Updated post…  The Reconstruction of Memory: Soldiers of Aufbau

Update…!  

Dating Back to December 30, 2017 – have nearly seven years gone by already? – I’ve made a correction to this post based on a recent communication from Russ Czaplewski, who calls attention to a photo of the nose art of B-26B Marauder nicknamed “Becky“, of the 320th Bomb Group’s 441st Bomb Squadron.  A photo of Becky’s simple nose art – just the name; no Vargas nude here – from Victor C. Tannehill’s book Boomerang! – Story of the 320th Bombardment Group in World War II – appears “farther down” this post.  In my original caption to the image, I identified this camouflaged B-26 as aircraft 42-107711, squadron / battle number “02“, which, piloted by Lt. Paul E. Trunk, was lost with its entire crew on August 15, 1944, when the plane crashed into a mountain in bad weather.

Here’s Russ’s message:

“I have an original negative with a similar view of “Becky” and the serial number above the round unit logo reads 42-96119 rather than 41-107711. There were multiple bombers named “Becky” in the 441st and the illustration shown is not sharp enough to distinguish the serial number.”  

Along with the information about 42-107711, I’ve updated the post by including the text of the obituary for Heinz Thannhauser’s father Justin, and, adding links to FindAGrave for the eight crew members of the lost B-26.

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Aufbau: The Reconstruction of Memory

As irony abounds in the histories of nations, so it does in the lives of men.

During World War Two, a striking irony could sometimes be found among Jewish military personnel in the Allied armed forces.  Some Jewish soldiers, at one time citizens of Germany and Austria, and subsequently refugees and emigrants from those countries, might – through a combination of intention and chance – find themselves arrayed in battle against the Axis.  This circumstance, a melding of civil obligation, moral responsibility, idealism, motivated by a personal sense of justice, was deeply symbolic aspect of Jewish military service during the Second World War. 

For the United States, a perusal of both the Jewish press and the general news media from 1942 through 1945 reveals occasional articles – and inevitably, casualty notices – covering such servicemen.  Such news items called specific attention to the circumstances behind a soldier’s arrival in the United States, and often extended to accounts of his family’s pre-war life in Germany or Austria.  This was not limited to the American news media.  The Jewish Chronicle of England was replete with articles covering the military service of Jewish refugee soldiers in the armed forces of England and British Commonwealth countries, including – before Israel’s re-establishment in 1948 – British military units comprised of personnel (often refugees) from the pre-State Yishuv. 

In the American news media, a striking example of one such news items appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on June 13, 1943.

GERMAN REFUGEE MISSING IN ACTION

A 22-year-old German refugee who fled his native Leipzig in 1935 to escape Nazi persecution is one of four Philadelphians reported last night by the War Department as missing in action.

He is Corporal Maurice Derfler, of 1601 Ruscomb St., worker in a Philadelphia clothing factory before he entered the Army Air Forces on March 28, 1942.

WROTE TO FIANCEE

Derfler has been missing since May 19, just five days after his fiancée, Mildred Roush, 19, of 4813 N. Franklin St., received a letter from him, stating that he was “going on a dangerous mission” but felt sure that he would return.  For, he explained, he was looking forward to his furlough next September, when he and Miss Roush would be married.

The next message was the War Department communication, which Abraham Roush, prospective father-in-law of the soldier, received on May 29.  The message stated that Derfler, a radio operator in a Consolidated Liberator bomber, had failed to return from a mission.

FIANCEE CONFIDENT

Miss Roush, who is confident that Derfler will return, “and I still will be waiting,” could tell little of her fiancee’s flight from his native Germany.  “He didn’t like to talk about it.  It must have been an ordeal for him.  He keeps it as his secret.”

Derfler, Miss Roush recalled, arrived in Philadelphia with a group of other refugees.  His one desire was to get into the American forces for a “crack at the Germans.”  He was naturalized in September of 1941 and the following March entered the service.  Ironically, the Air Forces sent him into the Pacific area.

Corporal Derfler served as a radio operator in the 400th Bomb Squadron of the 90th (“Jolly Rogers”) Bomb Group of the 5th Air Force.  His aircraft, a B-24D Liberator (serial number 41-29269) piloted by 1 Lt. Donald L. Almond, was conducting a solo daylight reconnaissance mission along the eastern coast of New Guinea.  It was intercepted by five Japanese pilots of the 24th Sentai, who were flying Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (Japanese for “Peregrine Falcon”; Allied code-name “Oscar”) fighter planes.  One of these aviators, Sergeant Hikoto Sato, was killed during the engagement when his fighter rammed the B-24.     

As the aerial engagement began, the B-24 radioed a message – likely transmitted by Corporal Derfler himself – that it was under attack by Japanese fighters. 

Five minutes later, another radio message reported that the plane was going down. 

No trace of the plane or crew – presumed to have crashed near Karkar Island, off the northeastern coast of New Guinea – has ever been found. 

The names of the B-24’s ten crewmen are commemorated at the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery, in the Philippines.  

Corporal Derfler (serial number 33157713) received the Air Medal and Purple Heart.  In 1943, he was mentioned in The American Hebrew (August 20), the Chicago Jewish Chronicle (August 27), and The Jewish Times (Delaware County, Pennsylvania) (September 3). 

Initially assigned to the famed 44th (“Flying Eightballs”) Bomb Group – which, ironically, flew bombing missions against Germany – Cpl. Derfler was the only member of his family to have escaped from Germany. 

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In terms of detailed information about the military service of German-Jewish refugees in the armed forces of the Allies – in general – and United States in particular, one publication stands out:  Aufbau, or in translation, “Construction”, or “Building Up”.  Published between 1934 and 2004, the newspaper was founded by the German-Jewish Club, later re-named the “New World Club”.  Originally intended as a monthly newsletter for the club, the periodical changed markedly when Manfred George was nominated as editor in 1939.  George transformed the publication to one of the leading anti-Nazi periodicals of the German Exile Press (Exilpresse) Group, increasing its circulation from 8,000 to 40,000.  According to the description of Aufbau at Archiv.org (and as can be solidly verified from perusal of its contents), writings of many well-known personalities appeared in its pages.  (Three names among many: Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, and Stefan Zweig.)  According to Wikipedia, after having been published in New York City through 2004, the periodical subsequently began publishing in Zurich.  However, the given link (http://www.aufbauonline.com/) seems to be inoperative. 

A catalog record for Aufbau – and 29 other periodicals comprising German Exile Press publications can, appropriately, be found at the website of the German National Library – Deutsch National Bibliothek. A screen-shot of the catalag record for Aufbau is shown below:

When the Aufbau was reviewed in 2010, it could be accessed directly through the DNB’s website.  However, by now – 2017 – it seems to be only available through archive.org.  This is the first page of Archive.org catalog record for the publication:

And, here is the second:

Unlike the DNB website, which (as I recall?…) allowed access and viewing of the publication on an extraordinarily useful issue-by-issue and even page-by-page basis, users accessing Aufbau at Archive.org cannot view the periodical at such a fine level of informational ”clarity”.  (Despite being able to scroll through and view volumation and numbering of all issues in Archive.org’s “View EAD” window.)  Rather, once a hyperlink for any issue is selected, the entire content for that year is then displayed in a new window as a single file – and that year’s full content is also downloaded as a single PDF, or in other formats.

The image below shows issue records for Aufbau as they appear at the Archive.org catalog record.  (The format of this information is representative of, and identical to, issue records for all other years of publication.) 

And…  This image shows the interface for 1942 issues of Aufbau, by which the publication – encompassing that entire year – can be viewed online, or downloaded.  Other years of publication are displayed in a similar manner. 

