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Marjorie J. Birch's avatar

Maybe he was a hard man, but he sounds like the BEST. I would feel so honored to be related to him. I'm sure that you are.

side note on Bill Mauldin: I think "Up Front" is a good way to start learning about WWII. I was involved for many years with a WWII veteran (2nd wave D-Day, Battle of the Bulge and I will spend the rest of my life squinting at WWII footage, trying to find him). He was a hard and broken man as well -- I learned not to complain about anything in his hearing. And he was in his teens. I've seen photographs of him in uniform. He looked to be about twelve years old.

At some point during his tour of duty -- it might have been afterward, because he re-enlisted ("I didn't want my parents to see what a mental wreck I was") he took a cartooning class from Bill Mauldin. While telling me this, he paused to say "You probably have no idea who he is". (He thought people my age didn't know anything.) I promptly replied. "Bill Mauldin. Cartoonist, WWII, created Willie and Joe, offended General Patton because Willie and Joe didn't shave often enough, won the Pulitzer price, long career as political cartoonist..." My friend's mouth dropped open about an inch (that was as much astonishment as he would allow himself to display) and asked me "How do YOU know?" "I read 'Up Front' one summer." "WHY????" "Because it was summer, I wanted something to read, the book was in the house and it wasn't nailed shut. Any other questions?"

Always a tiny victory when I surprised him.

As always, thank you for your patience. I always seem to run on.

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Susan LIVE From Mulberry St.'s avatar

My father was a secular Jewish infantry captain at the Battle of the Bulge. He had had orders cut for overseas when his Colonel at Ft. Benning didn’t accept Jewish officers. He respected Patton for saving his butt and those of his boys. On behalf of him, his battle buddy in OSS (another Jewish lawyer and a native German speaker), thank you for this story. God bless GEN Truscott for his treatment of Survivors and that Haggadah. What he did for some, he did for all of us. I know it must have been hard to write. I have been a subscriber, but if I hadn’t, this would have convinced me to sign up. Again, thank you. Our flag is up.

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