Dachau liberation, April 29, 1945, by US Seventh Army

I was stationed in German from 1981 to 1984 SGT John " Mac " McConnell in an infantry battalion. When I was a company XO I drove from Bamberg to Dachau, which is north of Munich, with two platoon leaders - an agnostic Jew and a former Mormon missionary to Finland. At that time I was an atheist.
When we pulled up to the gate billowing dark gray clouds filled the sky. Arbeit macht frei "Work Makes You Free" in iron on the iron gates.
When you walk into the "camp" you walk through an area of enlarged photographs of victims who were shot on the wire, starving in the "barracks," dead on the ground; being pushed into the over doors, or recently executed.
Walking through the camp is sobering to say the least. What struck me the most was the Pistol range for Execution which had a huge boulder behind it which was worn down by over a few feet as pistol bullets went though inmates tens of thousands of times with one bullet usually per person.
It reminded me of Einsatzgruppen (German for "task forces", "deployment groups"; who were Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass killings during World War II. They started out shooting their victims in eastern Europe at close range. Then their leaders had compassion on the shooters [not the victims] and the search for more "efficient" methods of killing large numbers began. First carbon monoxide was tried and then almost by chance it was discovered that Zyklon-B pellets (hydrocyanic acid) which is a insecticide and disinfectant was an efficient way of exterminating large groups quickly.
The world had never seen a people which despised other groups to the extent that Nazis did until the advent of ISIS.
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL Sgt Joe LaBranche SSgt (Join to see) SGT Forrest Stewart SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright PO2 Ed C.

While stationed in Germany I went to many of the camps. They still have a very somber feel to them. I congratulate the Germans for keeping them as reminders to the people. We can never let that happen again.

Another great achievement by my Army brothers