PDF file sizes for wartime editions of Aufbau are:

1941 (Volume 7): 453 MB
1942 (Volume 8): 566 MB
1943 (Volume 9): 513 MB
1944 (Volume 10): 530 MB
1945 (Volume 11): 353 MB

Published on a weekly basis, Aufbau provides overlapping windows upon American Jewry, German Jewry (particularly of course, those Jews fortunate enough to have escaped from Germany), and world Jewry, through its coverage of political, social, and intellectual developments of the late 1930s and early 1940s.  News covered by the publication pertained to all facets of life, “in general”: current events; literary, cultural, cinematic, theatrical, and social news; and, innumerable essays and opinion pieces. 

Intriguingly, the paper’s news coverage and editorial content – at least encompassing 1939 through 1946 – suggests intertwining, competing, and parallel aspects of thought that have persisted since the halting beginnings of Jewish “emancipation” only a few centuries ago:  One one hand, a staunch and unapologetic emphasis on Jewish identity and Zionism.  On the other, the subsuming of Jewish identity within a wider world of (ostensibly) democratic universalism. 

(Ah, but I digress.  That is another long, and continuing story…) 

Back, to the topic at hand…

Though Aufbau’s central focus was not Jewish military service as such, the newspaper nonetheless serves as a tremendously rich repository of information – genealogical; biographical; historical – about the experiences of Jewish soldiers during the Second World War.  In that sense, news items in Aufbau relevant to Jewish military service falls into these general themes: 

1) Lists of awards and honors;
2) News about and accounts of military service by American Jewish soldiers; similarly-themed news items about military service of Jews in other Allied nations (the Soviet Union, British Commonwealth countries, France, and Poland);
3) Detailed biographies of soldiers wounded, killed, and missing in action;
4) The campaign for the establishment of some form of autonomous Jewish fighting force;
5) The activities of the Jewish Brigade Group;
6) The military service of Jews from the Yishuv in the armed forces of Britain and other Commonwealth nations;
7) Zionism – the drive to re-establish a Jewish nation-state. 

These items are often accompanied by photographs of the specific servicemen in question, or, thematically relevant illustrations.  Of course, given the origin and ethos of Aufbau, from editor to publisher; from correspondents to stringers to contributors; in its coverage of Jewish military service, the newspaper placed great – if not central – emphasis, on Jewish soldiers whose families originated in Germany, and who were fortunate enough to have found citizenship in the United States.

The following five categories of articles in Aufbau are immediately relevant to the seven “themes” listed above:

1) The Struggle for a Jewish Army – 139 articles
2) Jews of the Yishuv at War – 33 articles
3) Jewish Prisoners of War – 10 articles
4) Jewish Military Casualties – 132 articles
5) The Jewish Brigade – 37 articles
6) Photographs (primarily of soldiers, yet including other subjects) – 252

…while the following three categories of items, though not directly related to Jewish WW II military service, are very relevant to the “tenor of the times”…

1) antisemitism / Judeophobia – 20 articles
2) Random News Items About the Second World War – 31 articles
3) Acculturation and Assimilation – 48 articles

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As examples of such news items in Aufbau – yet more than mere examples; to bestow symbolic tribute upon the many German-Jewish soldiers who served in the Allied armed forces – news items about two WW II German-Jewish soldiers (Army Air Force S/Sgt. Heinz H. Thannhauser and Army PFC George E. Rosing) follow. 

Aufbau’s biography of S/Sgt. Thannhauser is quite detailed, probably due to his family’s prominence in the German-Jewish immigrant community, and, the world of art   Even before he entered the Army Air Force, Heinz’s background and accomplishments portended a remarkable future, if only his bomber had taken a slightly different course before before a Sardinian sunrise on August 15, 1944…

Heinz was the son of Justin K. (5/7/82-12/26/76) and Kate (Levi) (5/24/94-1959) Thannhauser, grandson of Heinrich Thannhauser, and the lineal descendant of Baruch Loeb Thannhauser, his father and grandfather originally having been residents of Munich, where – as art dealers – they owned the Thannhauser Galleries, specializing in Modernist art.  Justin moved to Paris in 1937 with his family to escape the Third Reich, and after the outbreak of the Second World War, to Switzerland.  They fled to the United States in 1941, establishing themselves in New York City, where Justin opened a private gallery, the initial core of which comprised a number of works that he had managed to bring with him to America. 

Due to Heinz’s death, and the doubly tragic passing of his only other child Michel in 1952, Justin cancelled plans to open a public gallery.  He remained a resident of New York until 1971, operating his gallery, collecting art, and assisting museums and galleries with exhibitions and acquisitions.  In recognition and honor of his sons and their late mother Kate – as well as his support of artistic progress – Justin’s collection was bequeathed to the Guggenheim Museum in 1963.  Due to the scope, size, and centrality of the collection, the Guggenheim established the Thannhauser Wing in 1965, where the original components of the collection, as well as additional works, are now on display. 

Justin passed away in 1976, his only survivor having been his second wife, Hilde.  Here is is obituary, as published in The New York Times on December 31, 1976.

Justin Thannhauser Dead at 84; Dealer in Art’s Modern Masters

December 31, 1976

GSTAAD, Switzerland, Dec. 30 (AP) —Justin Thannhauser, a German‐born United States art dealer whose landmark exhibitions spread the fame of modern masters such as Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch and Paul Klee, died here last Sunday, a personal friend said today. He was 84 years old.

A Swiss journalist, Gaudenz Baumann, said Mr. Thannhauser suffered a heart attack in his hotel room last Friday. He was buried in Bern today.

Mr. Thannhauser’s five galleries in Gerbieny, Switzerland, France and the United States handled some of the best work of the 20th‐century masters.

He turned the Munich art gallery that his father founded in 1904 into a focal point for Mr. Munch and other Die Bruecke group expressionists, Klee, Vassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc.

Collection Seized

Mr. Thannhauser branched out to Lucerne from 1919 to 1939 and opened Galerie Thannhauser, his biggest gallery, in Berlin, in 1927.

During a 1937 Swiss visit, the Jewish dealer’s Berlin collection was seized by the Nazi regime. He was forced to reestablish himself in Paris, only to lose another collection to the Nazis during the World War II German invasion of France.

Mr. Thannhauser fled to New York in 1941 and started collecting from scratch. Among many works he donated to art museums, 75 paintings including valuable French Impressionist works are on display in the Thannhauser wing of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

It was in the “Moderne Gallerie” that Mr. Thannhauser ran in Munich from 1909 to 1928 that Marc and Kandinsky first met and in 1911, founded the group of artists named Der Blaue Reiter – the blue rider – after a famous Kandinsky painting.

The first major exhibitions by Picasso and Marc were held there in 1909. Mr. Thannhauser retained his links with Picasso and was one of the few visitors with regular access to the Spanish painter before he died in 1973 in his cloistered home in France.

The Moderne Gallerie staged the first Klee display in 1911 and the same year, helped fix Blaue Reither group’s place in modern art history with a pioneering exhibition.

Mr. Thannhauser left the United States in 1971 to retire in Switzerland, dividing his time between his Bern home and Gstaad.

His only surviving close relative is his second wife, Hilde, 56. A son from former marriage was killed in the crash of a United States bomber in the south of France during the 1944 Allied invasion.

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A radio operator in the 441st Bomb Squadron of the 320th Bomb Group (12th Air Force), Heinz and his seven fellow crewmen were killed when their B-26C Marauder (serial 42-107711, squadron number “02”, nicknamed “Becky” [Update, March, 2024 … see correction about aircraft identification in next paragraph…] crashed during take-off from Decimomannu, Sardinia, on August 15, 1944.  The plane flew directly into the side of Monte Azza, 2 kilometers from the town of Serrenti, in the pre-dawn darkness.  The aircraft had been one of 34 B-26s dispatched to bomb a beach at Baie de Cavalaire (north of Saint Tropaz), France.  As revealed in the 320th Bomb Group’s report of that mission, one other B-26s was lost on take-off, fortunately with all crewmen surviving.    

