On April 10, 1945, the U.S. Army’s 84th Infantry Division stumbled upon Ahlem, a labor camp outside Hanover, Germany.  Twenty-year old Vernon Tott, a radio operator, saw emaciated men barely able to stand, others racked with dysentery, still others stiff and cold -- dressed in tatters and dead for days. Shocked to the point of disbelief, Tott pulled out a Kodak pocket camera and recorded the horror and hope in the faces of those who had survived.

For the past 10 years, Vernon Tott has been on a mission to identify all the men in his photographs, with many successes.  He has been honored at the USHMM and in Hanover, Germany.  He speaks with groups of school children, sharing his book of photos and letters, and his own historical research.