Replies

To: wagglebee; aculeus; All

If overlooked here, not across the pond:

In the Second World War Ford served with the Marines, and was seconded to the French Resistance. He rarely spoke of his military service; and it was only 30 years later, when he was presented with a Liberator's Award by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies, that it emerged he had been responsible for an act of extraordinary courage and compassion.
Immediately after Germany's surrender, Ford had discovered that, while attention was focused on Dachau, some 15,000 intended victims were still alive, but barely, at the nearby camp of Fernwald, outside Munich. Defying orders that rations should not be diverted to displaced persons, Ford persuaded supply-sergeants to turn a blind eye while he loaded his truck with food and medical supplies for the starving survivors. It was a lifeline he kept going for seven weeks. He was credited with single-handedly saving the lives of between 5,000 and 6,000 of the abandoned inmates, and women in the camp named new-born sons after him.
— Telegraph obit.

12 posted on 09/01/2006 6:26:59 PM PDT by dighton

16 posted on 09/01/2006 6:31:25 PM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)

20 posted on 09/01/2006 6:34:22 PM PDT by Hildy

I second wagglebee's "Wow!"

36 posted on 09/01/2006 7:06:50 PM PDT by skr (We cannot play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.-- Ronald Reagan)

Wow yet again. Now touching the face of God no doubt. Rest in peace, Mr. Ford.

42 posted on 09/01/2006 7:23:02 PM PDT by itsamelman (“Announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh.” -- Al Swearengen)

Immediately after Germany's surrender, Ford had discovered that, while attention was focused on Dachau, some 15,000 intended victims were still alive, but barely, at the nearby camp of Fernwald, outside Munich. Defying orders that rations should not be diverted to displaced persons, Ford persuaded supply-sergeants to turn a blind eye while he loaded his truck with food and medical supplies for the starving survivors. It was a lifeline he kept going for seven weeks. He was credited with single-handedly saving the lives of between 5,000 and 6,000 of the abandoned inmates, and women in the camp named new-born sons after him.

Wow, I can't believe this isn't more widely known.

59 posted on 09/01/2006 8:33:39 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)

The Telegraph got it right.

The Tele has him with the Resistance, not (NewsMax version) the French Foreign Legion which is forbidden by French law to serve in France.

79 posted on 09/02/2006 7:21:55 AM PDT by aculeus

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