gaza women & children. 37.000 & counting now a deliberate famine . Ireland 🇮🇪. Now we have Spain 🇪🇸 & Norway 🇳🇴 on board .

  • @tammynorsworthy996
    @tammynorsworthy996 11 дней назад +13

    My mother was born in Hungary. She lived through those times. Her little brother was killed from air fire that collapsed her home. They fled in the middle of the night. 😢

  • @hangin-in-thereawesome4245
    @hangin-in-thereawesome4245 26 дней назад +29

    Thank you for your service!

  • @cherylhaugen1897
    @cherylhaugen1897 19 дней назад +11

    The eye-witness accounts tell history so vividly! The men who saw this and experienced it are very special, and I wish they could publish their stories so people would not forget. Thank you, all WWII vets, for what did with such bravery, and also, thank you for the lives you lived when you came home. America must never forget!

  • @beerybill
    @beerybill 16 дней назад +12

    I was stationed at the NATO HQ in Naples and during 1963 visited a friend stationed in Munich with the 24th Division. He told me I should visit Dachau and since, he said, directions were poor he'd draw a map. I said why don't you come along to which he replied that he'd been there once and wouldn't go back. After I visited I understood why.

  • @nicolepeters6719
    @nicolepeters6719 17 дней назад +6

    I'm blessed and extremely proud of this elderly gentleman. He is so lucid and fluent. God bless his soul! Thank you for your contribution. He reminds me so much of my great granddad. He fought in WW2 and he was a gem of a man. I remember his stories of the war. Still amazed at this gentleman's sharpness and articulation.❤❤❤❤❤❤

  • @Airbornefighter-hr7lt
    @Airbornefighter-hr7lt Месяц назад +44

    Not to the same degree, but I have been involved in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. And I have seen the very worst and the very best of humanity, II could not believe what man could do do man, and this wasn’t in the heat of battle for survival, this…..this was just depravity and cruelty for the sake off I.

    • @SweetButDeadly101
      @SweetButDeadly101 23 дня назад +5

      Thank you for your service. All conflicts have their own horror stories, and all who witness them are forever impacted.

    • @goldenrules3763
      @goldenrules3763 9 дней назад

      Thank you is so inadequate but thank you. ❤

  • @leighlabbie8028
    @leighlabbie8028 26 дней назад +21

    Thank you sir, for your service.

  • @pgrose422
    @pgrose422 28 дней назад +26

    The stories they tell of first hand experience. Love to hear them. My Dad & Mum would not tell thier children.

  • @micoma49
    @micoma49 Месяц назад +23

    My Father was also in the 20th, and the experience of taking Dacha was such that he could not bring himself to again see the sight in 1980 when we made a family trip to Southern Germany. It brought back painful memories just being close by.
    On a side note, Mr. Luckens appears to have gotten attached to the 20th after it had switched from being a training divison for other armored outfits/individuals, to a combat div. It was the last armored division to reach Europe, as well as the last one avaliable for combat use.

  • @tominnis8353
    @tominnis8353 8 дней назад +4

    What a remarkable account, recounted with dignity and fortitude.

  • @becca3284
    @becca3284 25 дней назад +18

    Wonderful man, amazing life. Thank you for your service and sharing this piece of history with us.

  • @brianhetzel3449
    @brianhetzel3449 12 дней назад +4

    My grandfather was in the same division, 20th Armored, 414th field artillery, and had to have fought along side him. He never, ever talked about the war until very late in life. Even then, it wasn’t much. I just visited Dachau and saw the 20th Armored plaque - just hard to imagine what they saw.

  • @robertwhite3752
    @robertwhite3752 7 дней назад +4

    Thank you so much for your service sir. I live in the best country in the world today because of you and men like you. Freedom is not free, and this could happen again. Less we ever forget!

  • @angelasmith3750
    @angelasmith3750 11 дней назад +7

    I want to thank all the honorable men for their bravery for defending our country! Allowing me to grow up free! I thank you all! I have much respect for u all! Again thank you all for my freedom and for the countries freedom! Again thank you

  • @Mr29roses
    @Mr29roses 25 дней назад +17

    "The area was liberated by the Canadians." Yaay Canada! This is an excellent interview.

