SINGAPORE -- The Singapore Area Coordinator (SAC) community hosted a Days of Remembrance presentation April 13.
Days of Remembrance was established by the U.S. Congress to memorialize the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust-as well as the millions of non-Jewish victims of Nazi persecution.
Each year, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum leads the nation in commemorating Days of Remembrance. The Federal Inter-Agency Holocaust Remembrance Program began at the Department of Education in 1994 to commemorate the Days of Remembrance. Its purpose is to educate federal employees, students and the general public about the Holocaust.
The week of remembrance is set aside to honor and to remember the victims of the Holocaust and their liberators. For this week's presentation, the SAC Heritage and Diversity Committee highlighted the account of Anthony Acevedo, a medic in the U.S. Army's 70th Infantry Division, who was captured by the Germans following the Battle of the Bulge, one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.
The presentation shared the story of Anthony Acevedo, a World War II veteran and Holocaust survivor, and his legacy of perseverance. For guest speaker, Information Systems Technician Seaman Kiara Cromer, the presentation was a step forward in increasing awareness among the U.S. military community in Singapore.
"Bringing awareness to an atrocity as monumental as this is the overall agenda," Cromer said. "The more people know and acknowledge where these faults took place, the more likely we are to prevent an event like this from occurring again."
Today, we carry forward the proud legacy of men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces who played an essential role in liberating the camps at Buchenwald, Dora-Mittelbau, Flossenbrg, Dachau, and Mauthausen. American forces not only secured freedom for the survivors of Nazi horrors, they also ensured that the world would know about all that had happened.
"Hosting opportunities of awareness like this fosters a feeling of coming together," said Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Betty Byers, a SAC Heritage and Diversity Committee member. "It is an opportunity for all of us to reflect, neglect hatred, move forward, work together and do better."