A Boy : A Soldier : A Flag

The Boy. The Soldier. The Flag. The Son. The Granddaughter.

The story of the boy, the soldier, the flag, the son, and the granddaughter as depicted in the above photo is stunningly powerful.

It was April of 1945. Steve Ross was a teenager, barely alive, after surviving 5 years in 10 different Nazi concentration camps. Lt. Steve Sattler was an American tank commander, part of the battalion that liberated the Dachau concentration camp. When he saw a boy stumbling out of the camp in bad shape, the soldier jumped down from his tank, hugged the boy, reassured him that he was going to be okay, gave him some food – and then gave him a handkerchief-sized American flag. The boy hadn’t experienced kindness or reassurance for the last five years – and that moment, and that little flag, served to rekindle his spirit to live. The flag became Steve’s most important possession, something he kept with him his entire life.  After World War II, with his parents and all but one sibling having been murdered by the Nazis, young Steve Ross was taken in by America, ending up in Boston as an orphan of the war. In a tribute to that soldier who rescued him, Steve Ross dedicated his life to helping at risk youth throughout the City of Boston. He led the effort to create the iconic New England Holocaust Memorial.  And, he searched for 67 years trying to find that American soldier who showed him compassion on that day in 1945.

Finally in 2012 at a Veterans Day ceremony at the Massachusetts State House, Steve Ross met the extended family of Lt. Steve Sattler. The Sattler family, many of whom were serving in the military, traveled to Boston from all over the country. Lt. Steve Sattler had died years earlier, but just before he died, he shared one last story about his time in the war with his daughter, Gwen.  A story he had never told anybody.  He described a scene where he helped a boy outside the gates of Dachau and how he gave that boy something special that he hoped would give the boy strength. It took another 25 years before Lt. Sattler’s granddaughter, Brenda, after hearing the story from her aunt Gwen, researched and discovered that Steve Ross was actually searching for her family.  When they met for the first time in Boston, it was an incredibly powerful moment for Steve Ross – and for everybody who was there to share it. The story has been told in an award-winning documentary film called “Etched in Glass: The Legacy of Steve Ross” directed by Roger Lyons – and also in a book called “From Broken Glass.”

When Steve Ross died on February 24, 2020, it felt like a loss that could never be filled. The granddaughter of Lt. Steve Sattler, Brenda Sattler Beaty, traveled to Boston from Alaska, to be with the Ross family. After the funeral, Brenda Sattler Beaty and Steve Ross’ son, Mike, hugged each other.  Mike was holding that historic flag – and for a moment – Mike Ross and Brenda Sattler Beaty were both holding – and sharing – that little flag that had given Steve Ross the will to live. The same flag that Lt. Steve Sattler shared with that young boy in April of 1945.

Think about the incredible power of the universe as this photo has Mike Ross – the son of Steve Ross – sharing that same little American flag with Brenda Sattler Beaty – the granddaughter of Lt. Steve Sattler – 75 years after the initial exchange between Lt. Sattler and young Steve Ross.  The son of that boy and the granddaughter of that soldier sharing the same meaningful flag.  The flag from Lt. Sattler that provided saving comfort to a traumatized Steve Ross now provides comfort to Mike Ross (and his sister, Julie) and Brenda Sattler Beaty as they struggle to cope with a devastating loss.  That powerful American flag lives on in this image and with the Ross and Sattler families.

The Boy. The Soldier. The Flag. The Son. The Granddaughter.

The photo was taken by Tony Bennis with support by Roger Lyons and Sean Eunson