Heinz’s name would appear in an official casualty list published in October 21, 1944,

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The illustration below, from Victor Tannehill’s Boomerang! – Story of the 320th Bombardment Group, shows what I believe is “the” actual Becky: 42-107711.  The circular emblem just behind the bombardier’s position is the insignia of the 441st Bomb Squadron, while rows of bomb symbols painted to the right of the plane’s nickname denote sorties against the enemy.  [Update…  Based on information from Russ Czaplewski, this aircraft isn’t 42-107711, a B-26C-45-MO.  It’s actually 42-96119,  a B-26B-55-MA.  Being that there is neither a Missing Air Crew Report nor an Accident Report for this aircraft, I would assume that the latter plane survived the war and was returned to the United States for reclamation by the RFC.]

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This image, from Vintage Leather Jackets, shows a beautiful original example of a 441st Bomb Squadron uniform patch, which would have adorned the flying jacket of many a 441st BS airman.  The Latin expression “Finis Origine Pendet”, superimposed on a B-26 Marauder, means “The Beginning of the End”. 

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Here is the 320th Bomb Group’s Mission Report covering the mission of August 15, 1944.  Becky’s [42-107711’s] crew is listed at the bottom. 

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Most of the Mission Report is comprised of crew lists for the B-26s assigned to the mission, the page below covering six aircraft of the 441st Bomb Squadron.  Lieutenant Trunk’s plane and crew are listed second, with the notation “Crashed after T/O written alongside. 

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As stated in the concluding paragraph of the Missing Air Crew Report covering Becky (MACR 7300), “He [1 Lt. Paul E Trunk, the plane’s pilot] made no attempt to contact us by radio so further attempts to ascertain the exact cause would only be conjecture.  In our opinion the actual cause of the accident cannot be ascertained.” 

Here is the first page of the Missing Air Crew Report for the loss of Becky [42-107711], with five of the plane’s crew listed at bottom… 

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…while this is the second page, listing Sergeants Bratton and Winters, with Captain Brouchard, as a passenger, at the end.

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This page lists the home addresses and next of kin of the crew.

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Lt. Trunk, from Shippenville, Pennsylvania, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery (Section 12, Grave 4836).  Lt. Rolland L. Mitchell, the plane’s co-pilot, from Thomson, Illinois, is buried at Lower York Cemetery, in that city.  T/Sgt. William C. Barron, the flight engineer, from Los Angeles, is buried at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial, at Nettuno, Italy.

The remaining five crewmen – Heinz (army serial number 31296512), S/Sgt. Harmon R. Summers (bombardier), S/Sgts. Charles T. Bratton (aerial gunner) and William M. Winters (photographer), with Capt. Wallace M. Brouchard (the Executive Officer of the 441st, who “went along for the ride”) – were buried on March 18, 1949 at – as you can see from the proceeding links – Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, in collective grave 90-92.

This picture, of the collective grave marker of the above-listed crewmen, is by FindAGrave contributor Erik Kreft

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Exactly one month after Heinz was killed, a tribute to him appeared in Aufbau. 

Für die Freiheit gefallen

HEINZ THANNHAUSER

Aufbau
September 15, 1944

Ein wunderbar erfülltes junges Leben hat ein jähes Ende genommen. “Heinz Thannhauser, Staff Sgt. of the U. S. Army Air Force, killed in action over Sardinia, August 15, 1944.”

Fünfundzwanzig Jahre alt. Ein Liebling der Götter und der Menschen. Glücklichste Jugend im schönsten, wärmsten Elternhaus. Begeistert Amerika liebend und überall hier Gegenliebe findend. Ungewöhnlich begabt, ungewöhnlich reif. Mit sechzehn Jahren — statt der erforderten achtzehn — war er in Cambridge zum Studium zugelassen worden — eine beispiellose Ausnahme in der traditionsgebundenen englischen Universität. In Harvard macht er seinen Doctor of Art. Mit 22 Jahren wird er Instructing Professor an der Universität Tulane, New Orleans.

Lehren ist seine Leidenschaft. Er versteht es, wie wenig andere, die Begeisterung seiner Schuler zu wecken. Nicht nur für die Kunst, zu der er von Kindheit auf die Liebe im Elternhause eingesogen hatte. Er wirbt und wirkt für das, was nur als das Höchste ansicht: für das Ideal demokratischer Freiheit. Er gründet Jugendklubs, hält Reden, schreibt Aufsehen erregende Aufsatze — er reisst die anderen durch seine starke Empfindung mit. Und durch den wunderbaren Sense of humor, den er mit seiner scharfen Beobachtungsgabe verbindet.

Aber in diesem lebensschäumenden, von Schönheit und Frohsinn erfüllten Menschen steckt ein glühender Hass gegen die brutalen Gewalten, die den Untergang Europas herbeigeführt haben. Und eine ganze Welt schwer bedrohen.  Als der Krieg hier ausbricht, meldet er sich sofort freiwillig.

Im Februar 1943 verlässt Heinz Thannhauser Amerika auf seinem Bombenflugzeug. Von nun an kommen Briefe, Briefe, Briefe. Es sind nicht nur Schätze für seine Eltern. Es sind Dokumente der Zeit und Dokumente schönster Menschlichkeit. Er kennt keine Trägheit des Herzens. Er ist ein Kämpfer aus Leidenschaft — vom ersten bis zum letzten Tag. Heinz Thannhauser glaubt glühend an die gerechte Sache, die er vertritt. Wie eine Beschwörung kehrt der Satz wieder:

“Ihr musst alles tun, was in Eurer [not legible] steht um zu verhindern, dass es jemals wieder einen solchen Krieg gibt.. nicht mit Phrasen – – mit Taten…”

Er selbst leistet einen Schwur, sein Leben lang dafür zu kämpfen.

Ein Bericht aus Rom, wo er drei selige Urlaubstage verbringt, klingt wie eine Fanfare. Er ist in einem Glückstaumel. Seitenlang schildert er Details einiger Gestalten am Plafond der sixtinischen Kapelle — zum erstenmal sieht er im Original die Meisterwerke, über die er gelehrt und geschrieben hat. Er ist wie betrunken von so viel Schönheit. Aber gleich danach:

“Trotz allem, es ist wichtiger, das Leben eines einzigen unschuudigen Geisel zu retten, als das schonste alte Kunstwerk…”

In einem seiner letzten Briefe schildert er die Erregung, die mit jedem Flug verbunden ist. (Er hatte 37 Missions hinter sich…):

“…The sober anticipation before a mission. The terrible feeling of going time after time through heavy flak without being able to do anything except sit and hope for the best.  The real exultation of seeing your bombs hit the target – huge flames coming up and smoke as high as you are flying.  The relief and joy at seeing your field again, like home indeed!  Also – losing your friends – empty beds, guys who, the night before, were talking of what names to give their children and so on…  And I share his horror of war and determination that it must never happen again…”

Heinz Thannhauser hat ein Testament hinterlassen. Er vermacht alles, was er besitzt, dem “American Youth Movement for a Free World”.

– A. D.

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Fallen For Freedom

HEINZ THANNHAUSER

Aufbau
September 15, 1944

A wonderfully fulfilling young life took an abrupt end.  “Heinz Thannhauser, Staff Sgt. of the U.S. Army Air Force, killed in action over Sardinia, August 15, 1944.”

