90th Division Association
Webmasters note: This is the text of MG Doughty's speech which was part of the decoration ceremony of the Tough Ombre's flag with the Battlestreamers that were earned by the Division which was done at the 2006 reunion.
I include it here as it is an excellent description of who the Tough Ombre's are and it gives a good history of the Division's trek across Europe during World War II.
GOOD EVENING, TOUGH ‘OMBRES,
IT IS AN HONOR TO BE WITH YOU AGAIN TONIGHT TO LEAD A CEREMONY TO REVIEW THE ACTIONS THAT YOU PERFORMED IN BATTLE IN WORLD WAR II TO EARN THE BATTLE STREAMERS THAT CURRENTLY FLY ON THE TOUGH ‘OMBRE FLAG. THIS CEREMONY IS A REPEAT OF THE ONE THAT WAS PRESENTED AS PART OF OUR 2004 REUNION AT THE WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL IN WASHINGTON, DC.
TOM BROKAW DESCRIBED YOU WORLD WAR II VETERANS AS “THE GREATEST GENERATION.” ALL OF US WHO ARE HERE TONIGHT ARE DEEPLY HUMBLED BY OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH EACH OF YOU. WE DRAW INSPIRATION FROM YOU AND FROM THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE. AND SO WE DEDICATE THIS CEREMONY TO EACH OF YOU AND ESPECIALLY TO ALL THOSE TOUGH ‘OMBRES WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE IN WW II TO PRESERVE THE FREEDOMS WE CONTINUE TO ENJOY TODAY.
EARLY IN WORLD WAR II, SOON AFTER THE REACTIVATION OF THE 90TH INFANTRY DIVISION AT CAMP BARKELEY, TEXAS IN 1942, THE 90TH DIVISION ASSOCIATION, THEN COMPOSED ENTIRELY OF WW I VETERANS AND WORKING WITH A COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY MG HENRY TERRELL, JR, COMMANDING GENERAL OF THE NEW WW II 90TH DIVISION, PLANNED AND CONDUCTED A CEREMONY IN WHICH THE BATTLE STREAMERS EARNED BY THE 90TH INFANTRY DIVISION IN WW I WERE PASSED ON TO THE UNITS OF THE NEW WW II 90TH INFANTRY DIVISION. THE WW I VETERANS WANTED TO PASS ON TO THEIR SUCCESSORS SOMETHING THEY HAD BUILT IN THE MUD, SWEAT, AND BLOOD OF ANOTHER WAR. AND THEY WANTED TO BEQUEATH TO THEIR SUCCESSORS THE WEALTH THEY HAD ACCUMULATED; WEALTH IN VICTORIES AND IN HONOR, IN THE BEST TRADITIONS OF THE SERVICE.
AS THE MEMBERS OF THE NEWLY RE-BORN 90TH DIVISION SAT IN THE BROILING SUN THAT SUMMER DAY, THE WW I VETERANS PASSED ON THEIR HERITAGE TO THE UNTRIED MEN OF THE NEW 90TH DIVISION. IN THE WORDS OF THOSE WW I VETERANS, “YOU LISTENED TO AN OLDER MAN BRAG ABOUT AN OLDER DIVISION, AND YOU WATCHED OLDER MEN TIE THEIR OLD BATTLE STREAMERS TO YOUR NEW COLORS.”
“AND TIME PASSED, AND THE WW II RECRUITS WHO SO RECENTLY HAD BEEN CIVILIANS WERE TRANSFORMED INTO SOLDIERS. LATER THESE WW II SOLDIERS, THROUGH CONTACT WITH THE ENEMY, WERE TRANSFORMED INTO COMBAT INFANTRYMEN. AND THEN THE HERITAGE OF THE RE-BORN 90TH, THE SPIRIT, THE TRADITIONS, THE PROUD NAME THAT WAS CONVEYED TO YOU THAT HOT DAY AT CAMP BARKELEY WERE FINALLY REALIZED, WERE MADE YOURS. YOU HAD COME OF AGE. YOU SPOKE THE SOLDIER’S LANGUAGE. YOU COULD MEET A SOLDIER, AN OLD SOLDIER, ON COMMON GROUND.”
