This website claims CT Payne did serve in the 89th....http://www.89infdivww2.org/
Introduction
Concerning the service of Mr. Charles Payne: C.T. Payne was a soldier in the 89th Infantry Division. He served in the 355th Infantry Regiment, Company K. The 355th Infantry Regiment was the unit to liberate Ohrdruf. Mr. Payne was there.
For those who seek to minimize the horrors of Ohrdruf since it was a ‘work’ camp and not a ‘death’ camp, we have but one word: shame. Ironically, this argument has been made to us time and time again by various Holocaust-deniers and other pro-Nazi groups. We will let the testimony of survivors and veterans speak for themselves.
It has been recorded that in Ordruf itself the last days were a slaughterhouse. We were shot at, beaten and molested. At every turn went on the destruction of the remaining inmates. Indiscriminant criminal behavior (like the murderers of Oklahoma City some days ago). Some days before the first Americans appeared at the gates of Ordruf, the last retreating Nazi guards managed to execute with hand pistols, literally emptying their last bullets on whomever they encountered leaving them bleeding to death as testified by an American of the 37th Tank Battalion Medical section, 10 a.m. April 4, 1945.
Today I’m privileged thanks to G-d and you gallant fighting men. I’m here to reminisce, and reflect, and experience instant recollections of those moments. Those horrible scenes and that special instance when an Allied soldier outstretched his arm to help me up became my re-entrance, my being re-invited into humanity and restoring my inalienable right to a dignified existence as a human being and as a Jew. Something, which was denied me from September 1939 to the day of liberation in 1945. I had no right to live and survived, out of 80 members of my family, the infernal ordeal of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Ordruf, and its satellite camp Crawinkle and finally Theresinstadt Ghetto-Concentration Camp.
Rabbi Murray Kohn
This website has been created to honor the service of the 89th Infantry Division during the Second World War. The 89th, known as the Rolling W, served with distinction during combat operations in Europe from March-May, 1945.
This website was created by 89th veteran Raymond E. Kitchell and his son Mark R. Kitchell. We are grateful to the contributions of histories, stories and pictures from numerous 89th Infantry veterans and their families, and from the 89th Infantry Division Society.
The operator of that site called someone who wrote for details about Obama’s great uncle a “chickenhawk” and rudely told him to go away.
On the matter of the military service of Charlie Payne, the great-uncle of Barack Obama:
His full name is Charles Thomas Payne and he IS the uncle (the term “uncle” has in fact been used even for great-uncles in that family) who served in the Army in the 89th Infantry during WW II and suffered severe enough PTSD that, after coming back from the war, he isolated himself at home for some time.
Charles recovered, attended college and to this day is an active, mentally vital, 83 year-old resident of Chicago.
This information was obtained tonight from a phone conversation with members of the Payne family and is being posted to correct the mis-information that is swirling around the internet.
CORRECT info:
1. Charles’ middle initial is “T”, not “W”;
2. he did have what is now termed PTSD; and
3. he was so traumatized by what he encountered during the war, that he in fact did isolate himself at home for a lengthy period of time.
Charles is the second of FOUR Payne siblings:
1. Madelyn Lee
2. Charles Thomas
3. Margaret Arlene
4. Jon Virgil, (born 1937, which is why there is no listing for him in the 1930 Census of Augusta City, Butler County, Kansas. This census has been the only source offered for “Payne sibling info” oin all of the genealogical sites cited by those interested in this story.
I suspect that the listing for Charles E. Payne of Kansas is in fact the record for Charles Thomas Payne. I believe the scribe probably heard “E” instead of “T.” That type of error is frequent in census records and in military records where the info is provided orally:
Payne, Charles E. Inducted 9 June 1943, Army 37531353 Registered, order # V11125 Augusta, Butler Co. (Board # 2)
http://www.kshs.org/genealogists/military/wwiiveteransresults.php?surname=payne&givenname=charles&county=&branch=&servicenumber=&year=&submit=SEARCH
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I’m glad you survived. I visited Dachau in 1954 and was deeply moved by seeing the death facilities. That visit has no comparision to what you went through, but I realize we should never allow it to happen again anywhere.