FORT STEWART, Ga. - The 3rd Sustainment Brigade, Third Infantry Division, hosted Fort Stewart's Days of Remembrance observation April 25 at Club Stewart.
The keynote speaker was Benjamin Hirsch, a Holocaust survivor born in Frankfurtam Main, Germany.
"He is a United States Army Veteran that I could probably use in the 3rd Sustainment Brigade because he was an ammo handler and a truck driver," said Col. Ron Novack, the 3rd Sustainment Brigade commander.
Hirsch was only 6 years old when his mother sent him with four older siblings on a Kindertransport to Paris, France for their safety. Kindertransport was a rescue mission that occurred just before World War II broke out. The mission saved just about 10,000 Jewish children by carting them to children's homes, foster homes, and other places out of the reach of the German Army.
Hirsch and his siblings were separated for a short while, but all five of the children ended up safely in Atlanta, Ga., where they all met up and sought out their parents and two younger siblings, whom they found out were not able to make it through the Holocaust alive.
He volunteered for the draft in 1953, serving three years with multiple MOS's during the Korean War. Once getting out of the military, he graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Architecture in 1958. He is still a practicing architect, and has received three national design awards.
Soldiers, Civilians, and Families from across the Third Infantry Division attended the event.
"I am here because I think it is important to preserve the heritage of any culture who has suffered," said Ashley Wetzler, a Family member with the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd ID, who attended the event with her 5-year-old daughter. "I think it's important for [3rd ID] to do [events] like this because too many of our youth aren't aware of anything that's going on in history. I think it's important for [my daughter] to learn the strength of character that these people have. I think it's important for her to learn the caring for others that these people have and for her to be able to embody those things as she grows older."
After the ceremony Col. Novack presented Mr. Hirsch with certificates on behalf of the 3rd ID.
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