  • @InnocentPotato-pd7wi
    @InnocentPotato-pd7wi 28 дней назад +22

    German - Swiss American here! My Great - Uncle died on a beach in Anzio, Italy February 1944! He was a Staff Sgt. in the US Army! Only e2 when he died! I visited Europe on an Educators Tour / Summer 1984! We were supposed to visit that Concentration Camp but I was very glad we didn't go! It had to be a HELLISH place ! As a sensitive, I am sure I wouldn't have been able to handle that EVIL place!HELL on earth!

    • @InnocentPotato-pd7wi
      @InnocentPotato-pd7wi 28 дней назад +1

      32 years old when he died...

    • @barbsmart7373
      @barbsmart7373 24 дня назад +3

      ​@@InnocentPotato-pd7wi
      People like your great grand uncle are my heroes. I am a Kiwi and take a lot of interest in all these events. I am a Jewish descendant as well. In depth knowledge about the Holocaust has also changed me.

    • @InnocentPotato-pd7wi
      @InnocentPotato-pd7wi 3 дня назад

      ​@barbsmart7373 Thank you for your reply! I was raised Catholic! "RECOVERING CATHOLIC " now! I respect all religions! It is so sad that people continue to fight over religion! All 3 religions Christian / Jewish and Muslim believe in St. Michael the Archangel . There us a huge statue of St. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL in Kiev/ Ukraine! Too bad they cannot learn to "Give Peace a Chance"!New Zealand is a beautiful country! 🤗🥰🤗

  • @simonowen2744
    @simonowen2744 21 день назад +11

    Thank you for your service Mr Lukens. You related your grim experiences superbly.

  • @Crusty_Camper
    @Crusty_Camper 11 дней назад +3

    You can see the stress of recalling these events in the way that Mr Lukens starts to rock a little as he tells the story. That was exactly the same as my grandfather did when he remembered his part in liberating Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Also there for the liberation of prisoners was someone whose friendship I would get many years later, who was a Canadian veteran. Both of them said they had heard of concentration camps before discovering Belsen and as my Canadian friend said, "If I knew about it, for sure the Generals knew about it".

  • @jackiejermeay6568
    @jackiejermeay6568 20 дней назад +8

    I can't imagine what these went through all I can say is thank you.

  • @LaurieValdez-zk3dy
    @LaurieValdez-zk3dy 25 дней назад +15

    Thank you for your service 🏥❤️❤️❤️

  • @AkronKid330
    @AkronKid330 Месяц назад +32

    I love hearing these stories from ww2! Thank you. ❤

  • @elainemoreland3908
    @elainemoreland3908 23 дня назад +8

    Thank you Sir for your service. Never again.

  • @user-cx5pl2tu2h
    @user-cx5pl2tu2h 23 дня назад +13

    Forever enjoy hearing the old Military Veterans relating their experiences.
    Especially 2nd World War Vets.
    Across the 'Pond', in Europe, they are much Honoured and held in high esteem, at War Remembrance Ceremonies.
    Thank You Pt.Lukens Sir.
    May You Rest in Peace 🙏🏽🤲👏🏻 ❤🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

  • @yishaihalpin
    @yishaihalpin 5 дней назад +2

    Thank you for the service of these incredible men, most of whom have passed on, but they will never be forgotten. Thank you for all our men and women who have served and to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for this great country.

