Luncheon reminds all of Holocaust

FORT SILL, Okla. April 28, 2016 -- The community heard a personal history lesson from the son of two Holocaust survivors during its Days of Remembrance commemoration April 22, at the Patriot Club.

Guest speaker Michael Korenblit, co-founder of the Respect Diversity Foundation and co-author of "Until We Meet Again" (a true story of love and survival of his parents during the Holocaust) spoke about Hitler's rise to power, the isolationist attitudes of countries and how people can act from what was learned from the Holocaust. The luncheon was hosted by the 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade.

Michael Simmons, master of ceremonies welcomed military and civilian guests on behalf of Maj. Gen John Rossi, Command Sgt. Maj. Brian Lindsey, the command team of the Fires Center of Excellence; and Lt. Col. Tom Noble, Sgt Maj. Christopher Moore, commander and sergeant major of 31st ADA, respectively, to the 2016 Day of Remembrance Observance.

In his invocation, Chap. (Maj.) Mark Perkins, 31st ADA, said: "Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, give ear oh shepherd of Israel. You who lead Joseph like a flock, you who dwell between the cherubims, shine forth. Turn us again oh God, as we remember this sacrifice of fire, the Holocaust."

"Holocaust is a word of Greek origin meaning sacrifice by fire," said Simmons. "Every year, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum leads the nation in commemorating the Days of Remembrance. This year's theme is: Learning from the Holocaust: Acts of Courage."

Simmons said the community gathered to remember and honor the millions who lost their lives, and pay tribute to those who took action to fight against the atrocities that took place during this dark period of history.

A video presentation titled "Voices of Rescue from the Holocaust" was played while patrons dined. The video depicted true stories of unsung heroes who fed, hid and smuggled Jews and other targeted peoples from certain death, wanting nothing in return save for the chance to simply do the right thing.

Following the video, six Soldiers from the 31st ADA lit candles in commemoration of those who lost their lives or were otherwise impacted during the Holocaust.

"Thank you everyone for attending the 2016 Day of Remembrance, one of the most solemn events that we recognize within the Department of the Army equal opportunity observance program," said Noble during his introduction of Korenblit.

Korenblit started his speech with a slide show of his family including images of his mother's tattoo "A27327" on her wrist indicating her time spent at the Auschwitz camp. During the Holocaust, concentration-camp prisoners received tattoos only at one location, the Auschwitz concentration camp complex.

"Only those prisoners selected for work were issued serial numbers; those prisoners sent directly to the gas chambers were not registered and received no tattoos," said Korenblit.

During the slide show Korenblit showed a map of Europe with numbers indicating how many Jews were taken from each country and pointed out that Bulgaria had zero despite being an ally for Germany.

"They simply refused to hand over their Jews because they didn't look at them as Jews first -- they looked at them as Bulgarian citizens," said Korenblit.

The last portion of the presentation focused on not repeating the Holocaust.

"It is important that we commemorate the Holocaust as we are doing here today, but it is also important to remember that the victims of the Holocaust are not honored when we ignore the victims of other tragedies," said Korenblit.

Following the event, patrons were given the opportunity to speak with Korenblit about the ceremony and presentation.

"That was the most powerful thing I ever heard," said Lt. Cassandra Steiner, D Battery, 2nd Battalion, 6th Air Defense Artillery, 30th ADA.