Dem
47
GOP
53
Today, we hear from C.W. in East Hills, NY:
My dad was a German Jew who came to the States in the mid 1930s. He enlisted in the Army after Pearl Harbor. He was working for the New York Public Library. His name is on the plaque in the main room honoring employees who had left to serve. The guys with asterisks didn't come home. (There also is one for World War I.)
Dad became a radio operator and was one of the thousands who trained in Slapton Sands, England, for the invasion. In one instance, his group was waterproofing equipment. Dad turned around and an entourage of officers, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, was watching. Later, Dad tripped over some cables and badly hurt his ankle. Whenever an officer passed by he would force himself to walk normally lest he be pulled from the invasion.
His landing craft was in the third wave. It was hit and began sinking. The men were instructed to stand up, take out their knives, turn to the right, cut the packs off the man standing in front of them and to abandon ship. Many of these men died. Dad swam in among gunfire and barely made it to shore. He hunkered down on the beach and survived.
Dad was able to stay on the beach. As a radio operator, he helped the harbormaster coordinate equipment transport and as a German, he helped interrogate prisoners.
He was transferred to the Philippines, and was there when the war ended. He became a civilian employee of the government and helped in the de-Nazification program in the port city of Bremerhaven.
Dad returned to the states and graduated with a law degree from NYU. He spent the bulk of his career helping win restitution for Nazi victims for stolen property. In his mid-80s, he became general counsel to the Joint Distribution Committee. His last act was arguing the appeal of a case related to material stolen from the Berlin Museum late in the war. He was 90 and won the appeal.
This is him being interviewed, after going back to the beach many years after the war:
Thanks, C.W. (Z)