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The people of Scherwiller, France, a Alsatian community
near the German border, honored American Army veterans of
the Second World War.
The city conducted a ceremony
in honor of its liberation during the war and dedicated a
memorial November 11, 2017 to the 103rd Infantry Division.
The unit liberated the town from the Nazis on December 1,
1944.
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November 11, 2017 - U.S. Army Capt. Andrew Pollick, of the 7th
Mission Support Command, seen here with local supporters, acted as
escort and guide-on bearer in Scherwiller, France in commemoration
of the town’s liberation from the Nazis on December 1, 1944 by the
103rd Infantry Division and the dedication of the 103rd ID memorial
that is adjacent to Scherwiller's town square. (Image created by USA Patriotism! from U.S. Army photos by Sgt. 1st Class John Freese)
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Surviving members of the 103rd, now in their 90s,
travelled with family members to Scherwiller, France to
attend the event.
Representing the 103rd Infantry
Division were retired Col. Cranston (Chan) Rogers, who
served as a private in the 103rd ID and later served under
the 45th Infantry in the liberation of the concentration
camp at Dachau; and Mr. Calvin (Buck) Landau, who served as
a sergeant in the 103rd ID throughout its campaigns in
France and Germany.
“For myself, the dedication ceremony was
a unique opportunity to personally pay homage to two veterans who
played a role in liberating Alsace and Lorraine France,” said Capt.
Daniel Jost, an officer in the Army Reserve’s 7th Mission Support
Command.
Jost and Capt. Andrew Pollick also of the 7th MSC,
were escorts for the honored vets. They attended both the ceremony
and the dining event that followed.
Ronald Curry was also
present to receive honors on behalf of his father, Alva Curry, who
served as a second lieutenant in the division.
Helen Patton,
granddaughter of Gen. George Patton, also spent the day celebrating
the town’s liberation and translated statements from the veterans to
the crowd.
They attended a French memorial dedicated to
Scherwiller veterans and civilians lost and wounded during the war.
Then, they moved with the crowd of about 200 onlookers across
the town square for the dedication of a memorial to the 103rd. The
memorial contains a large metal plaque of the 103rd’s distinctive
patch, mounted on a slender gray and brown pyramid of roughly hewn
granite, placed next to the town’s center.
The 103rd is known
as the Cactus Division, a moniker taken from the Saguaro shown on
the unit’s shoulder patch, and its origins in the Southwest U.S. in
the years after the First World War. The Army Reserve’s modern-day
103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, based in Des Moines, Iowa,
traces its lineage back to the 103rd Infantry Division.
In
brief statements during the ceremony, Rogers stressed the importance
of remembering the sacrifice both countries had made during the war
and the need for a continued alliance against ongoing threats to
freedom and the prevention of a third world war.
Landau
reflected on the honor of his service in the 103rd. Despite the more
than 70 years that have passed since the war, he choked back tears
as he added that he’d never forget his friends from the 103rd who
did not make the trip home.
And though the better part of
four generations have passed, the memories of the war seem to remain
in the Scherwiller collective mind.
Among those attending the
dinner was a local WWII re-enactment group called the U.S. Army
Group of Alsace, whose members dressed in period uniforms to
participate in the ceremony.
Jost has roots in
Alsace-Lorraine, and resides there part-time.
“Speaking with
some of the younger participants, I got the sense that there is a
lot of interest and passion to go along with the high degree of
respect for what an entire generation of Americans did for the
French during WWII,” Jost said.
The front line units of the
103rd saw heavy resistance throughout the campaigns of
Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland, and Central Europe. After its relief of
the 3rd Division at Chevry, France, in October 1944, the units of
the 103rd pushed eastward at a rapid pace before eventually
liberating Scherwiller on 1 December, and then neighboring Selestat
on 4 December, 1944. After that, they continued into the Rhineland
area of Germany.
The 103rd Infantry Division World War II
Association, of which Rogers is President, is located on the
University of Southern Mississippi campus, in Hattiesburg.
By U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class John Freese
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2017
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