Sunday, April 27, 10:30 am brunch; 11 program
In honor of Yom Hashoah, Ohef Sholom Temple’s Adult Education Committee invites the community to a Carpool Café featuring Col. Edward Shames who will speak about his wartime experiences as one of the first military officers to liberate a concentration camp.
Born in Norfolk, Col. Shames was a student at the Naval Engineering School when the United States entered World War II .
In Sept. 1942, he volunteered for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, an experimental regiment that the War Department was creating with the unprecedented idea of a “super unit” of the highest quality soldiers chosen only from civilian volunteers. While 7,000 recruits signed up for the most rigorous training schedules any WWII unit would have to undergo, only 2,500 stood at the end to comprise the regiment. Shames was one of them.
Shames joined Easy Company—now known as the Band of Brothers—in July 1944 and remained with them through Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, the liberation of the concentration camps, and the end of the war in 1945. He was, in fact, the first American officer at Dachau.
Ohef Sholom is located at 530 Raleigh Ave. in Norfolk. For more information or to make reservations, call 625‑4295.