  • @timothylarsen2885
    @timothylarsen2885 20 дней назад +7

    When i was stationed in Germany we saw Dachow that was in 1989 and it was an experience in horror

  • @carolwilliams8281
    @carolwilliams8281 11 дней назад +4

    I cannot imagine and don't want to. God bless and keep you safe & well. Thank you for all youve done for US. 🙏🇺🇸❤️🙏🇺🇸❤️🙏🇺🇸❤️

  • @boyanbc
    @boyanbc 3 дня назад +2

    Once, in Germany I visited a small family farm. It was in the mid 2000's. We had lunch. The grandfather of the owner was there, too. He was in his 90's. He was behaving very strangely. Obviously, he was having dementia. I was wondering why he was so animated and excited, but when I saw how upset and ashamed the rest of the family was, I tried to exercise my bad German and understand his shouting. Then it downed on me. He was repeating over and over in his mind how he shot someone. He was acting out how that person was begging for his life while he was killing him.
    This old man lived through the war into his 90's, but his late years were pure hell. He was mentally stuck in it. There were generations of such damaged people. War is pure evil.

  • @nolanfoutz3472
    @nolanfoutz3472 Месяц назад +11

    Omg to hear my home town university UNL get called a lark is hilarious i would think that too especially coming from the mountains. This guy is amazing and the liberation of the camps will never be forgotten the names of everyone will at some point but what they did will be know for the rest of history

  • @andriamsimpsonrussell
    @andriamsimpsonrussell 8 дней назад +2

    The rector of my church, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, was a chaplain during WW II. During a Catechism class in the very early 80s he told us about his experience walking through one of the Nazi concentration camps (I can't remember which camp, its been 40 plus years) and he had walked into one of the buildings where the ovens were (I'm using his word). He described it as horrifying because there were still cremains in the ovens and some were still on. He also described some had remains that still...well...you get it. He also described the bodies piled up either waiting for the ovens or waiting for mass burial. After that brief description you could see in his face that even after 40 some odd years the experience was still very fresh in his mind. Those service members who served overseas and saw such horrors during WW II carried so much with them from their horrifying experiences. My neighbor also served in WWII and he never spoke about his experiences on D-Day until I asked him a question in the 1970s, his daughter (who went to school with my bio parents) sat there stunned listening to his stories and she later told him that her Dad and NEVER spoken about his time on that beach. These men held in their wartime experiences for whatever reasons and its up to us to listen and share their stories so that it never happens again, just like the extermination of anyone should NEVER happen again.

  • @davidmanley9437
    @davidmanley9437 13 дней назад +2

    Thank you for sharing. This gentleman is very sharp still about what happened so long ago. It is very eye opening to hear about how cruel the human race can be

  • @lovethosebudgies66
    @lovethosebudgies66 7 дней назад +1

    What an incredibly sharp mind! As difficult as it was to recount his experiences, this is so important to have history preserved. I tried to get my dad on tape for his experiences but I think he thought it was macabre like we thought he was going to die. As a naval officer he had wonderful information about ships etc. too. Now his story is lost.

  • @francisconsole3892
    @francisconsole3892 6 дней назад +1

    My uncle Vinnie was with the Army and went in to Dachau. Never forgot his description of the freed prisoners, one of whom died in the arms of an allied soldier.

  • @dominiclane8538
    @dominiclane8538 24 дня назад +6

    I really listening too veterens , what happened should never be forgot

  • @virginia247
    @virginia247 28 дней назад +18

    The bravest women served in so many areas of the war also.some never came home and are buried in other lands, never forget them, 😢

  • @HRM.H
    @HRM.H Месяц назад +20

    Mustve been a horric sight.

    • @unseelie63
      @unseelie63 25 дней назад

      Just seeing photos of the dead is horrible.I can't begin to imagine how much worse it had to be to see it first hand.

  • @j1st633
    @j1st633 Месяц назад +28

    Dachau. A Must see if you visit Munich. A short public Transportation Ride to camp.

    • @SteveSmith-eb6ze
      @SteveSmith-eb6ze Месяц назад +3

      I visited Dachau while stationed in Schweinfurt. It gives one the creeps.

    • @samtatge8299
      @samtatge8299 Месяц назад +5

      I expected something like a Hogans Hero’s type set up. It wasn’t. It was built to last 100 years. The huge poured concrete fence posts were perfectly and skillfully crafted. The edges were sharp and crisp. They intended that place to operate for decades. That realization shook me up.