“AND CONTINUING IN THE WORDS OF THE WW I VETERAN, “WE WATCHED YOU THEN. WE READ EVERYTHING WE COULD FIND ON YOUR PROGRESS. WE GOT LETTERS FROM THOSE OF US WHO, AS ‘RE-TREADS’, WERE SERVING WITH YOU IN A SECOND WAR. FROM THE BEACHHEADS OF NORMANDY, THROUGH FRANCE, UP INTO THE BULGE, ACROSS GERMANY AND ON INTO CZECHOSLOVAKIA WE FOLLOWED YOUR VICTORIOUS PROGRESS. LONG SINCE HAD YOU PASSED FROM THE ROLE OF A SON LIVING UP TO THE STANDARDS SET BY YOUR FATHER. YOU WERE SETTING NEW STANDARDS, NEW RECORDS. LONG SINCE HAD WE CHANGED FROM WATCHFUL WAITING FOR YOU TO PROVE YOURSELVES, AND INSTEAD, WE WERE PROUDLY POINTING TO YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS. AND YOU CAME TO THE END OF YOUR JOURNEY AS A FIGHTING DIVISION. YOU TURNED YOUR STEPS HOMEWARD. WE FELT ANEW THE THRILL OF PRIDE IN YOUR JOB WELL DONE. MEN OF THE 90TH, YOU HAVE DONE YOURSELVES, AND US, PROUD. WE, THE TOUGH ‘OMBRE VETERANS OF WW I, SALUTE YOU.”
THE WW I VETERANS SALUTED YOU THEN, AND WE SALUTE YOU NOW FOR YOUR PATRIOTISM AND YOUR VALOR.
APPROXIMATELY 30,000 MEN WORE THE TOUGH ‘OMBRE PATCH DURING WORLD WAR II. EACH MAN HAS JUST CAUSE TO BE PROUD; EACH HAS REASON TO SAY THAT HE CONTRIBUTED IN A CONCRETE MANNER TO A VICTORY FASHIONED OUT OF BLOOD AND BRAVERY. THOSE OF YOU WHO SURVIVED THE CONFLICT RETURNED TO YOUR HOMES SECURE IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT YOU FOUGHT ABLY AND SUPPORTED A JUST CAUSE. FOREVER AFTER YOU WILL RETAIN WARM MEMORIES OF YOUR COMRADES IN ARMS; AND FOREVER YOU WILL RECALL WITH SADNESS AND PRIDE THOSE WHO CONTRIBUTED SELFLESSLY “TO THE LAST FULL MEASURE OF DEVOTION.”
AND SO NOW, WE RECOGNIZE AND SALUTE ALL OF YOU WHO FOUGHT WITH THE 90TH INFANTRY DIVISION IN WW II. AND AS PART OF THIS RECOGNITION, WE IN THE 90TH DIVISION ASSOCIATION WILL NOW ASSIST YOU WORLD WAR II VETERANS OF THE 90TH INFANTRY DIVISION AS YOU SYMBOLICALLY REENACT THE PASSING OF YOUR HERITAGE TO TODAY’S TOUGH ‘OMBRES BY AFFIXING YOUR WW II BATTLE STREAMERS TO THE TOUGH ‘OMBRE FLAG OF THE 90TH REGIONAL READINESS COMMAND, WHOSE SOLDIERS CONTINUE TO FIGHT TODAY IN IRAQ FOR THE SAME HERITAGE AND TRADITIONS THAT YOU CARRIED WITH YOU IN WORLD WAR II.
THE FIRST BATTLE STREAMER, PRESENTED TONIGHT BY 90TH VETERANS EDWARD GANCARSKI, 357TH INFANTRY, B COMPANY AND CLIFFORD CULVER, 358TH INFANTRY, E COMPANY, IS FOR THE NORMANDY CAMPAIGN. THIS CAMPAIGN BEGAN ON THE BEACHES OF NORMANDY WHEN THE 90TH DIVISION’S 359TH INFANTRY REGIMENT CAME ASHORE AT UTAH BEACH AS PART OF THE 4TH INFANTRY DIVISION’S ASSAULT MISSION ON D-DAY. FOR THIS, THE 90TH INFANTRY DIVISION RECEIVED THE INVASION ARROWHEAD THAT IT PROUDLY DISPLAYS TODAY.
