Russell J. York receives the Silver Star medal.

Russell J. York (August 5, 1921 – July 22, 2006) was a native of Waterville, Maine who served between 1942-1945 as a combat medic assigned to the 4th Engineer Battalion of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.

He landed at Utah Beachon D-Day under the command of Gen. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. and with the U.S. 22nd Infantry Regiment served in the campaigns in Northern France, Rhineland, Battle of the Bulge and Central Europe.

For gallantry in action in Germany, November 20, 1944 he earned the Silver Star medal.

The 4th Infantry Division saw some of the most heavy and ferocious fighting of the war, particularly in Normandy and the Hürtgen Forest.

The 4th Infantry Division was tasked with linking up with airborne forces through the flooded fields of Normandy on June 6th, 1944, and then cutting off and clearing the Cherbourg Peninsula.

The fighting within the Cherbourg Peninsula was particularly bloody, entire regiments were chewed up and spit out within a period of only 2 months. In September 1944, the 4th Infantry Division was a unit spearheading the charge through the Siegfried Line near Aachen.

The Division was battered and soon pulled off the line for a time. In 1945, they continued the push into Germany and although the fighting was not as ferocious as it may of been in Normandy or the Hürtgen Forest, it was no less deadly.

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A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war. In April 1945, 2nd Lt. Peter During was a South African fighter pilot (N.7 Squadron) running missions over Italy when his Spitfire was shot down by German AA fire. He managed to crash land his plane behind enemy lines where he was immediately captured. Whilst been escorted to a German Lufwaffe Prisoner of War (POW) camp (he was a pilot and thus his interrogation and imprisonment was the responsibility of the German airforce), he opened a conversation with his captors. He was quickly able to establish that they could already see the writing on the wall, that the war was at an end and Germany would lose it. ...

French woman accused of sleeping with Germans during the occupation has her head shaved by vindictive neighbors in village near Marseilles.

French woman accused of sleeping with Germans during the occupation has her head shaved by vindictive neighbors in village near Marseilles. Antony Beevor wrote: "... In Paris, there were cases of prostitutes kicked to death for having accepted German soldiers as clients. (...) A large number of the victims were prostitutes who had simply plied their trade with Germans as well as Frenchmen, although in some areas it was accepted that their conduct was professional rather than political, others were silly teenagers who had associated with German soldiers out of bravado or boredom. In a number of cases, female schoolteachers who, living alone, had German soldiers billeted on them, were falsely denounced for having been a "mattress for the boches. (...) Women accused of having had an abortion were also assumed to have consorted with Germans. Many victims were young mothers, whose husbands were in German prisoner-of-war camps. During the war, they often had no means of supp...

After the end of world war 2,this letter was found in nazi concentration.

After the end of world war 2,this letter was found in nazi concentration camp,which contains following message adressing the teachers. Dear Teacher, I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness: Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates. So, I am suspicious of education. My request is: Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated illeterates. Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more humane. Don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

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