    • @sassycat6487
      @sassycat6487 28 дней назад +1

      I read a book written by a Catholic priest who was there with a bunch of other Catholic priests as well. It was a really chilling read about the punishments the priests received (the nazi's hated Catholics with a passion). One of the punishments was having to kiss broken glass and every time you kissed it the SS would hold the priest down until his face was pouring blood. One priest died from this. What really amazed me was towards the end of the book when the Americans arrived the priest described some order finally arriving and everyone seemed to be at peace. Then suddenly the Russian POWs who had been imprisoned there as well started flipping out and decided they were going to get revenge on the SS who were still there (many had fled) and that's actually what got the American soldiers riled up and then they started helping with killing the SS.

    • @Storytime2023x
      @Storytime2023x 27 дней назад +2

      @@SteveSmith-eb6ze Birkenau would really give you the creeps. Read up before going. Just looking at the place is only half of it. The real horror comes when you know what happened in each area.

    • @SteveSmith-eb6ze
      @SteveSmith-eb6ze 27 дней назад +1

      @@Storytime2023x Visiting one concentration camp was enough for me. I don’t like the feeling you get when walking through the gate. I am not bs’ing,I could feel the hatred,suffering and misery,it felt like thousands of eyes were watching me,can’t explain it. I took our German Shepherd with us and she was very tense and hyper. She tried to dig where they threw the ashes of the dead.

  • @richardstall4351
    @richardstall4351 16 дней назад +3

    Must have been very awful 😞 to see Thanks to Everyone who served ❤

  • @dennismetzger9287
    @dennismetzger9287 4 дня назад

    It's one thing watching the movies and reading the stories but to hear and see the real thing always feels surreal. I love youtube for this reason

  • @madmanmechanic8847
    @madmanmechanic8847 25 дней назад +6

    Wow I cant even imagine what they went through the stench had to horrible and smelled for miles away . He never said how they did away with the sniper rotten bastards put up the white flag and pick off soldiers ! They truly are the greatest generation

  • @mikeveis3616
    @mikeveis3616 11 дней назад +1

    My Uncle was in a regiment that help liberate Dachau. Right up to the day that he died, he did not like talk about what he saw there. He would get very annoyed if anybody brought it up or talked about it.

  • @conniewojahn6445
    @conniewojahn6445 24 дня назад +15

    These heroes are the people who diaper don calls "losers."

    • @PlayerToBeNamedLater1973
      @PlayerToBeNamedLater1973 15 дней назад +2

      Turn off the news and think for yourself

    • @DonAbrams-hq7ln
      @DonAbrams-hq7ln 9 дней назад

      Stop listening to left wing bs, look back to 1933 and you can see the poisoning of the German society.
      Our media is in that death spiral that helps to divide us even more.

    • @katwalkable
      @katwalkable 5 дней назад

      Listen to real news and realize we are at pre ww2 Germany. Trump is a dictator wannabe.

  • @user-km2sb5sb4o
    @user-km2sb5sb4o 25 дней назад +3

    Thank you for your service and God bless you and ease your mind after witnessing that.

  • @susanmullins7713
    @susanmullins7713 4 дня назад

    My dad was at one opening. He spoke of "mans in humanity to man"

  • @user-wu1tn5ww1b
    @user-wu1tn5ww1b 23 дня назад +6

    rip sir

  • @richardmartinez6057
    @richardmartinez6057 29 дней назад +11

    Bless all of you 😢🙏☝️

  • @davejones67
    @davejones67 25 дней назад +4

    God bless you sir

  • @bobbynesbitt1863
    @bobbynesbitt1863 8 дней назад +1

    Thank you for your service. 🙏❤️

  • @APhilCollinsFan
    @APhilCollinsFan 2 дня назад +1

    My father had bad flashback for years after what he saw in theses camps,...." there is absolutely no limit to human stupidity he said"... he lost many many good friends that lay forever over there in fields.

