Major General Sidney Shachnow, Commanding General of all US Special Forces, was born on November 23, 1934 in Kaunas, Lithuania, to the late Rose and Leon Shachnow.

He met, fell in love with and married Arlene Marie Armstrong, the love of his life, on Aug. 28, 1955.

General Shachnow was imprisoned for three years during the Holocaust in a German concentration camp. In 1950, he immigrated to the United States. He enlisted in the U.S. Army rose up the ranks to become a Green Beret commander in Vietnam, the Commanding General of the U.S Army in Berlin, and Deputy Commanding General of 1st Special Operations Command in Fort Bragg, NC. He is the only Holocaust survivor to achieve the rank of general in the U.S. Army.

He retired in 1994, after 40 years of active service.

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:
Commanding General, John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, Airborne, Fort Bragg (1992–1994)
Commanding General, United States Army Special Forces Command, Airborne, Fort Bragg
Commanding General, U.S. Army-Berlin; Director, Washington Office, United States Special Operations Command, Airborne
Deputy Commanding General, 1st Special Operations of Command, Airborne, Fort Bragg
Chief of Staff, 1st Special Operations Command, Airborne, Fort Bragg

While serving in infantry, airborne, airmobile and Special Forces units, Maj. Gen. Shachnow also earned degrees from the University of Nebraska and Shippensburg State College in Pennsylvania. And he received an honorary doctorate from the Harvard Executive Management Program.

Maj. Gen. Shachnow was inducted as a Distinguished Member of the Special Forces Regiment in 2007. During his military career, his awards and decorations included two Distinguished Service Medals, two Silver Stars for gallantry, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, three Bronze Stars for heroism and two Purple Hearts received in ground combat. He earned the Special Forces Tab, the Ranger Tab, the Master parachutist Badge, the Expert Infantryman's Badge, and the Combat Infantryman's Badge.

He also was honored with the U.S. Special Operations medal for outstanding contributions to the special operations community and is included on the honor roll in the Infantry Officers' Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Following his retirement, Maj. Gen. Shachnow authored a best-selling autobiography, "Hope and Honor," which was published in 2004.

"Schaja, I think you have a great deal of potential as a human being. I admire your courage and persistence. I also think you have a great deal of humanity within your heart," - rabbi said to Schaja Schachnowski just several days before his bar mitzvah. He still have a lot of humanity within his heart, and the road to FREEDOM became his major life achievement. We achieved a lot, we want to achieve even more, but only FREEDOM can guarantee the future. From surviving the insanity of Hitler's holocaust to becoming Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Special Forces..."

"May You Who are the source of mercy
Shelter them beneath Your wings eternally,
And bind their soul among the living,
That they may rest in peace. Amen"

[excerpts from Hope and Honor]

Sidney is survived by his wife of 63 years, Arlene Armstrong Shachnow; his four daughters and spouses, Sheree Gillette (Ron), Michelle Batiste (John), Denise Smith (Joe) and LeeAnne Keister (Alan); his brother Stanley; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews. He leaves behind 14 grandchildren and at last count, 15 great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Oct. 13 at Boles Funeral Home in Southern Pines.

Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery.

From another findagrave contributor added 25 Aug 2020 [credit: Wikipedia edited]:
Major General Sidney Shachnow was born March 5, 1934, in Kaunas, Lithuania. At the age of six, he was imprisoned in the German-run 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, the young General 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. Two days before children in the camp were rounded up to be exterminated, he was smuggled out of the camp to live in hiding, where he was subjected to more unthinkable conditions. 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. He lived in Europe until he immigrated to the United States in 1949. He immigrated to Salem, Massachusetts learned English and attended school for the first time in his life. He met, fell in love with, and married Arlene Armstrong, the love of his life, on 28 August 1955. After working his way through high school General Shachnow enlisted in the Army as a private in the Infantry and later attended Officer Candidate School as a sergeant first class. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in Infantry in 1960 and served as a rifle platoon leader,
executive officer and company commander with the 50th Infantry, 4th Armored Division, in
Europe. In 1962, he volunteered for Special Forces. His assignments during more than 34 years of commissioned service have been as a commander or staff officer with infantry, mechanized infantry, airmobile, airborne, and Special Forces units. He served as a Green Beret for 32 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. 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). General 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. General Shachnow attended Franklin Technical Institute in Boston, Mass., and graduated from the University of Nebraska, where he majored in business administration. He also has earned a Master of Science degree in public administration from Shippensburg State College,
Shippensburg, Pa. He has received an honorary doctorate and is a graduate of the Harvard
Executive Management Program. His military education includes the Infantry officer basic and
advanced courses, the Special Forces Qualification Course, the Army Command and General
Staff College and the Army War College. General Shachnow's decorations and awards include:
2 Distinguished Service Medals, 2 Silver Stars for gallantry in ground combat, The Defense
Superior Service Medal, The Legion of Merit, 3 Bronze Stars for heroism in ground combat, 2
Purple Hearts for wounds received in two separate ground combat actions, 3 Meritorious
Service Medals, 12 Air Medals for meritorious achievement while in flight, 3 Army
Commendation Medals with "V" device for valor while in ground combat, the Combat
Infantryman's Badge, the Expert Infantry Badge, the Master Parachutist Badge, the Special
Forces Tab, the Ranger Tab, and the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross for gallantry in
combat. Additionally, he was awarded the United States Special Operations Medal for outstanding contribution to Special Operations, and was also placed on the Honor Roll in the
Infantry Officers" Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Ga. He is a Distinguished Member of the 1st
Special Forces Regiment and a recipient of the prestigious "Colonel Aaron Bank Award" for
dedication, excellence, and heroism. General Shachnow was appointed as the "Honorary
Colonel of the Special Forces Regiment"--only three others held that position in the history of the Special Forces Regiment; and he also received: the National Defense Industrial Association Life Time Achievement Award and the President's Medallion from the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion. General Shachnow retired after forty years of active service as a Paratrooper on 1 October 1994. General Shachnow was the only Holocaust survivor to have achieved the rank of General in the history of the military. He was currently working as a consultant and senior mentor was a member of the Editorial Board of the "Journal of International Security Affairs" publication and served on several boards. In 2004, he published the bestseller Hope and Honor, which chronicles his dramatic upbringing in war-torn Lithuania through his many years of military service. In 2005, his book was awarded the prestigious Colby Award. On 11 October 2007, the Special Forces Regiment inducted him as a Distinguished Member of the Regiment. He served his country and lived his life passionately. He was a friend to every person, regardless of their station in life. With Arlene by his side, he enjoyed riding their horses on their horse farm in
Southern Pines, N.C.; jazz music; traveling and family. General Shachnow is survived by his wife, the former Arlene Armstrong of Salem, Mass.; his four daughters and spouses: Sheree Gillette (Ron), Michelle Batiste (John), Denise Smith (Joe), and LeeAnne Keister (Alan); his brother Stanley; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews. He leaves behind 14 grandchildren and at last count, 15 great-grandchildren.