Twenty-five years old.  A favorite of God and mankind.  The happiest youth in the most beautiful, warmest home.  Enthusiastic, America loving and everywhere here finding requited love.  Unusually gifted; unusually mature.  At sixteen years – instead of the required eighteen – he had been admitted to Cambridge to study – an unprecedented exception to the tradition-bound English university.  At Harvard he makes his Doctor of Art.  At 22 he is an instructing professor at Tulane University, New Orleans.

Teaching is his passion.  He understands how little others awaken the passion of his students.  Not only for art, which from childhood he had imbibed to love in his parents’ home.  He promotes and acts only for what is the highest opinion: For the ideal of democratic freedom.  He founds youth clubs, gives speeches, writes sensational essays – he pulls others with his strong feelings.  And through a wonderful sense of humor, which he combines with his keen powers of observation.

But in this tumultuous beauty and joy, there is an ardent hatred against the brutal forces which have led to the downfall of Europe.  And heavily threaten the whole world.  When the war broke out, he immediately volunteered.

In February 1943, Heinz Thannhauser left America on his bomber aircraft.  From now on arrive letters, letters, letters.  They’re not just treasures for his parents.  They are documents of time and documents of the most beautiful humanity.  He knows no indolence of the heart.  He is a fighter of passion – from the first to the last day.  Heinz Thannhauser glowingly believes in the just cause he represents.  Like an incantation, the sentence repeats:

“You have to do everything that is in your [power] to prevent that there is ever such a war again … not with phrases – – with deeds …”

He himself makes an oath, to fight for this all his life.

A report from Rome, where he spends three blissful holidays, sounds like a fanfare.  He is in a stroke of luck.  For pages on end he describes details of some figures on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel – the first time he sees the original masterpieces, about which he has taught and written.  He is intoxicated with so much beauty.  But immediately afterwards:

“In spite of all this, it is more important to save the life of a single innocent hostage than the most beautiful old work of art …”

In one of his last letters, he described the excitement that is associated with each flight.  (He had 37 missions behind himself…):

“… The sober anticipation before a mission.  The terrible feeling of going through heavy flak time after time without being able to do anything except sit and hope for the best.  The real exultation of seeing your bombs hit the target – huge flames coming up and smoke as high as you are flying.  The relief and joy at seeing your field again, like home indeed!  So – losing your friends – empty beds, guys who, the night before, were talking of what names to give their children and so on…  And I share his horror of war and determination did it must never happen again… “

Heinz Thannhauser made a will.  He bequeathed everything he owned, to the “American Youth Movement for a Free World”.

– A.D.

While the Aufbau article touched upon the depth of Heinz’s education and ambitions, his life was chronicled in much greater detail in College Art Journal in 1945 (Volume 4, Issue 2) in the form of a biography by “H.R.H.”:

On August 15, 1944, Sgt. Heinz H. Thannhauser was killed in action while in service of his country as radio operator and gunner on a Marauder Bomber in the Mediterranean theatre.  His parents have recently been notified that Heinz was awarded posthumously the Purple Heart.

He was born in Bavaria on September 28, 1918.  The son of the well known Berlin and Paris art dealer, Justin K. Thannhauser, Heinz had a unique opportunity of becoming acquainted with the works of modern artists at an early age.  He received his primary and secondary education at the College Francais in Berlin and later in Paris at the Sorbonne.  He then attended Cambridge University. England, and took his B.A, degree in 1938.  In that year he came to this country at the age of twenty, and was holder of the Sachs fellowship at Harvard University.  During his two years at Harvard, he specialized in the history of modern art and obtained the A.M. degree in 1941.  At the Fogg his brilliant and active mind and his warm enthusiasms won Heinz the respect and the friendship of his fellow students and teachers.  In the fall of 1941, he accepted an instructorship under Professor Robin Feild at Newcomb College of Tulane University.  He was a collaborator of the ART JOURNAL where he published in March 1943 an article describing a project for collaboration between art and drama departments.  He had planned during the summer of 1943 to begin work on his doctoral dissertation, but in February he entered the Army.

Heinz had shown much promise as a young teacher and scholar in the field of art history and his loss will be keenly felt.

H.R.H.

In January 1945, the College Art Journal published another tribute to Heinz, in the form of a transcript of a letter sent to his parents in 1944.  Under the title “Furlough in Rome”, the article is an extraordinarily vivid, detailed, yet light-hearted account of a tour of artistic works among churches in that city, this letter having been alluded to in the above Aufbau article. 

FURLOUGH IN ROME
BY HEINZ H. THANNHAUSER

Excerpts from a letter written to his parents during the summer of 1944 after a visit to Rome

THAT morning we went to S. Luigi dei Francesi, to look at the Caravaggio pictures; but there was a big mass and celebration there by French troops of the 5th Army, so we didn’t see them.  The French came out later in a parade reminiscent of some I’ve seen in Paris, with turbaned troops and all (only their uniforms, except for headgear, are always American) – we took a picture or two of them.  Next, we went to the Sapienza and got into the courtyard and looked at St. Ivo; unfortunately, the inside was closed, you can see it only on days when mass is held for the laureates.  But we looked at the facade for quite a while, and after this visit to Rome I have even more respect for Borromini than I had by studying him formerly.  From there we went to S. Agnese in Piazza Navona, and had a good look at the Four Rivers Fountain too, which really is a pretty daring tour de force on old Bernini’s part.  The veil of the Nile is quite something.  All in all this visit to Rome has increased my respect for the technical courage and perfection of the Baroque masters if for nothing else in their work.  Next, S. Andrea della Valle, which quite apart from its design was amazing as being the first example of Baroque cupola and ceiling decoration I’d seen – the Lanfranco dome not being, perhaps, as terrific as some of them, but quite an introduction!  Then the Palazzo Farnese, which is now a French headquarters building.  After asking some Sudanese guards for directions, we groped our way up and finally a maid showed us into the Galleria, which was just being cleaned up – what a thrill!   A lot of super-moderns despise the Carracci as coldly academic and what-not, but when you see an ensemble like this, which so perfectly fulfills its purpose, your hat goes off to them.  The freshness of the color is amazing, and both the figures and the entire composition are pure delight.  Especially as a little breather after too many visits to the dark and serious churches – although I understand the fracas caused by cardinals having sexy things like that painted in their home!  The other rooms were astounding too, with the woodwork ceilings, etc.  I need hardly say how impressed I was with the facade in Rome, however, you get so, that the only thing you notice is a façade that is not perfect, the perfect ones being so common!  Next, S. Mariain Vallicella, with another terrific ceiling, and the Rubens altar piece with the angels holding up the picture of the Virgin that the gambler is said to have stoned when it was at S. Mariadella Pace, whereupon real blood came from it.

The next day we went to Santa Susanna and then to S. Maria della Vittoria, but unfortunately the Bernini Ecstacy of St. Theresa has been walled in for protection, like so many other things.  The figures of the onlooking Cornaro family in the two side boxes are still visible, though.  Then we went up to see S. Carloalle Quattro Fontane, which is just about the most amazing of Borromini’s tours de force.  We couldn’t get into the cloister but we looked for quite a long time at the amazing amount of movement and undulation he got into so small a facade at such a narrow corner.  We tried to take pictures of it but will have to splice two together, there wasn’t enough backing room. 