    • @pmc6925
      @pmc6925 День назад +1

      God bless you and your father. I'm so sorry he had to deal with the horrors that he experienced while over there. But your father was part of the greatest generation of our time. They didn't just save this country but the entire world. They didn't only give back so many their countries that were occupied by evil but saved many lives. Unfortunately war leaves scars that aren't so obvious to the naked eye. I've served in US Special Operations for 22yrs now. I too have experienced the horrors of war, but not to the magnitude of WW2. God bless your father and you and yours and God bless America. 🇺🇲

    • @APhilCollinsFan
      @APhilCollinsFan День назад

      @@pmc6925 Thank you for your kind words,.. l was myself in the army as medic attach to a airbourne regiment for 30 years,....l can tell you that my father was right,.. after many deployments over sea in war theater and regardless was Ex-Yugosslavia, Rwanda, Cyprus, Afghanistan, West Timor,. just to name few ".. there is no limit to humain stupidity,".. .. people have not learn from the past,.. so they were doom to repeat the same mistake,...nothing has change,.. except the size and power of destruction..... take good care my brother in arms.

  • @rodneymoore7270
    @rodneymoore7270 9 дней назад +1

    THANK YOU SIR!!!!

  • @LLBP.
    @LLBP. 28 дней назад +10

    How did they not know about the camps? That's what gets me. How did no one know? Doesn't seem possible but guess it was. 🤔🤔

    • @reneeb.2702
      @reneeb.2702 28 дней назад +7

      No cellphones, no security cameras on every corner, not many tvs yet. Radio & newspapers mostly. So easier to hide things. My friend’s dad did not even see her till she was 18 months old. No zoom calls or video either.

    • @briancurran2988
      @briancurran2988 28 дней назад +7

      The smell must have been horrendous, the Germans knew, but fear can change people's attitudes.
      Germans were watching each other and reporting each other, they feared being reported, as it meant going into a camp, or if in the military, the Eastern front.
      I've visited Bergan Belson 3 times, Buckenwald and Dachau, makes you think, how did the Germans think up some of the atrocities they committed.
      As an aside we visited Colditz castle, which was a pow camp, very interesting, we had a former pow with us Kenneth lockwood, who was interned there during ww2.

    • @djquinn11
      @djquinn11 28 дней назад +5

      @@reneeb.2702: Of course they knew.

    • @SteveSmith-eb6ze
      @SteveSmith-eb6ze 27 дней назад

      The German public knew of the camps but had no idea what went on inside them. There were of course rumors but one did not ask questions in Nazi Germany.

    • @corneliabard5894
      @corneliabard5894 18 дней назад

      People knew they knew...... Germans knew and when trains went past they closed their ears and eyes.. they knew but preferred to be deaf and blind just like today....it will happen again

  • @davidlegge1544
    @davidlegge1544 4 дня назад

    Thank you sir. Thank you.

  • @noelmacdougall6335
    @noelmacdougall6335 18 дней назад +3

    I could listen to this gentleman all day.

  • @rhonda8231
    @rhonda8231 5 дней назад

    Thank you for your service

  • @pennytrupiano2689
    @pennytrupiano2689 25 дней назад +5

    My goodness! I go back and forth...how did they not know this was going on? For five years before the war? I can't fathom the disgusting depths of this evil.......and we're supposed to let it happen again? Put up a fight for God's name and righteousness sake!

  • @johncox2865
    @johncox2865 22 дня назад +4

    16:05
    Of course Hitler refused to surrender!
    He knew that he would be executed for his war crimes.

  • @zillsburyy1
    @zillsburyy1 26 дней назад +5

    the george stevens dvd has color footage of the dachau massacre

  • @shakyleg5929
    @shakyleg5929 7 дней назад

    Dachau is still open to tourism. I visited and it showed how brutal it was. There were pictures of piles of golden teeth they extracted from prisoners. There were cells that were tighter than shoulder width where one would be forced to stand and then eventually sink as far as the body could contort between the 4 walls. It was a huge facility. Several football fields could fit in there

  • @ronniwright8315
    @ronniwright8315 14 дней назад +1

    I visited Dakau you could still hear the screams

  • @ronald4700
    @ronald4700 9 дней назад

    My uncle help liberate some of those camps ,after everything he has seen he said that affected him most.

