My Grandfather

When we were assigned to talk to one of our relatives about their part in WWII I knew for certain I would interview/talk to my grandfather on my moms side. My grandfather fought in the US army during the middle of WWII. He fought in a couple major battles such as "The Battle of the Bulge", a 1 month battle which was the bloodiest of the Battles that the U.S. forces experienced in World War II; 19,000 Americans died, more than any one battle alone. Luckily My Grandfather was later stationed/defended a outpost on the border of France. My Grandfather, which is now 83 or so doesn't have the memory he once had and has early stages of Alzheimers but he still speaks with great pride and confidence in what he fought for. Although, when he enlisted in mid 1944 he said it was purely to impress his Dad, friends, and to "do something with my life". He had just turned 18 when he enlisted and wasn't fully educated about what was going on in Europe. Talking with my Grandfather about the war, it seemed to me like he needed to tell his story while he still could and he enjoyed that I cared about what he did in the war. Every year, my Grandfather visits with his companions from his platoon in the battles he fought. My Grandfather was simply a low ranked soldier and fought in the front lines of all the major battles he was in. It is actually astonishing that my Grandfather survived all of these battles and is considered one of the lucky. I asked him a fairly touchy question about how he felt about killing another man. He simply replied "it was my duty" and he said after the war, the extent of the holocaust gave me even more reason to do what I did. Lastly, my Grandfather has physical wounds from the war such as a missing finger and lung problems from being gassed, but he never was struggling from the mental side of the war, such as PTSD or any therapy. My Grandfather is a great man and I am very proud of what he did in the war.

Another View

My paternal grandmother Ray, was born and raised in Hythe, England and had a different childhood than most living now because of her experience of living through World War II. As a young adolescent at the age of 11, she was comfortably living in Hythe with her mother and her 2 uncles, her father had passed away years before. Around the time when she was 12 in 1940, England became a place of fear. Hythe was a city in Kent that was South East and bordered London, the capital city. In 1940, one of her uncles had decided to join the RAF (Royal Air Force) in order for him to have a chance to fight the Nazi's. As life began to get tough during World War II the home front was directly affected, rationing began to set into place as well as her mom's "steady" job of being an accountant was beginning to stray off of the normal pattern. As her mom looked for another job, Ray remembers constant drills and air raids throughout the city. One time, Ray's mother wasn't home and neither were her two uncles, so in order to stay safe she actually hid in a kitchen cabinet. When the Nazi's bombed Buckingham Palace, was when England started to change. The King and Queen remained in Buckingham Palace to show their citizens that England would be okay, as they sent their two daughters Elizabeth and Margaret to Windsor Castle. Windsor Castle was far out in the countryside, and the movement began where all children from the city had been forced by their parents to board trains all full of children. These trains were all leading to the countryside in order for the children of the cities to stay out in the countryside with relatives until times got better. As my grandma Ray recalls these events, she stressed one thing throughout her story and that was that she always knew England would be okay, everyone did. No one ever doubted that their leader and Prime Minister Winston Churchill wouldn't be able to lead them to safety. 

WW2

My grandfather who is now dead, but lived to his 80's, was a pilot in world war 2.  When he was alive he used to tell me all these crazy stories about his flights, so this blog is purely based off my memory, which if I do say so myself is quite stellar.  Back to the story.  My grandfather Pierce had just finished college at yale university two years prior.  For these two years my grandfather sold sugar for a living, and he hated it.  After two years he had had enough of sugar and wanted to do something else for a living.  His brother was going through med school which sounded interesting to him but he really wasn't sure what he wanted to do.  Ultimately he wanted some time to think things over, and he liked the idea of flying planes, so he joined the air force.  He didn't join the air force because propaganda convinced him, or because he wanted to show his pride for his country.  He simply didn't know what he wanted to do, so in order to buy himself time he joined the Air Force.

I personally do not have any relatives that were greatly affected or part of WWII. But a friend of mine's grandfather was part of the US army but was never deployed. So he instead stayed in America and did logistics.

WWII Grandparent

My grandfather did not fight in World War II, but he was a part of what was going on in terms of serving at the time. He was a part of the JAG (the Judge Advocate General Core), where he handled the prosecution and defense, based originally out of Camp Roberts and was later transfered to Fort Ord, as the Chief Defense attorney, and he never lost a case in his service there. Though he was not a part of the fighting or anything like that, he enlisted in an effort to do all that he could for his country, and he did so in an area that he loved, law.