IT WAS DURING THIS CAMPAIGN THAT THE 90TH WAS INITIATED WITH A BAPTISM OF FIRE, BEGINNING WITH THE SINKING OF THE TROOP TRANSPORT SHIP “SUSAN B. ANTHONY” AND CONTINUING IN THE HEDGEROWS AND SWAMPS OF NORMANDY. IN THE BOOK ‘WAR FROM THE GROUND UP’, 90TH VETERANS SAID, “DURING OUR INITIAL, CONFUSING DAYS OF COMBAT WE WERE HESITANT AND UN-AGGRESSIVE – WE WERE GREEN. AFTER CROSSING THE BEACHES, WE HAD TO RE-GROUP AND ORGANIZE FOR THE EXECUTION OF A COMPLEX, DEMANDING CAMPAIGN. OUR FIRST TWO DIVISION COMMANDERS AND SOME REGIMENTAL AND BATTALION COMMANDERS PROVED TO BE WEAK OR INEPT, AND A VETERAN ENEMY WAS STRONGLY DEPLOYED.
“BUT THE 90TH PERSISTED AND ULTIMATELY SCORED WITH SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SUCCESSES OF THE WAR, INCLUDING THE ASSAULT OF HILL 122 TO TAKE AND HOLD THE HIGH GROUND COMMANDING THE ENTIRE NORMANDY PENINSULA. AFTER ITS EARLY TROUBLES, THE 90TH WAS LABELED AS A ‘PROBLEM DIVISION’ AND THE FIRST ARMY STAFF RECOMMENDED TO GEN BRADLEY THAT THE 90TH BE BROKEN UP AND USED FOR REPLACEMENTS. “INSTEAD,” BRADLEY SAID, “WE STAYED WITH THE DIVISION AND IN THE END THE 90TH BECAME ONE OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING IN THE EUROPEAN THEATER.”
THE SECOND BATTLE STREAMER, PRESENTED TONIGHT BY 90TH VETERANS JOHN TAMAGNI, 344TH FIELD ARTILLERY, AND MILTON PHILLIPS, 357TH INFANTRY, B COMPANY, IS FOR THE CAMPAIGN OF NORTHERN FRANCE. IT WAS DESCRIBED BY GEN BRADLEY AS THE OPERATION THAT “WAS DESTINED TO BECOME KNOWN AS THE NORMANDY BREAKOUT --- THE MOST DECISIVE BATTLE OF OUR WAR IN WESTERN EUROPE.” AFTER BG TEDDY ROOSEVELT WAS SELECTED TO TAKE OVER THE 90TH BUT DIED OF A HEART ATTACK BEFORE ASSUMING COMMAND, GEN BRADLEY SELECTED BG RAYMOND S. McCLAIN AND THE 90TH WAS OFF AND RUNNING WITH THE LEADERSHIP OF GEN McCLAIN AND GEN WEAVER. THIS WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST DIVISIONS THAT EVER FOUGHT, AND IT WAS DUE IN LARGE PART TO THESE TWO MEN. THE DIVISION SUBSEQUENTLY HAD A SERIES OF GREAT COMMANDERS, INCLUDING GEN JAMES VAN FLEET. IT WAS IN THE CAMPAIGN OF NORTHERN FRANCE THAT THE 90TH’s SGT JOHN D. HAWK EARNED HIS MEDAL OF HONOR ON 20 AUGUST 1944 NEAR CHAMBOIS, FRANCE FOR HIS GALLANT ACTIONS THAT RESULTED IN THE CRUSHING OF TWO DESPERATE ATTEMPTS BY THE GERMANS TO ESCAPE FROM THE FALAISE POCKET AND FOR TAKING MORE THAN 500 PRISONERS.
