RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Dr. George Brent was a Holocaust survivor and a veteran of the United States Air Force; and
WHEREAS, The son of a pharmacist, Dr. George Brent was born in 1929 in Tesco, an area of Czechoslovakia that was later turned over to Hungary; and
WHEREAS, In May of 1944, Dr. George Brent's family was forced into the ghetto and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp; and
WHEREAS, As the Russian army advanced, Dr. George Brent and his fellow prisoners were sent on a death march from Auschwitz and then on a coal train to Mauthausen - Ebensee concentration camp in Austria; and
WHEREAS, One of General George Patton's tank commanders described what he encountered at Ebensee as "thousands of skeleton-like figures who were skin and bones, the living laying side by side, often times indistinguishable, from the dead"; and
WHEREAS, The United States Army set up a field hospital and called for additional medical assistance to care for the liberated prisoners, one of whom was Dr. George Brent; and
WHEREAS, Following the war, Dr. George Brent headed to the United States and ultimately settled in Chicago; and
WHEREAS, In 1950 Dr. George Brent joined the United States Air Force and went on to graduate from dental school at the University of Illinois at Chicago; and
WHEREAS, After graduation, Dr. George Brent taught prosthodontics and was eventually named an associate professor while in private practice for 50 years; and
WHEREAS, Dr. George Brent resides in Wilmette with his wife, Nancy; and
WHEREAS, Dr. George Brent is truly an example of what journalist Tom Brokaw called "Our Greatest Generation;" and
WHEREAS, Dr. George Brent was honored at a special celebration held on the eve of Veteran's Day at Wintrust's Grand Banking Hall, 231 South La Salle Street, Chicago, Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Dr. George Brent is exceedingly worthy of our highest admiration and esteem; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council, assembled this eighteenth day of November, 2015 do hereby express our sincere appreciation to Dr. George Brent for his military service; and
Alderman - 14th Ward
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Dr. George Brent.