Selective Service

I was the traffic manager for Adler’s clothing store at the time. I was 39, and had to register. I was selected to go into the Army, and was sent to Camp Robinson, Arkansas for basic training. Then, I was sent to Ft. Devins, Ma., where the 45^th Infantry division was.

The captain at Ft. Devins told me they reduced the age from 45, to 38 years old. "You can ask for a discharge." I told him, "No, I’ll stay in."

He said, "You know you’re going overseas?"

"Yessir."

He said, "You still want to stay in?"

"Sure," I told him.

So, after being overseas on the front lines for twelve months, I was ordered to go over to regimental H.Q.. The Colonel told me that I could apply for a discharge, because I was over thirty-nine. I said, "No sir. I’ll stay."

Call it patriotism, or whatever you want to, but I couldn’t see shirking my duty to my country.

You Saw A Lot Of Unpleasant Action?

You have no idea what fear man has, when he sees shells exploding all around and machine guns chattering. It’s hard to explain.

Heroism Of Front Line Nurses

I have the greatest respect for the front line nurses. They suffered the same hardships that the troops did. One time, the field hospital was shelled by the Germans, and some nurses and wounded men got killed. But those nurses stuck in there, in spite of the artillery fire. I had the greatest admiration for them.

Medic Story

At first, we used to have a red cross on a white helmet, and armbands. And when the Germans saw we were always with the front line troops, since we were combat medics, they would shoot at the other soldiers with the red cross man. You can’t hit that man with the red cross. Hit the other guy. So we took those bands off, and erased the red cross on our helmets.

One time, we were advancing, and we were about a hundred yards behind the infantry. All at once, we saw shells coming towards us, one behind the other. They were getting too close-the closest one about twenty-five yards away. So, we took off across country, and that stinking gun kept following us, shooting at us. We jumped down into a ravine, and they lost sight of us. That was a terrifying experience.

There were times we didn’t even take our clothes off for sixty days. No new socks, no new underwear, no nothing. When we made the push from Naples, all the way from Rome, we didn’t have much time for a bath.

V-J Day

I was happy that it was over with. We would have had to invade, if Japan hadn’t surrendered.

Overseas, it was self-preservation. That’s actually what it is, when you’re in combat. Because, you don’t know when a bullet’s going to hit you, or a piece of shrapnel is going to tear you to pieces.

The Good Lord took care of me. I’ve been in many peculiar situations, and still, to this day, I don’t know how I survived. I had men killed by my side and wounded, and I never got a scratch.