It’s no secret that many WWII veterans returned home reticent to discuss their wartime experiences, but for members of the Ghost Army, silence was not a choice—it was a mandate.
As the leader of Einsatzgruppe D, Otto Ohlendorf was responsible for the murder of 90,000 Soviet Jews, Roma, and Communists.
The 17th International Conference on World War II, a program of the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy at The National WWII Museum, was presented by the Pritzker Military Foundation on behalf of Pritzker Military Museum & Library, with additional support from the Gen. Raymond E. Mason Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series on World War II Endowment Fund and the George P. Shultz Forum on World Affairs.
Lawrence Brooks, who was the oldest known living US veteran, passed away January 5, 2022, at age 112. Please read below to learn more about his incredible life and legacy, as well as to stream his memorial service live from The National WWII Museum on January 15.
An overlooked story of World War II and its consequences, the Graves Registration Service (GRS) worked tirelessly during the war to collect and identify the dead, providing proper burial. After the war, the GRS conducted the world’s largest search and recovery effort, leading to the identification of 280,000 fallen Americans, who were provided with a final burial in the United States or abroad based upon the surviving family’s wishes.