From there it was just a little way to Sta. Maria Maggiore, which I had especially wanted to see, after that unending paper I wrote for Koehler on the mosaics there.  I was afraid they’d probably have them walled up like most of the apsidial mosaics in Rome, but lo and behold, they were all there in their full freshness!  It was one of the most terrific artistic impressions I got on our stay in Rome.  I had not expected anything like the strength of color that remains just gleaming out at you, – especially so, of course, in the case of the Torriti work but amazingly bright too with the old mosaics.  We walked round the whole church looking at the mall: the walls of Jericho falling down, God’s hand throwing stones down on the enemy, Lot’s wife turning to salt, the passage over the Red Sea, etc.  I really was happy we had been able to get into Sta. Maria Maggiore. 

We had planned to go back via the Thermae of Trajan, but it got too late for that, and at S. Pietro in Vincoli, we heard that Michelangelo’s Moses was all covered up, so we didn’t bother.  Instead, we dropped into San Clemente, where so many great painters have worshipped in Masaccio’s chapel.  Father McSweeney (it’s a church given to the Irish in Rome), who took us around, remarked, “He was quite a big noise in those days, as you would say!”  First I asked him in Italian how to get to the subterranean church, and he answered in Italian and then said “Ye don’t speak much English, do ye?” which was very funny.  He proved to be an unusually interesting person, with the most intimate knowledge of art history and styles and so forth as well as all matters pertaining to his church and a lively interest in the war, discussing bombing formations and everything else.  He is completely in love with Rome and said there was no place like it to live in, and that he hoped after the war we would all three come to stay and live there!  The mosaics, as usual, were covered over, but we had plenty of time to study all the details of the Masaccio and Masolino works, and then went down to the old church below, with the Mithraic statue and the other amazing things.  He showed us where the house of Clemens was, and pointed out the usual anecdotic details of the Cicerone with an ever so slight but delightful note of amusement in his voice, placing them where they belong: for instance, with the Aqua Mysteriosa, “because nobody knows where it comes from” he said, as if he meant to say, “and why should anybody give a damn, either?”  All in all, on account of the Masolino chapel, the church itself, the subterranean part with its amazing fragments of early painting, and last but not least Father McSweeney’s delightful and enlightened manner, this was one of our most memorable visits in Rome. 

We hailed a horse carriage and went straight to St. Peter’s.  As Paul and I had already studied it pretty thoroughly the time before, we just glanced into give our friend a look at it, and then went straight to the Sistine Chapel.  Well, there just aren’t any words to tell how overwhelming it was.  Here I’d written a paper, God knows how long, about the Prophets and Sibyls and the interrelation of figures on the ceiling, but I hadn’t known a damned thing about the ceiling.  It is so unbelievably powerful that you can’t say anything.  I kept looking, irresistibly, at the Jonah, which epitomizes tome the whole of Michelangelo’s life and torture, and really is, in the last analysis, the culmination and cornerstone to the whole ceiling.  What a piece of painting – what a piece of poetry, or philosophy, or emotional outburst, a whole age expressed in one movement of a body!  The way in which everything including the Prophets and Sibyls and Atlantes builds up from the relatively quiet figures in the chronologically later pieces (Biblically speaking) to the storm that sweeps through the early Genesis scenes and the figures around them, is inexpressible in words, Romain Rolland’s or anyone’s.  As for sheer perfection of painting, the Creation of Adam just can’t be beat.  And say what you will, no photographs, detail enlargements of the most skillful kind, can ever do what the things themselves do to you, especially in the context from which you can’t separate them.  The Last Judgment is almost an anticlimax against it; and as for the Ghirlandaios, etc., you just can’t get yourself to look at them because something immediately pulls your eye up high again.  And when has there ever been a man to do so much to your sense of form with such modest and restrained use of color?  You begin to wonder why Rubens ever needed all that richness when a guy like this can sweep you off your feet with just a few tints of rose and light blue and yellow – but where the tints are put, oh boy!  Well, it’s all written up in all the books, but I just have to put down what it did to me.  – Mediterranean Theatre

Finally, an excellent representative image of B-26 Marauders of the 441st Bomb Squadron in formation, somewhere in the Meditarreanean Theater of War.  Notice that the aircraft in this photo comprise both camouflaged (olive drab / neutral gray) and “silver” (that is, uncamouflaged) aircraft.  The image is from the National Museum of the Air Force.     

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Stephen Ambrose’s 1998 book The Victors included recollections of the experiences of Cpl. James Pemberton, a squad leader in the United States Army’s 103rd Infantry Division, covering combat with German forces in late 1944.  Pemberton mentioned the death in battle of a German-speaking Jewish infantryman, who was killed while attempting – in his native language – to persuade a group of German soldiers to surrender. 

The fact that the soldier remained anonymous lent the story a haunting note, for that man’s name deserved to be remembered. 

Aufbau revealed his identity.  He was Private First Class George E. Rosing. 

Born in Krefeld, Germany, he arrived in the United States on a Kindertransport in 1937.  As revealed in the newspaper in September of 1945 (and verified through official documents) he received the Silver Star by audaciously using his fluency in German to enable the advance of his battalion in late November of 1944. 

The Victors – Eisenhower and His Boys: The Men of World War II

Stephen E. Ambrose
1998

That same day Cpl. James Pemberton, a 1942 high school graduate who went into ASTP and then to the 103rd Division as a replacement, was also following a tank.  “My guys started wandering and drifting a bit, and I yelled at them to get in the tank tracks to avoid the mines.  They did and we followed.  The tank was rolling over Schu [anti-personnel] mines like crazy.  I could see them popping left and right like popcorn.”  Pemberton had an eighteen-year-old replacement in the squad; he told him to hop up and ride on the tank, thinking he would be out of the way up there.  An 88 fired.  The replacement fell off.  The tank went into reverse and backed over him, crushing him from the waist down.  “There was one scream, and some mortars hit the Kraut 88 and our tank went forward again.  To me, it was one of the worst things I went through.  This poor bastard had graduated from high school in June, was drafted, took basic training, shipped overseas, had thirty seconds of combat, and was killed.”

Pemberton’s unit kept advancing.  “The Krauts always shot up all their ammo and then surrendered,” he remembered.  Hoping to avoid such nonsense, in one village the CO sent a Jewish private who spoke German forward with a white flag, calling out to the German boys to surrender.  “They shot him up so bad that after it was over the medics had to slide a blanket under his body to take him away.”  Then the Germans started waving their own white flag.  Single file, eight of them emerged from a building, hands up.  “They were very cocky.  They were about 20 feet from me when I saw the leader suddenly realize he still had a pistol in his shoulder holster.  He reached into his jacket with two fingers to pull it out and throw it away.

“One of our guys yelled, ‘Watch it!  He’s got a gun!’ and came running up shooting and there were eight Krauts on the ground shot up but not dead.  They wanted water but no one gave them any.  I never felt bad about it although I’m sure civilians would be horrified.  But these guys asked for it.  If we had not been so tired and frustrated and keyed up and mad about our boys they shot up, it never would have happened.  But a lot of things happen in war and both sides know the penalties.”

Aufbau’s tribute to PFC Rosing appeared nineteen days after the end of the Second World War. 

Pfc. George E. Rosing

Aufbau
September 21, 1945

Der fruhere Gert Rozenzweig aus Krefeld, zuletzt Cincinnati, O., ist am 1. Dezember 1944 beim Vormarsch auf Schlettstadt im Elsaas im Alter von 21 Jahren gefallen.  Er wurde jetzt posthum mit dem Silver Star, der dritthöchsten Auszeichnung der amerikanishen Armee, geehrt.  – Es war am 24. November 1944, als die Spitze seines Bataillons in der Nähe von Lubine in Frankreich auf eine unerwartete feindliche Block-Stellung stiess, die die Strasse versperrte.  Unter Lebensgefahr trat Pfc. Rosing vor und begann, den feindlichen Wachposten auf deutch ins Gespräch zu ziehen.  Auf dessen Befehl legte er die Waffen nieder ung ging bis zu zehn Meter an den Wachposten heran.  Damit gab er seinen Kameraden Gelegenheit, Deckung zu suchen und den Angriff vorzubereiten.  Der Wachposten war uberrascht.  Bevor er sich aber der Situation bewusst wurde und Alarm geben konnte, gelang es der amerikanischen Truppe, durch die Stellung durchzustossen. – Pfc. Rosing kam 1937 mit einen Kindertransport nach Amerika; 1942 nachdem er gerade ein Jahr am College of Engineering an der Universität Cincinnati studiert hatte, trat er in die Armee ein.

