USAG Benelux observes Days of Remembrance

By Clarisse Peche and Kristin Ellis, USAG Benelux Public AffairsApril 27, 2018

Anthony Acevedo
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

CHIÈVRES, Belgium -- The U.S. Army Garrison Benelux community hosted a Holocaust Remembrance event April 26 to memorialize the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust -- as well as the millions of non-Jewish victims of Nazi persecution.

Each year, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum leads the nation in commemorating Days of Remembrance. The Federal Inter-Agency Holocaust Remembrance Program began at the Department of Education in 1994 to commemorate the Days of Remembrance.

"The reason why we do that [the remembrance] is so that we don't forget what actually happened during this time," said USAG Benelux Command Sgt. Maj. Samara Pitre. "It can still happen and has happened over the years. We don't want to forget that. It is important to take the time to remember them."

The event featured a presentation that shared the story of Anthony Acevedo, a U.S. Army medic who served in World War II and passed away earlier this year. During the winter of 1944, Acevedo was a 20-year-old helping wounded Soldiers fighting against the Nazis at the Battle of the Bulge when he was captured.

The Germans forced Acevedo and the other men to take their boots off and march in the snow. After a six-day train ride where 80 prisoners were packing into a boxcar they arrived at Berga. They were fed small rations of bread made of sawdust, glass, and soup made from cats and rats. Prisoners who tried to escape were shot in the head with wooden bullets.

Acevedo recorded his ordeal in German prison camps in a diary he kept hidden for decades. That diary described his experiences at Bad Orb and Berga concentration camp, recorded the name of every prisoner who died, the date and cause of death, the death march en route to the camps, and drawings of events he witnessed.

According to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, only about half of the 350 U.S. Prisoners of War sent to Berga returned home.

The diary, which he donated to the museum in 2010, led to Acevedo being recognized as the first Mexican American Soldier to be designated as a Holocaust survivor.

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