My Great Uncle's Story

When I asked my parents if they knew anyone who fought in WWII my mom told me a short story about my great uncle Mel. My Uncle Mel at the time was living in the United States, and he was engaged to my aunt Claire. My great uncle was called to go to war at the age of 26, but when it was time for him to go to war he became sick with Flabystis. Flabystis is a disease that causes the vain to swell up, and so he was hospitalized immediately in Louisiana. Due to his condition my uncle was not able to fight in the war.

Drafted

This information came from my mother... this is as much as she could tell me about one of our relatives that fought in WWII. 

My great grandfather, on my mother's side of the family, was drafted into the army during WWII. The regime in Romania forced men to join the army and fight on Germany's side. Then, after a period of time, Romania finally joined the Allies when King Micheal came to power and Ion Antonesu's dictatorship was brought to an end. Interestingly, my great grandpa fought on both sides during the war. I don't know any other specifics, but my mother told me that she heard that when her grandfather came home from the war, he was extremely skinny and was not the same person anymore. 

A Doctor for the Army

Conversation with my mother:

Me: Do you know anyone who enlisted in WWII?

My mom: Yes, my father enlisted in the war. He wanted to be in the navy, but they wouldn't accept him.

Me: Why not?

Her: His eyes; he wore glasses. So he joined the army instead and became a captain. He was trained in San Luis Obispo as a doctor and was going to be sent out somewhere in the Pacific when the war ended.

Me: So he never was actually going to fight in the war?

Her: Well, he was going to be in the place of combat as a doctor and had army training, but I don't think he was the one who would ever take part in actual combat. Before that though, he was in Texas with the German POW's because he spoke German.

Me: Do you know what he did with the Germans in Texas?

Her: He took care of them; he was their doctor.

Me: Do you know how he felt about treating Germans?

Her: Not happy I guess, but it was part of his oath that he took. He also did some translating for them since he spoke German.

Me: Do you know what his motivations were to join the army?

Her: He was Jewish and was passionate about Hitler or the Nazis not succeeding, so it was his effort to make sure that didn't happen. He felt a need to do his part to try to stop them. Even up to his death he wouldn't even buy a Volkswagen car.

My Parents' Connections to WWII

Dialogue with my mom:

Me: Did Poppi enlist to fight in WWII?

Mom: After graduating from college at age 17, dad decided to sign up for the navy. He was quickly recognized as a potential officer for the navy.

Me: What does being an officer mean?

Mom: I don’t know exactly, but it meant that he wasn’t going to fight. He was further tested and determined to have a very high IQ. He was brought into a special ‘think tank’ where he was involved in breaking codes and breaking strategy.

Me: Did he ever tell you about it?

Mom: Throughout his life, he was most reluctant to discuss the details of his experience, which he said was because his involvement was ‘classified.’ I also know that dad met mom immediately after he enlisted and they were married two weeks later, only days before he went into service.

Me: Do you know any of the codes he helped break?

Mom: Not really. I know he was involved with breaking the Japanese code. He was also involved with interpreting encrypted correspondence between Nazi allies. He never learned to operate a gun, he was a navy brain.

Dialogue with my Dad:

Dad: My dad was a doctor. His name was Milton. He was an eye surgeon. He was an officer in WWII, he was called a flight surgeon. He was stationed in Massachusetts, I’m not sure of the town but somewhere in Massachusetts. So he enlisted as a doctor.

Me: Did he tell you any stories about it?

Dad: He never spoke about it with me. Also my uncle, your great aunts husband, Arthur Roth, was a pediatrician in the army. But they were all based in the US, they were not in the European theater of operations.

Me: What is the European theater?

Dad: It referred to the battlegrounds in Europe.

Me: Anyone else?

Dad: I think my uncle— your great, great uncle— was an attorney for the US army in New York City, His name was Hyman Chipkin.

Me: Do you think it was especially important for your family to be involved in WWII because they were Jewish?

Dad: Oh yes. They were Americans fighting for freedom. This was a war against oppression. This was a righteous war. This was not like any other war that we have ever had. WWII was fighting against a force that wanted to dominate the entire world. The Fascist government of Germany was trying to subdue every country including our own. Because my family were American Jews they felt doubly responsible to help the war effort.

Me: Because they could?

Dad: Yes because here, in America they could. I know so many people whose grandparents were in concentration camps. Nazis were snuffing out the innocent just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s just unbelievable.

Me: Do you know anyone in our direct family that perished in the holocaust?

Dad: No one in my direct family was lost. They immigrated from Austria before the war. They were smart. I never talked to my grand parents about what happened with their parents.