The former Gert Rozenzweig from Krefeld, most recently of Cincinnati, Ohio, fell on 1 December 1944 on the way to Schlettstadt in Elsaas at the age of 21 years.  He has now been posthumously honored with the Silver Star, the third highest honor of the American Army.  It was on November 24, 1944, when the head of his battalion encountered an unexpected enemy position blocking the road near Lubine in France.  Under mortal danger, Pfc. Rosing began to draw the enemy sentinel into conversation.  At his [the German sentinel’s] orders he laid down his weapons and went up to ten meters to the sentry.  He gave his comrades the opportunity to seek cover and prepare for the attack.  The sentry was surprised.  But before he [the German sentinel] became aware of the situation and could give the alarm, the American force managed to break through the position. – Pfc. Rosing came to America in 1937 with a children’s transport; in 1942, after just one year studying at the College of Engineering at Cincinnati University, he joined the army.

Aufbau, September 21, 1945, page 7: The story of George Rosing.

The account of PFC Rosing’s award of the Silver Star appears to have been derived from his “original” Silver Star citation, which can be found at the website of the 103rd Infantry Division Association.  The full citation reads as follows:

HEADQUARTERS 103d INFANTRY DIVISION
Office of the Commanding General

APO 470, U.S. Army
19 December 1944

GENERAL ORDERS)
                                  :
NUMBER –   75)

AWARD, POSTHUMOUS, OF SILVER STAR

Private First Class George E. Rosing, 35801894, Infantry, Company “C”, 409th Infantry Regiment.  For gallantry in action.  During the night of 24 November 1944, in the vicinity of *** France, Private Rosing was with the battalion point, acting as interpreter, when an enemy road block was encountered.  The point was cutting the surrounding barb wire entanglement around the road block when suddenly challenged.  Private Rosing, a brilliant conversationalist in the enemies [sic] language, immediately stepped forward, with utter disregard for his life, to engage the sentry in conversation.  He was ordered to drop his arms and advance to within 15 feet of the sentry, which he did.  This gallant move gave the point an opportunity to seek cover in the immediate area.  The guard stupefied by Private Rosing’s boldness was unaware of the situation confronting him.  Before the guard could regain his composure, Private Rosing, assured that his group had reached safety, dived for the bushes as the sentry opened fire, and returned to his comrades unscathed.  As a result of his quick thinking and calmness during a tense situation the battalion was able to pass through the enemy road block successfully in the push towards its objective.  Throughout this entire activity his display of magnificent courage reflects the highest traditions of the military service.  Residence:  Cincinnati, Ohio.  Next of kin:  Eugene Rosenzweig, (Father), 564 Glenwood Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio.

By command of Major General HAFFNER:

G.S. MELOY, JR.
Colonel, G.S.C.
Chief of Staff

Born on December 3, 1923, PFC Rosing (serial number 35801894) was the son of Eugene and Herta (Herz) Rosing.  The brother of Pvt. John Rosing, his name appeared in Aufbau on January 12 and September 21, 1945.  He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, at Section 12, Grave 1574.  His matzeva appears below, in an image at BillionGraves.com taken by Liallee.

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Two men, among many.

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As part of my research about Jewish military service during the Second World War, I reviewed all issues of Aufbau published between 1939 and 1946 for articles relating to Jewish military service and identified pertinent news-items in the categories listed above.  (Whew.  It took a while…)  These will be presented in a future set of blog posts, with – where necessary – English-language translations accompanying the German-language article titles. 

I have not translated all, many, most, or even “a lot” of these articles; I leave that to the interested reader.  (!) 

Well, okay.

I’ve translated a certain select and compelling few, primarily concerning Jewish prisoners of war, and, the Jewish Brigade Group, which you may find of interest.

These will appear in the future.

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References

Maurice Derfler

B-24D 41-24269 (at Pacific Wrecks)

Aufbau

Aufbau (Digital), via Leo Baeck Institute (at Archive.org)

German Exile Journals, at German National Library (at Deutsche National Bibliothek)

German National Library Catalog Entry for “Aufbau”, at German National Library (at Deutsche National Bibliothek)

Aufbau (Wikipedia)

Aufbau (at Internet Archive)

German Exile Press (1933 – 1945) (Exilpresse digital – Deutschsprachige Exilzeitschriften 1933-1945) (Digital Exile Press – German Exile Magazines – 1933-1945)

Aufbau (at German Exile Press)

Aufbau (New York) at the Leo Baeck Institute

Leo Baeck Institute (at Wikipedia)

Leo Baeck Institute (New York)

Justin K. Thannhauser

Thannhauser Family (at Kitty Munson.com)

Thannhauser Family General Biography (at Wikipedia)

Justin K. Thannhauser and Guggenheim Museum (at Guggenheim Museum)

Thannhauser Collection (At Guggenheim Museum)

Thannhauser Collection (Book – At Guggenheim Museum)

Justin Thannhauser Obituary (The New York Times – 12/31/76) “Justin Thannhauser Dead at 84; Dealer in Art’s Modern Masters”

Uncle Heinrich and His Forgotten History (PDF Book) (by Sam Sherman)

Heinz H. Thannhauser

Für die Freiheit gefallen – Heinz Thannhauser (Article in Aufbau, at Archive.org)

Thannhauser, Heinz H – Biographical Profile at FindAGrave (at FindAGrave.com)

College Art Journal Volume 4, Issue 2, 1945 (Tribute to Heinz H. Thannhauser)

Furlough in Rome (Letter by Heinz H. Thannhauser in College Art Journal)

320th Bomb Group

320th Bomb Group Mission Reports (at 320th Bomb Group website (“When Gallantry was Commonplace”))

441st Bomb Squadron Insignia (at Vintage Leather Jackets)

Freeman, Roger A., Camouflage & Markings – United States Army Air Force 1937-1945, Ducimus Books Limited, London, England, 1974 (B-26 Marauder on pp. 25-48)

Tannehill, Victor C., Boomerang! – Story of the 320th Bombardment Group in World War II, Victor C. Tannehill, Racine, Wi., 1980. (Photo of “Becky” on page 115)

George E. Rosing

Ambrose, Stephen E., The Victors: Eisenhower and His Boys: The Men of WW II, Simon & Schuster, New York, N.Y., 2004.

George E. Rosing Cemetery Record (at Billion Graves)

George E. Rosing Cemetery Record (at FindAGrave)

103rd Infantry Division (103rd Infantry Division WW II Association)

103rd Infantry Division Award List for December 19, 1944 (103rd Infantry Division WW II Association)

12/30/17 – 661

The Times Have Never Changed: The New York Times and the Jews, 1942 and 2023

“…the Times is not, in fact, a newspaper, but a status symbol.” – Benjamin Kerstein

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Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
(Same as it ever was, same as it ever was)
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
(Same as it ever was, same as it ever was)
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
(Same as it ever was, same as it ever was)
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
(Same as it ever was, same as it ever was)

 “Once in a lifetime“, Talking Heads, 1980

____________________

The year 2023 has ended, and the year 2024, arrived.

