Sidney Shachnow

Sidney Shachnow

Maj. Gen. Sidney Shachnow, USA
Born (1934-03-05) March 5, 1934
Kaunas, Lithuania
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Army
Years of service 1955-1994
Rank Major General
Commands held U.S. Army Berlin
John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School
Battles/wars Vietnam War
Awards Combat Infantryman Badge
Silver Star
Purple Heart
Bronze Star

Sidney Shachnow is a Holocaust survivor who attained the rank of Major General in United States Army.[1] He retired in 1994, after 40 years of active service.

Biography

Surviving the concentration camp

Sid Shachnow was born in Kaunas, Lithuania on March 5, 1934. At the age of seven, Shachnow was imprisoned in the Kovno concentration camp during World War II because his family was Jewish. For three years he endured countless brutalities in the camp and was forced to watch helplessly as almost every single one of his extended family were slaughtered. To increase his prospects of survival, young Shachnow performed heavy manual labor under harsh conditions. He narrowly escaped death only days before Kovno's gruesome "Children's Action", of March 27–28, 1944, when Nazi troops rounded up all children in the camp and marched them to The Ninth Fort for execution or to Auschwitz to be gassed. After smuggling out of the camp, Shachnow lived in hiding for months, mostly in austere seclusion, where he nearly expired from starvation and malnutrition. Shachnow fled west after the Soviets liberated Kovno from the Nazis and began to implement Communism. His 2,000 mile, six-month journey across Europe, mostly on foot, took him across Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, and finally to American occupied Nuremberg, Germany where he hoped to obtain a visa to the United States. To make a living in war-torn Nuremberg, Shachnow resorted to pirating black market contraband such as nylon stockings and chocolate.

A new life in the new world

In 1950, Shachnow obtained a visa and immigrated to Salem, Massachusetts where he attended school for the first time in his life. After working his way through high school he enlisted in the U.S. Army. As a Sergeant First Class he entered Officer Candidate School and received his commission in the U.S. Infantry.

Special Forces

In 1962 he volunteered for the United States Army Special Forces, also known as the "Green Berets", where he served for the next thirty-two years. After joining special forces, Shachnow was promoted to Captain and assigned as Commander of Detachment A-121, at Vietnam's An Long Camp near the Cambodian border along the Mekong River.

After Vietnam

In the 1970s he served as Commander of Det-A, Berlin Brigade, a clandestine unit of Cold War* Green Beret commandos on high alert 24-hours a day. This covert unit was made up of selectively trained and language qualified members of Special Forces, as well as many Eastern European immigrants who brought much needed culture, geographical and language skills to the assignment. Their missions were classified; they dressed in civilian clothing made in East and West Germany, and carried appropriate non-American documentation and identification. Many of its members later went on to help form Delta Force (Det A did not itself become Delta Force). Shachnow's status grew as Special Forces grew, rising to the rank of Major General, receiving both a masters and an honorary doctoral degree along the way. He traveled the world, from Vietnam to the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Korea and back to Germany for the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Retirement

Maj. Gen. Shachnow is the author of Hope and Honor, an autobiographical account of his childhood experience in the Nazi Kovno concentration camp of Lithuania, his immigration and assimilation to the United States and his 40-year career in the U.S. Army, Special Forces.

Sidney Shachnow is an honorary member of Rotary Club Berlin-Luftbruecke (Berlin-Airlift) since March 13, 1990.

Politics

On September 6, 2016 he endorsed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.[2]

Service history

Assignments and Commands

Maj. Gen. Shachnow's past assignments have been as commander or staff officer with Infantry, Mechanized Infantry, Airmobile, Airborne and Special Forces units. Gen. Shachnow's most recent assignments include:

Awards and honors

Maj. Gen. Shachnow is the recipient of:

References

  1. ↑ Goleman, Daniel (1992-10-06). "Holocaust Survivors Had Skills To Prosper". New York Times. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  2. ↑ Reinhard, beth (2016-09-06). "Donald Trump Receives Endorsement of 88 Military Leaders". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
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