3: **HEADLINE:** Remembering Resilience and a WWII Hero: The Children's Tree and the Legacy of Edward Shames **GUEST NAMES:** John Batchelor (Host), Thaddeus McCotter of American Greatness, and Malcolm Hoenlein **200-WORD SUMMARY:** The program discussed t
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 13 October 2025
⏱️ 4 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
GUEST NAMES: John Batchelor (Host), Thaddeus McCotter of American Greatness, and Malcolm Hoenlein
200-WORD SUMMARY: The program discussed the dedication of the Children's Tree in Battery Park, a powerful symbol of resilience and hope grown from cuttings of a tree secretly nurtured by Jewish children at Terezín (Theresienstadt) concentration camp during the Holocaust. In 1943, teacher Irma Lauscher courageously smuggled the original sapling into the camp so that children could celebrate Arbor Day and maintain a connection to life and normalcy amid unimaginable circumstances. The children sacrificed their precious water rations to care for the tree, demonstrating extraordinary determination and spirit. The 15-foot tree now standing in Battery Park will be cared for by children at the Battery Park School, ensuring that this legacy of hope continues for future generations.
The segment also paid tribute to the late Edward Shames, the last surviving member of the legendary Band of Brothers (Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment), who died at age 99. Shames participated in D-Day (Operation Overlord) and was among the first members of the 101st Airborne Division to enter Dachau concentration camp upon its liberation, witnessing firsthand the horrors of the Holocaust. In a remarkable footnote to history, he later acquired Hitler's private cognac from the Eagle's Nest, a personal memento from the fall of the Third Reich.
1698 JERUSALEM
The segment also paid tribute to the late Edward Shames, the last surviving member of the legendary Band of Brothers (Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment), who died at age 99. Shames participated in D-Day (Operation Overlord) and was among the first members of the 101st Airborne Division to enter Dachau concentration camp upon its liberation, witnessing firsthand the horrors of the Holocaust. In a remarkable footnote to history, he later acquired Hitler's private cognac from the Eagle's Nest, a personal memento from the fall of the Third Reich.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Building a coffee business? |
| 0:01.9 | Serving the best Americano in town is up to you. |
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| 0:17.9 | Visit sumup.co.uk to learn more. |
| 0:22.9 | This is CBS. Eye on the World. I'm John Batchelwith. That is Macon of American Greatness. |
| 0:28.4 | And Indiana Home Line, the dusty one, comes into the studio, the chapeau, the bullwhip, the bag of tricks. |
| 0:34.2 | That is? Indiana, a tree grows grows in battery park and it's a special |
| 0:39.9 | tree isn't it is a very special tree in in January of 1943 Irma |
| 0:45.0 | Lauscher was a teacher at Thracianstadt concentration camp in Czech |
| 0:48.6 | Slovakia smuggled the tree into the camp so the Jewish children there could |
| 0:53.4 | celebrate the Jewish holiday, |
| 0:55.0 | the Arbor Day in a secret ceremony, and they used their water rations to nurture the sapling. |
| 1:01.0 | There were 15,000 Jewish children imprisoned in Triaginstant, and only 200 survived. |
| 1:06.0 | But the tree was still standing afterwards when the time of liberation and a sign was put it at its basis, |
| 1:12.6 | a symbol of resilience. |
| 1:14.6 | And branches of the tree were then, by the way, buried alongside Mrs. Lauscher, who survived the Holocaust and died in 1985, |
| 1:23.6 | but saplings were cut and planted in Jerusalem, San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia, |
... |
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