Who knows what it portends?  Perhaps best not to know. 

The future will arrive of its own accord, regardless of the hopes and fears; the wishes and dreams; the wonders and imaginings, of men.  

Thus far, here at TheyWereSoldiers, I’ve completed nearly 300 posts – more to come, I hope! – many of which pertain to the military service of Jews during the Second World War.  For posts covering this topic, a significant source of information has been The New York Times, which – like virtually all other American newspapers during the war – routinely published War Department Casualty Lists, and, news items about specific soldiers.  In terms of information specifically about soldiers in the American armed forces, without the Times this blog would be neither timely nor topical.  But (!) a major qualifier: The centrality of The New York Times to my blog is neither advocacy of nor an endorsement for that newspaper in terms of its editorial policy – it certainly has one! – concerning the Jews, Juda-ism as a religion, Jewish nationalism, Jewish self-defense, or Zionism. 

And especially, the re-established nation state known as Israel.

Quite the contrary.

As shown in the works of David S. Wyman (The Abandonment of the Jews), Laurel Leff (Buried by The Times), Jerold S. Auerbach (Print to Fit: “The New York Times, Zionism and Israel, 1896–2016) and other scholars, the ideology of the Times for over a century has neither accepted nor admitted that the rights tacitly accepted – if not celebrated! – for other peoples and nations should be accorded to the Jews.  Even now, in the early twenty-first century, the Times remains by default – nay calculatedly; nay, eagerly! – mired in a mindset that is unable reconcile itself to the Jews as a thriving, autonomous nation, in preference to existing in a scattered, subservient, conditionally accepted, passive condition.   

That this attitude continues today was stunningly evident in the newspaper’s lead article of October 18, 2023, published eleven days after Hamas’ mass murder of well over one thousand Israeli Jews.  Titled “Blast Kills Hundreds at Gaza Hospital“, the above-the-fold “article” (I use the term generously) was written by Patrick Kingsley, Aaron Boxerman, and Hiba Yazbek, and accompanied by a large-format photo taken by Associated Press photographer Abed Khaled.  (An observation: From the standpoint of pictorial composition and emotional power, is it a coincidence that the image – so powerful, one must admit! – imparts a “Madonna and Child“-like symbolism to the civilians of Gaza, and thus villainy to Jewish soldiers; to Israel; to the Jews?)

Here it is:

For the full, actual story surrounding the origin of this manufactured “event”, the veracity of which was so immediately accepted and then boldly propagated by the Times, go to Tablet, and check out…

Anatomy of a Blood Libel – With the initial claims of the hospital story debunked, all that is left is the eternal guilt and villainy of the Jewish people, by Clayton Fox (October 30, 2023)

…and…

Pallywood’s Latest Blockbuster – How the media’s lockstep coverage of the Al-Ahli Hospital explosion promoted Hamas propaganda, by Richard Landes (November 29, 2023).

Given the Times’ willingness to distort news about Israel (and hardly just Israel…) if not flat-out lie in accordance with its predetermined beliefs concerning the Jewish people, the question remains as to why in this year of 2024 its prominence and centrality in the world of information, news, and social influence seems undiminished.  The explanations for this are several.  Perhaps it’s the transition in the nature of the news media – in light of the advent of the Internet – from the advertising model, to the subscription model, whereby rather than objectively convey information, a periodical’s raison d’être is to reflect, validate, and promote the beliefs and assumptions of its readers.  Perhaps it’s the rise of massive, multifaceted media and information conglomerates and the simultaneous loss of regional and local newspapers.  Perhaps it’s explained by the Times – and not just the Times – relying on news (or more properly news) generated by, from, and for the pixelated oxymoron otherwise known as social media.   And, segueing from that (!), perhaps it’s the metamorphosis of journalism from a vocation which once the cultural overtones of a blue-collar literary “trade”, to a credentialed profession reflecting the “moral inversion” of belief and values (to use Michael Polanyi’s phrase, adapted by the late Sir Roger Scruton) that has occurred throughout the atrophying “West” at least since the 1960s.  (In truth, this metamorphosis began far, far earlier than the 60s, and I think has arisen from values and beliefs inherent to West itself.  But, that is the subject of another discussion…)

But, there’s a factor explaining the paper’s continuing centrality in Western culture that is unrelated to the interpretation and presentation of “information”.  That is, class … as in social class.  Or more precisely, a function of the Times is to establish and validate the social status of its readers – the credentialed, meritocratic, technocratic (and largely secular) “elite” – y’know, the “professional managerial class” – in the eyes of their peers.  And most importantly, themselves. 

This is very clearly explained by Benjamin Kerstein (No Delusions, No Despair) in his Substack post of November 3, The war from over here, part3:  “…the remarkable halo effect the paper enjoys persists and has, if anything, grown stronger.  By rights, the Times should have been forced by scandal and cancelled subscriptions to close up shop years ago.  But it has remained popular, universally read among the American aristocracy, and decisively influential over the entire media landscape in the US.  It is, in effect, the world’s most prestigious and omnipotent gutter rag.

My friend had a fairly decent explanation for this, which is that the Times is not, in fact, a newspaper, but a status symbol.  It signals one’s membership in or aspiration to join the American aristocracy, and thus carries with it a whole host of connotations that make it irresistible to the members of that class and its admirers.

Those connotations include an elite education, high intelligence, considerable or at least comfortable wealth, and a general disdain for one’s class inferiors.  It also signals adherence to a series of ideals like compassion, equality, tolerance, and general love for mankind.

Thus, it displays one’s membership in a caste of saints who are not only materially successful, but consider themselves the finest and most moral people who have ever existed in the entire history of the universe.  One can then feel comfortable sitting in judgment of anyone who doesn’t belong to that caste and even enjoy doing so.

All of this would be fine, and frankly amusing, if weren’t for the fact that people are getting hurt.  The Times’ prestige isn’t just risible, it causes real world violence.  The paper was forced to admit that it lied about the Gaza hospital explosion, but it doesn’t matter.  Large sections of its readership will continue to believe it, and blame the Times’ capitulation on a Jewish conspiracy.  They will do so because the Times told them to.”

So, it’s with these thoughts in mind that I reflect on an article about the Times by William Cohen (about whom I have no further information!) which appeared in the Jewish Frontier over eight decades ago: in February of 1942.  At first briefly complimentary in its description of the paper, Cohen’s wide-ranging yet forceful essay then shifts to focus on the newspaper’s coverage of news about Jews in terms of American society and politics; the creation of an autonomous Jewish military force alongside the Allies to combat the Axis; Jewish nationalism; Zionism. 

Given his words, it’s apparent that the true nature of the Times has been evident for many decades, to those who deign to look. 

Or, in the words of Charles Peguy, “We must always tell what we see.  Above all, and this is more difficult, we must always see what we see.”

As you can see, below.

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But first…!  Here are some thoughts about the Times by Ruth R. Wisse, from her essay, “The Allure of Powerlessness”, in the Summer, 2021 issue of Sapir:

“But once the propaganda war against Israel
began making serious inroads in the rest of the world
,

parts of the Diaspora fell back into the patterns of valorizing statelessness.
Jewish sovereignty came under attack,
not just from terrorist rockets,
but from the New York Times,
which had been purchased by a German-Jewish owner
at the very same time that Theodor Herzl was founding the Zionist movement.

As Jerold Auerbach traces in his indispensable study,
Print to Fit: The New York Times, Zionism and Israel 1896–2016,
the anti-Zionism of the Ochs-Sulzberger family
has defined its coverage of the Jews ever since
,

including during the Second World War,
and still today the paper remains antagonistic to the idea of a self-governing Jewish people.

