Talk:Ohrdruf forced labor camp

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[edit] Obama's great uncle Charles Payne in World War 2

I moved here from the main page the following text as posted by Wolfchef 15:50, 4 June 2008 :"there is a pretty stong case that the 'uncle' story is a lie. Obama’s only American great uncle was Charles W. Payne, as shown by court records. \The “World War II Kansas Veterans Index” of the Kansas State Historical Society for the Army show there was no “Charles W. Payne” in the WWII Army and the same index for the Navy shows there was a “Charles W. Payne” in the Navy.

(Charles W. Payne, born 1924, enlisted 10Nov42, Navy, 6293977 Registered, order #12019, Kansas City, Wyandotte Co., Board #4)"

This is original research and as such does not belong in an article. It also gives disproportionate weight, in what is supposed to be an article about a concentration camp, what some politician's great uncle's middle initial was. As a response to this claim which has made the rounds of some right wing blogs, see "Obama’s great uncle and the shameless nay-sayers," Wordpress, May 29, 2008 This column notes that the records cited by the blogs are not complete or accurate, and cites the website of the 89th Infantry Division [1]which says : "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." According to ABCNews blog, by Jake Tapper, "WWII Vet Fires at Conservative Bloggers Re: Obama's Great Uncle Charlie" May 29, 2008, citing information originally posted by Politifact.com, of the St. Petersburg Times,[2] [Charles T. Payne's son Richard says his father served in the 89th Infantry in WW2 and was at the liberation of the Ohrdruf camp. Many WW2 records were destroyed in a 1973 fire , but the "National Personnel Records Center" reportedly found a "morning report" "from April 11, 1945, showing Pfc. Charles T. Payne was assigned to the 355th Regiment Infantry, Company K." The Politifact conclusion was "But even with this error in locations, Obama's statement was substantially correct in that he had an uncle — albeit a great uncle — who served with troops who helped to liberate the Ohrdruf concentration/work camp and saw, firsthand, the horrors of the Holocaust. We rate the statement Mostly True." Edison (talk) 16:19, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

The conservative blog Sweetness & light.com [3] has a posting by J Straight dated May 29, 2008 which gives the relevant family members as 1. Madelyn Lee, 2. Charles Thomas (the World War 2 veteran in question), 3. Margaret Arlene, 4. Jon Virgil. Edison (talk) 16:41, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

See [4] a History channel blog which includes a transcript of the obituary of Charles W. Payne (born Jan 24, 1924, Kansas City Kansas- died July 22, 2000) from the Kansas City Star, July 24, 2000. It says he was a WW2 Navy veteran in the 3rd Special Seabees Construction Battalion.It says he had way too many brothers and sisters to have been the brother of Obama's grandmother. This appears to be the individual Wolfchef and the blogosphere want to be Obama's great uncle Charles Thomas Payne, who is still living and served in the 89th Infantry. Edison (talk) 19:31, 4 June 2008 (UTC)