The 86th Infantry Blackhawk Division served in France and Germany during the war and took part in the liberation of the Attendorn civilian forced-labour camp in Germany, which it discovered on 11 April 1945. The camp housed as many as 1,000 Polish, Soviet and Czech prisoners who had been forced to work at nearby factories.

Pictured here on 17 June 1945, women lined up on the dock at the New York Port of Embarkation to welcome home soldiers of the Blackhawk Division. The men can be seen cheering and waving from the deck of the transport ship. The war was to end just a few months later, on 2 September 1945.

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