A SOLDIER’S PERSPECTIVE
World War II started when I was about 15. I didn’t know much about the previous war, other than some veterans marching past my home during yearly civic parades. The little I did know was that Americans were in no rush to get involved in this one. It was inescapable. By the time the war started, my family’s economic problems had settled down. We owned a couple of gas stations, a few rental properties, and a hamburger stand we affec- tionatly called, the stand. Eight years young- er than my brothers, I grew up at the peak of my father’s career. All of his hard work was paying off. Each day after high school, I’d walk over to the stand. During one of those visits on a cold day, February 1940, I overheard some merchant marines sitting around describing their recent misadventures. One said, “I was torpedoed by a Nazi submarine.” While the other responded, “I was torpedoed two differ- ent times!” How anyone could survive that cold North Atlantic water was beyond me, but here they were right in front of my eyes. Sunday, December 7th, 1941, I heard the radio on top of the refrigerator blare; “... WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM FOR A SPECIAL NEWS BULLETIN; THE JAPANESE HAVE ATTACKED PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII, BY AIR. WE TAKE YOU NOW TO WASHINGTON, THE DETAILS ARE NOT AVAILABLE, THIS MEANS WAR. COUNTER-ATTACK WILL BEGIN, A DECLARATION OF WAR IS COMING.” I heard it, but I did not believe it, no one did. The announcement kept repeating over and over again, America was officially at war. Prior to this we were following the Euro- pean conflict. Poland was attacked by Nazi Germany in a blitzkrieg on September 1st, 1939. The Soviets followed on the 17th, attack- ing from the other side. Both belligerents made a deal to split the spoils. Poland’s allies were appalled, but they were powerless to do anything about it. Our relatives were caught between two world powers. Before the conflict would be over, anti-Semitism would reach its highest and most deadly point in history.
Youthful Herman age 17 1941
May, 1941, in a perverse twist, Hitler double-crossed the Soviets and attacked Russia. Soon, the conflict spilled out onto the whole European theater. The Nazis seemed invincible. Alliances formed. On the one side stood the Axis powers: Germany, Italy, and Japan. On the other The Allies: Great Britain, France, and Russia. It would be a few years before America joined the Allies. France fell. The German war machine set up defenses along the western coast of France eying Britain with malice. Nazi planes started to litter the skies of London, dropping dead- ly payloads. London was under attack! The outcome looked bleak. We listened intently to the voice of Edward R. Murrow on the radio telling us about the desperation. In the Pacific, the Japanese were invincible too! Islands with exotic names became battle- grounds. The Japs had superiority in the air and on the sea, including a pair of warships that outclassed anything the world had ever seen. Meanwhile, Americans had mixed feel- ings about the war, but our choices were disappearing. One of Churchill’s bold speech- es summed it up. “... we shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France; we shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight in the air, we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches; we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
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