THE NEXT STREAMER, PRESENTED TONIGHT BY 90TH VETERANS HARRY RASMUSSON, 315TH ENGINEER BATTALION, B COMPANY, AND TOM RIDLEHUBER, 358TH INFANTRY, K COMPANY AND HQ COMPANY, IS FOR THE MOSELLE-SAAR RIVERS CAMPAIGN, INCLUDING THE REDUCTION OF THE FORTRESS METZ FOR WHICH THE 90TH INFANTRY DIVISION WAS RECOMMENDED IN ITS ENTIRETY BY LTG PATTON FOR AWARD OF THE PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION. --- AS THE 90TH CONTINUED THEIR EASTWARD DRIVE AGAINST EVER-INCREASING GERMAN RESISTANCE, SEVERAL OF THE DIVISION’S MOST IMPORTANT AND DIFFICULT BATTLES WERE FOUGHT. THE GREATEST OBSTACLES IN THE DIVISION’S PATH WERE THE MOSELLE AND SAAR RIVERS, BACKED UP BY THE MAGINOT AND SIEGFRIED LINES. THE SUCCESSFUL SURPRISE CROSSING OF THE MOSELLE NEAR THIONVILLE, AT A POINT WHERE THE RIVER HAD EXPANDED IN WIDTH FROM LESS THAN 300 FEET TO OVER A MILE BECAUSE OF FLOODING, WAS PERHAPS THE MOST RENOWNED OF ALL THE 90TH’s OPERATIONS. THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY THE EPIC FIGHT TO SEIZE FORT KOENIGSMACHER, WHICH BROKE THE RING OF DEFENSES AROUND METZ AND LED TO THE FIRST CAPTURE OF METZ IN MODERN HISTORY. IT WAS IN SUPPORTING BATTLES NEAR THIONVILLE AND KERLING, FRANCE, ON 12 NOVEMBER 1944 THAT TWO 90TH DIVISION MEN, PFC FOSTER J. SAYERS AND TECHNICAL SGT FORREST E. EVERHART, EARNED MEDALS OF HONOR FOR THEIR GALLANT ACTIONS IN REPELLING GERMAN COUNTERATTACKS AND IN CONTINUING THE 90TH ATTACK TOWARD FORT KOENIGSMACHER. PRIVATE FIRST CLASS SAYERS WAS KILLED AS HE ATTACKED DUG-IN GERMAN POSITIONS AND DREW HEAVY ENEMY FIRE THAT ENABLED HIS BUDDIES TO ATTAIN THEIR OBJECTIVE AT THE CREST OF A HILL, KILLING OR CAPTURING EVERY GERMAN SOLDIER ON IT.
WHEN THE 90TH FINALLY SECURED THE FAMOUS FORT KOENIGSMACHER ON 12 NOVEMBER 1944, LTG PATTON CALLED A PRESS CONFERENCE AND TOLD THE CORRESPONDENTS ABOUT THE EXPLOITS OF THE DIVISION, CHARACTERIZING IT AS ONE OF THE GREATEST IN THE WAR. HE ALSO SUBMITTED THE ENTIRE 90TH INFANTRY DIVISION FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION, WHICH THE XX CORPS COMMANDER, GEN WALTON H. WALKER, ENDORSED WITH THESE WORDS:
“WITHOUT QUESTION I CAN UNEQUIVOCALLY STATE THAT DURING THE PERIOD COVERED BY THIS RECOMMENDATION THE 90TH INFANTRY DIVISION SO DISTINGUISHED ITSELF IN BATTLE BY ITS EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM, AND EXHIBITED SUCH GALLANTRY, DETERMINATION AND ESPRIT-DE-CORPS IN OVERCOMING UNUSUALLY DIFFICULT AND HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS ON THE BATTLEFIELD THAT IT SET ITSELF APART AND ABOVE ALL OTHER UNITS THEN COMPRISING THE XX CORPS. --- THE OPERATIONS OF THIS COMBINED BATTLE TEAM WAS SUCH AS TO RECEIVE THE HIGHEST APPROBATION OF THAT GREAT COMBAT LEADER, GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON, JR., WHO DESCRIBED THE ACTION OF THIS 90TH INFANTRY DIVISION DURING THE PERIOD FOR WHICH THIS RECOMMENDATION IS MADE AS “ONE OF THE EPIC RIVER CROSSINGS OF HISTORY.”
AFTER THE MOSELLE CROSSING AND THE CAPTURE OF METZ, THE 90TH DIVISION WAS ON TO THE BATTLES AT THE SIEGFRIED LINE, WHICH INVOLVED A MOST DIFFICULT CROSSING OF THE SAAR RIVER – WITHOUT BRIDGES. AT THIS POINT, FURTHER PROGRESS AGAINST THE SIEGFRIED LINE WAS ABRUPTLY INTERRUPTED BY THE GERMAN ATTACK IN THE ARDENNES.
