Face to Face with Patton’s 71st

I met this gentleman door knocking in Kirkwood last weekend. It seems that the last door every day has the most fascinating voter interaction. As I was telling my story about my mother’s Holocaust ordeal, I mentioned that she was liberated from Gunskirchen concentration camp on May 4 1945 by Patton’s 71st infantry. Daniel instantly seemed shocked and speechless. He then shared that his father-in-law, Jay Kilpatric, served in the 71st and liberated Gunskirchen concentration camp. An emotional sharing of my mother’s and his father in-law’s wartime experiences followed and continued next day with Carrie in attendance.

Encounters like this are so energizing to keep working harder as I look to the November 8 general election.

Here we are in Daniel’s home with the 71st infantry arm patch, a photo with Jay Kilpatric meeting General Eisenhower before rolling out (apparently Eisenhower’s son was in the same unit under a pseudonym for protection from German targeting of the 71st) and a Hershey bar, which was the first piece of food that my mother caught from the GI’s throwing items from their MRE’s to the famished survivors (my mother weighed 68 lbs. and had lost all memory of her past life – including her mother’s face). 

Taking a first bite, memories from her past life came flooding back and she knew that she was finally free thanks to the bravery and compassion of the Americans.