Patton's Pawns: The 94th US Infantry Division at the Siegfried Line

Epilogue

The following is the text of an address given by the Rev. Charles H. Manning to the 94th Infantry Division Association at the 47th Annual Memorial Service held at Kansas City, Missouri, on August 31, 1996. THE 94TH INFANTRY DIVISION The Wind beneath the Wings of Victory Few, if any, of us had any idea of the role that Almighty God had chosen for the 94th Infantry Division to play in World War II. The war was so big and so bad, and we were so small and naïve. World War II was the only truly global war ever recorded in the history of mankind. God forbid there be another. Millions of people were—shot—hung—bombed—starved—gassed—frozen or drowned. It was a war in which the combatants found more ways to enslave— murder—annihilate and torture their victims than mankind has ever known. The world’s ¤rst total war perfected the instruments of mass destruction and changed the nature of warfare—Dive Bombers— Stukas—Lightening Panzers—Spit¤res—Thunderbolts—U-Boats— devastating B-29 Superfortresses and The Bomb that made the sun set twice in the land of the rising sun. Nazis turned humans into lampshades. Cities were vaporized. Europe became a continent levelled . North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Ocean Islands did not escape the role of “cause” and/or “effect” of the war. Air space was violated in both the Artic regions and the Antarctic regions alike. From [Monte] Cassino to the Coral Sea, heroes were Epilogue willing to die for a cause greater than themselves. Ordinary human beings volunteered to drop behind enemy lines—attack unbeatable foes—present their bodies as a living sacri¤ce for suicide missions knowing that nine out of ten would never see another sunrise. Fifty million loved ones lost their lives in World War II—¤fteen million were soldiers who, for one cause or another, offered up the supreme sacri¤ce of their lives; thirty-¤ve million were made up of innocent men, women and children of all ages who were slaughtered for no good reason at all. Of the thirty-¤ve million civilians slaughtered , twenty-nine million were Gentiles and six million were Jews. HOLOCAUST is not a big enough word to describe this global catastrophe in human history. World War II was a world-wide con®agration, an evil ¤re that was burning out of control. Surrender was not an option. Annihilation of the satanic power in Berlin and Tokyo was the only solution left to end this ungodly slaughter of innocent lambs. The world had become a killing ¤eld. 911 calls in the form of prayer lit up the switchboard of heaven. A general alarm was sounded throughout the Allied World— one of the units dispatched to the scene in the heart of the con®agration was “Rescue 94,” General Harry J. Malony, Chief. The initial assignment sounded so very normal and logical. General Patton expressed it in this way when he wrote, “In order to use the 90th Division of the XX Corps to attack through the 26th Division and clean the Germans out of the pocket southeast of Bastogne, it was necessary (at least we were needed) to procure the service of the 94th Infantry Division. I proposed that when the 94th arrived, it would go to the XX Corps.” In relationship to this gigantic, horrendous war, we were just another speck of sawdust on the sawmill ®oor. But keep your eyes on this little speck of sawdust on the sawmill ®oor. Listen up! The God Who blesses America is capable of choosing to work through ideas that the world considers crazy and ridiculous. The God Who blesses America proves wrong those people that the world considers wise and great. The God Who blesses America is capable of using weak things to defeat the strong. The God Who blesses America is capable of doing things that make it impossible for a human being to explain away His miracles or to top His accomplish298 / Epilogue ments. The God Who blesses America is capable of making a bunch of turkeys ®y higher than eagles. Our memorial message starts here. My mind goes back to New Year’s Day, January 1, 1945. I was riding in the back of an open jeep in a nearly unbearable sleet and ice storm obeying orders which transferred the 94th Infantry Division from their defensive...