  • @nicolemorlte6227
    @nicolemorlte6227 24 дня назад +2

    Fellow Philadelphian ❤️❤️❤️

  • @josephscarpaci3688
    @josephscarpaci3688 2 дня назад +1

    My father was also commanding a Sherman at Dachau!

  • @michaelangelo7511
    @michaelangelo7511 2 дня назад +1

    A witness to real history.

  • @miapdx503
    @miapdx503 14 дней назад +2

    Genocide is always a great evil. Why do people want to destroy the lives of others? Hate is a powerful force. Those who harbor hate in their hearts are truly sick. Sick to their souls.

  • @robynfoss9449
    @robynfoss9449 9 дней назад

    My dad was in the 20th armoured division going into Dachau

  • @jendagesse4524
    @jendagesse4524 8 дней назад +1

    I can imagine the horrible things they saw there

  • @LuisCisnerosRamos
    @LuisCisnerosRamos 23 дня назад

    solo una pregunta ¿ y qué pasó con la comida , medicinas y ropa para los judíos de los campos que debía llevar la cruz roja que tenía la lista de los judíos de los campos ?

    • @jack37133
      @jack37133 22 дня назад

      Consumed by Nazis

  • @cookla3050
    @cookla3050 21 день назад +1

    Thank you for your service. Evil times
    God Bless You

  • @willyboff
    @willyboff 23 дня назад +2

    There’s some things human eyes aren’t meant to see.

  • @donbrewer7936
    @donbrewer7936 17 дней назад +1

    Rip sir you are loved

  • @geraldinepfeiff2016
    @geraldinepfeiff2016 8 дней назад

    My uncle was there also at Dachau’s liberation and was deeply affected by

  • @user-gw2gv6eu6u
    @user-gw2gv6eu6u 20 дней назад +1

    75mm?

  • @GrainMan.
    @GrainMan. 8 дней назад

    my uncle was in the 12th armored lived till 102.

  • @OslerWannabe
    @OslerWannabe 15 дней назад +3

    I was born shortly after the war, so my childhood was dominated by the immediate post-war culture. I knew that Germany was perhaps the world's most highly cultured country, and I wondered how such a society could produce Nazis, the SS, the Gestapo, and how they could have found enough soulless people to conduct the Holocaust.
    Later, after I learned more about our legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, lynchings and Southern conservatism, I began to understand. After Nixon began his Southern strategy and the party slithered into the MAGAt era, our home grown storm troopers began emerging from under rocks, with Trump's permission o be cruel. Now it's clear -- the SS is among us, the 1/3 of us who are born with the conservative disposition. When societies struggle, the fascist underbelly reactivates and the world sinks into cyclic fascism.

    • @samanthacrump1976
      @samanthacrump1976 15 дней назад +2

      You’re blaming Trump really?

    • @brucecavey9759
      @brucecavey9759 13 дней назад

      Can’t come to terms of their parties errors in recent last fours years

    • @Ann-eb8dp
      @Ann-eb8dp 12 дней назад

      Trump would like to be the next Hitler I fear for America and the world

  • @susanmercurio1060
    @susanmercurio1060 5 дней назад

    Your training experience sounds like typical Army: "Situation Normal, All F*d Up"!

  • @wendystewart5665
    @wendystewart5665 12 дней назад

    Poor chap, poor suffering people , I’m so sorry… I hate war

  • @windwhipped5
    @windwhipped5 8 дней назад

    Mash, the TV show, had its own Charlie. he was called
    5 oclock charlie..Never hit anything, they actually made fun of it, and gathered to watch, in bath robes, and Sun hats...

  • @anitachambliss6094
    @anitachambliss6094 19 дней назад +3

    Back when Americans were heroes! Since then it’s all been downhill unfortunately…