THE NEXT BATTLE STREAMER, PRESENTED TONIGHT BY 90TH VETERANS RAY PREJEAN, 359TH INFANTRY, F COMPANY, AND ART MEIER, 343TH FIELD ARTILLERY, IS FOR THE ARDENNES-ALSACE CAMPAIGN, BETTER KNOWN AS THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE. THE EARLY SUCCESS OF HITLER’S MASSIVE ASSAULT IN THE ARDENNES CAUSED A SEVERE DISRUPTION IN THE ALLIED BATTLE PLANS. GEN PATTON CEASED THE 90TH’s ATTACKS TO THE EAST AND REDIRECTED THE EFFORT NORTHWARD TO CUT OFF THE BASE OF THE GERMAN SALIENT. THE 90TH SECRETLY WITHDREW BACK ACROSS THE SAAR RIVER, TRUCKED NORTH OVER 70 MILES OF ROAD THAT WAS ICED LIKE SKATING RINKS, AND THEN IMMEDIATELY ENGAGED THE GERMANS IN BITTER, BRUTAL FIGHTING. ALL OF THIS WAS COMPLICATED BY WEATHER SO SEVERE THAT OUR INFANTRY’S LOSSES FROM FROSTBITE EXCEEDED LOSSES FROM WOUNDS. HERE THE 90TH EXPERIENCED SOME OF THEIR TOUGHEST TIMES, BOTH IN THE FORMS OF ENEMY OPPOSITION AND WEATHER, BUT THEY OVERCAME THEM BOTH. THE 90TH DIVISION, AFTER TAKING BLOODSTAINED HILL 490 NEAR HOUFFALIZE, SUDDENLY TURNED NORTHWEST AND DROVE INTO THE BASE OF THE GERMAN FINGER STILL STICKING DOWN BETWEEN WILTZ AND BASTOGNE. BY AFTERNOON ON 12 JANUARY, THE 90TH ADVANCED TO MEET THE 6TH ARMORED DIVISION AND THE 35TH INFANTRY DIVISION AND SNIPPED OFF THE GERMAN SALIENT, TRAPPING ALMOST 15,000 FIRST-RATE GERMAN TROOPS INCLUDING MOST OF THE 5TH PARACHUTE DIVISION. IT WAS DURING THE ARDENNES CAMPAIGN THAT CORPORAL EDWARD A. BENNETT EARNED THE MEDAL OF HONOR FOR HIS GALLANT ACTIONS IN THE CAPTURE OF THE TOWN OF HECKUSCHEID ON 1 FEB 1945. AFTER THE GERMAN SALIENT WAS ELIMINATED, THE DIVISION PREPARED TO RESUME THEIR ATTACK TO THE EAST.
THE NEXT BATTLE STREAMER, PRESENTED TONIGHT BY 90TH VETERANS CHARLIE HOLLENBECK, 358TH INFANTRY, C COMPANY, AND JIM REID, 344TH FIELD ARTILLERY, IS FOR THE CAMPAIGN OF THE RHINELAND. AFTER THE BULGE WAS REDUCED, THE 90TH REGROUPED FOR A FEW DAYS AND AGAIN TURNED EASTWARD. HAVING LOST THE BULK OF THEIR BEST TROOPS IN THE ARDENNES, THE GERMANS’ PRINCIPAL DEFENSIVE TROOPS NOW WERE VOLKSGRENADIERS, (OR FOLK-SOLDIERS), BUT THEY MADE PROFESSIONAL USE OF THEIR DEFENSIVE ASSETS --- THE SIEGFRIED LINE, BAD WEATHER, AND THE MOSELLE, KYLL, AND PRUM RIVERS. THE 90TH DIVISION’S VETERAN INFANTRY OVERCAME THE PILLBOXES BY VALOR AND EXPERT TACTICS, INCLUDING NIGHT INFILTRATION, DIRECT FIRE BY 155MM SELF-PROPELLED GUNS, SATCHEL CHARGES, AND MASSIVE ARTILLERY CONCENTRATIONS. PROGRESS WAS SPOTTY – SOMETIMES SLOW, SOMETIMES RAPID, BUT THE 90TH CLEARED THE SEIGFRIED LINE, CROSSED THE THREE RIVERS, CAPTURED THE CITY OF MAINZ, AND FINALLY REACHED THEIR OBJECTIVE – THE RHINE RIVER.
