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Dedication |
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In June of 1943 both the 106th Infantry Division and I were at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, even though neither of us was particularly aware of the other. I was reporting for duty in the Army as a part of its ASTP Training, the 106th was in its third month of existence and training. I had no way of knowing the part it would play on my life. Truly God works in mysterious ways!
I am certain, too, that another young ASTP soldier could never have imagined at that time in his life the part which the 106th Infantry Division would play in his. Neither of us could have known in the Summer of 1943 the cataclysmic event in which we and the other members of the 106th Infantry Division would be involved in some eighteen months later.
This book “The CUB of the Golden Lion Passes in Review” is the result of a work of love of the other man, John Kline. I am certain that when John volunteered to become Editor of The Cub, he had no intention of undertaking a work such as this. After its decimation in The Battle of the Bulge, the 106th Infantry Division was reorganized and finished out the war in Europe. Our paths, mine and the Association, almost crossed once again at Camp Lucky Strike, Le Havre, France in the Summer of 1945. I left there in early June and the 106th came there a few weeks later on its way back to the United States. It was during the time at Camp Lucky Strike that the 106th Infantry Division Association became a reality. Over those years since, this Association has had an impact on the lives of each of us who have found it and become a part of it, even as our becoming a part of the Division affected and changed our lives. Through all of these years “The Cub of the Golden Lion” has been the “glue” which has cemented relationships and brought us new friends.
This book honors the work and memory of all of those persons — 106ers and others — who have played a part in making the 106th Infantry Division Association what it is today. Those of us who are a part of the Association today are deeply indebted to those who laid the ground‑work and kept it alive in the years immediately following World War II.
I am grateful to God for allowing me to be a part of this organization and to have brought both me and so many others through the dangers of combat and the tribulations of the past forty seven years to this point.
Truly, this book is dedicated to the God who brought us together and to this time in our lives and to each and everyone of those veterans and their families who were the 106th Infantry Division and who continue to be the 106th Infantry Division Association.
Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly, ... Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life, you stretch out your hand against my foes, with your right hand you save me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever — do not abandon the works of your hands. Psalm 138:6‑8
Ewell C. Black, Jr., Chaplain 106th Infantry Division Association |
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Page last revised
08/11/2017