THE NEXT AND FINAL BATTLE STREAMER, PRESENTED TONIGHT BY 90TH VETERANS JACK HANLON, 359TH INFANTRY, C COMPANY, AND VERN SCHMIDT, 358TH INFANTRY, E COMPANY, IS FOR THE CAMPAIGN OF CENTRAL EUROPE. THE LONG-ANTICIPATED RHINE CROSSING WAS NOT A PROBLEM AT ALL AS THE 90TH FOLLOWED THE 5TH DIVISION OVER ITS BRIDGE, THEN PROCEEDED EAST TO CAPTURE DARMSTADT AND CROSS THE MAIN RIVER AT HANAU, AND THEN ROLLED UP LIGHT GERMAN RESISTANCE AS THEY ADVANCED TOWARD CZECHOSLOVAKIA. SMALL GROUPS OF FANATICAL, VICIOUS, UNPRINCIPLED SS TROOPS ATTACKED SPORADICALLY, BUT THE 90TH OVERCAME THEM WITH LIGHT BUT REGRETTABLE U.S. LOSSES.
THREE MEMORABLE ACTIONS DURING THIS CAMPAIGN DID NOT INVOLVE COMBAT. FIRST WAS THE DISCOVERY AND CAPTURE OF THE GERMAN NATIONAL TREASURE IN THE MERKERS SALT MINE, WHERE CURRENCY, PAINTINGS, ART, GOLD, SILVER AND ALL THE VALUABLES OF THE THIRD REICH WERE STORED. SECOND WAS THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE SURRENDER OF THE ENTIRE 11TH PANZER DIVISION AT HOF, GERMANY, NEAR THE CZECH BORDER, WHERE THE 90TH TOOK CONTROL OF 15,000 PRISONERS WHO PREFERRED TO SURRENDER TO THE UNITED STATES INSTEAD OF THE ADVANCING RUSSIANS. THE THIRD MEMORABLE ACTION WAS THE LIBERATION OF THE INFAMOUS FLOSSENBURG CONCENTRATION CAMP, DESCRIBED BY 90TH SOLDIERS WHO SAW IT AS A CESSPOOL OF SUFFERING, TORTURE AND HUMAN DEGRADATION THAT CANNOT BE COMPREHENDED UNLESS ONE HAS LIVED THROUGH THE NEVER-ENDING DAYS AND NIGHTS OF MISERY AND TERROR IN SUCH A PLACE. IN THE FOUR YEARS OF FLOSSENBURG’S OPERATION BEFORE IT WAS LIBERATED BY THE 90TH DIVISION, BETWEEN 60,000 AND 100,000 MISERABLE SOULS DIED THERE IN AGONY.
IN EARLY MAY 1945, ELEMENTS OF THE 90TH CROSSED THE BORDER INTO CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND FOUGHT SEVERAL ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE GERMANS, CAPTURING MANY PRISONERS AT THE COST OF PRECIOUS AMERICAN LIVES ON THE EVE OF THE END OF THE WAR. ON THE MORNING OF MAY 7TH, 1945, THE DIVISION HEADQUARTERS RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE:
“A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GERMAN HIGH COMMAND SIGNED THE UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER OF ALL GERMAN LAND, SEA AND AIR FORCES IN EUROPE TO THE ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCES AND SIMULTANEOUSLY TO THE SOVIET HIGH COMMAND AT 0141 CENTRAL EUROPEAN TIME, 7 MAY 1945, UNDER WHICH ALL FORCES WILL CEASE ACTIVE OPERATIONS AT 0001, 9 MAY 1945.” --- SIGNED, “EISENHOWER.”
THE WAR WAS FINALLY OVER. THE 90TH INFANTRY DIVISION HAD PERFORMED MAGNIFICENTLY. THE ACTUAL BATTLES AND NAMES I HAVE DESCRIBED ARE BUT A FEW EXAMPLES OF THE STRENGTH AND DEPTH OF COURAGE AND LEADERSHIP THAT DEVELOPED WITHIN THE RANKS OF THE 90TH DIVISION. EACH REGIMENT AND BATTALION CAN PRODUCE A RECORD OF COMPARABLE ACHIEVEMENT. SINCE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DIGNIFY ALL INDIVIDUALS WHO DESERVE RECOGNITION, WE MUST SETTLE FOR A SIMPLE, HEART-FELT ACCOLADE TO ALL THE BRAVE MEN OF THE 90TH. YOU 90TH DIVISION VETERANS ARE THE MEN WHO ACTUALLY FOUGHT THAT WAR, AND YOU AND ALL THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE ARE OUR HEROES. THERE ARE MANY WORDS TO DESCRIBE YOUR DEEDS, BUT NO WORDS TO DO YOU SUFFICIENT HONOR. SO WE SIMPLY SAY ‘THANK YOU’ AND WE SALUTE YOU.