Yet the majority of New York Jews continue to read and trust a paper
that covers Israel from the perspective of those determined to destroy it.
Similarly, almost 70 percent of American Jews remain loyal to the Democratic Party,
even as it hands the reins to anti-Israel propagandists in its ranks.”

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The Strange Case of The New York Times

William Cohen
Jewish Frontier
February, 1942
(Volume 9, Number 2)

FOOLISH CONSISTENCY is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen, and philosophers, and divines,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson, and he might have added, “ – and newspaper publishers and their sons-in-law.”

The late Adolph S. Ochs made the New York  Times the leading, most complete, most respected and  reliable daily newspaper in the world.  He gave the  paper the stamp of his personality, rendered its columns scholarly, literary, and kindly.  He packed its pages full of interesting news, pioneered in establishing the range and quality of its foreign correspondence, strove to mirror the cosmopolitan point of view in its editorial opinions.  It became the journal of educators and statesmen.  Any item in The Times was news that was “fit to print.”  Mr. Ochs sincerely believed his dictum that to make a good newspaper, its creators must be fair, accurate and complete; that they must “give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of any party, sect, or interest involved.”

Guided by their able mentor, The Times correspondents girdled the world; their cabled dispatches became a symbol of interest and dependability.

Successor to Ochs as publisher, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, who shares the management of the paper with General Julius Ochs Adler, has closely followed his  predecessor’s maxims.

The Times has kept attuned to the changing trends of fast moving, kaleidoscopic, metropolitan journalism.  In recent years it has acknowledged the influence of the newsmagazine and its earthy, personal type of reporting.  It has followed the style of Time Magazine in the establishment of its “News of the Week in Review” in the Sunday edition.  The writing in the weekly section has become livelier, its comment more imaginative and crisp.  The editors show more concern over circumstances originating behind the news; they have started to broadcast news bulletins hourly on the air; recently The Times announced that on February 15 it will amalgamate its magazine and rotogravure section in the interests of freshness and readability.  Experiments in the use of color and eye-appealing type have been constantly maintained.  Times’ writers have received accolades as experts in many fields; last year the newspaper was again presented with a Pulitzer prize.

This reporter believes The Times is a superior newspaper.  In analyzing its editorial lapses he does not merely aim a malicious and unremitting fire at its journalistic vagaries and aberrations but presents the study of the paper in an attempt to be both fair and plain spoken.

Great journalistic model it is.  Yet, in one respect – the presentation of news of general Jewish interest and of Zionism – it has been proven to possess feet of clay.

The talented men and women who assemble its news, write the copy, and compose its editorials are not to be blamed.  The fault lies with the executives behind the scenes, that handful of individuals who have made The Times unqualifiedly complete as a newspaper, but woefully deficient in willingness to depart from a hide-bound reactionary attitude to the contemporary scene on the one hand, and adamant in refusal to face facts as regards the Jewish people on the other.

____________________

The Times would not find it paradoxical to propose
that the historic destiny of the Jewish people
is to be nice.

As Maurice Samuel has indicated,
for a people to be nice alone is not to be a people at all.

____________________

Times’ reporters and editors, like journalists who write for other papers, notably PM and the New York  Post, operate on assignment.  If the publisher suffers from the Jewish maladies of self-hate and self-effacement and has not the desire to inform his readers about barbaric atrocities committed on Jews in Rumania or Poland, or about discriminations practiced against Negro draftees in the South, nothing is written.  The publisher of The Times prints items he considers “fit” and in exercising his discriminating choice indicates a squeamish sensitivity for niceness and against disturbance of the status quo.  Many items are suppressed and others subjected to the scissors of the  copy reader.  On the Jewish angle The Times always assumes the defensive; the word Jew is kept out of  headlines, Jewish names rarely make the social columns, Jewish meetings usually “terminate too late” to break into a final edition.  Many Jewish items are banished to inner pages after undergoing a decontaminating, dry-cleaning process to the point of sterility.

The paper likes nice Jews, clean-cut individuals who have negligible political opinions, Jews who do not flaunt their nationalism or who ignore the taunts of demagogues.

The Times would not find it paradoxical to propose that the historic destiny of the Jewish people is to be nice.  As Maurice Samuel has indicated, for a people to be nice alone is not to be a people at all.  If The Times were consulted, for the sake of orderliness and euphony it would prefer the Jews as a religious minority.

Its Jewish publishers have uniformly adopted a head-in-the-sand assimilationist attitude about Jews and about Zionism.  Let us go back briefly to a period in American life very much like our own today, the days of November, 1917, during the first World War.  The United States had joined the Allies and the country was rapidly gearing itself to a war psychology.  In New York the Metropolitan was already halting “German Opera” so as to give “least offense to most patriotic Americans.”  Alfred E. Smith was running for president of the Board of Aldermen, John F. Hylan was successfully aspiring to the mayoralty as the candidate of Tammany Hall and of Hearst, who was being accused of sedition.  The Fusion candidate and incumbent mayor, Mitchell, was swept out of office.  Woman suffrage was an issue, the women receiving the vote in the state for the first time.  President Wilson was giving his Thanksgiving Proclamation.

News of the Balfour Declaration reached the general press November 9.  The Times placed the item inconspicuously on page three.  It said, “Britain Favors Zionism, Balfour Gives Cabinet View in Letter to Rothschild.”  The brief story included a favorable comment from the London Jewish Chronicle.

By November 19, 1917 the Turks had lost Jaffa and were fleeing northward with the British in pursuit.  In London announcement was made that Charles Rothschild and his brother, Baron Edmond of Paris had joined the Zionist movement.

Saturday, November 24, The Times under the Ochs aegis appeared with an unfriendly editorial, “The Zionists.”  It expressed fear that the “Zionist project” might involve the possibility of a recurrence of anti-Semitism.  It pointed out apologetically that the idea of colonies under a protectorate “has met with a good deal of favor among Jews who have given consideration to the practical side of the Zionist movement.”  It was the start of a hostility that was to continue.  In the ensuing years The Times has been  rabidly anti-Zionist.  One has but to go to the record, flip back the files and quote chapter and verse.  In 1917 editorials on Zionism were still tinged with the religious tone that bespoke Mr. Ochs’s milder influence.

With The Times the bold, anti-Zionist champion is always produced as a man of the hour.  The very next  day the Sunday paper reprinted an article from The American Hebrew by Rabbi Samuel Shulman which seconded The Times’ original motion of censure on Zionism in big, bold headlines which proclaimed: “Jewish Nation not Wanted in Palestine, the Views of those Who Are Opposed to Zionism Expressed by a Leading American Rabbi.”  Dr. Shulman said that he would not oppose settling some Jews in Palestine.  What they do there, he stressed, would be a matter that would concern themselves only.  Said the rabbi, “… I therefore hold that the destiny of the Jew is to remain scattered all over the world … and I interpret the great visions of our prophets in a purely universalistic spirit … we rejoice in the good will that is evidenced by the statement of that noble statesman Balfour.  But the phrasing is such an exact reproduction of the platform of Zionism that we cannot entirely endorse it.”  No Zionist rejoinder was printed.

On January 7 of this year, that perennial apologist to the Jewish people, motor magnate Henry Ford, whose declining years are troubled by the anguish and distress he has caused Jews, addressed a letter of “clarification” to the chairman of the B’nai B’rith Anti- Defamation League, Mr. Sigmund Livingstone of Chicago.

It is seldom that as notorious an eccentric as the Sage of Dearborn breaks into print unsolicitedly.  Usually his laconic gems of homespun philosophy are reserved for the Sunday Magazine section.  The Times nearly split a galley-rack in its effort to hide the story on an inner page.  As if to testify that the epistle was none of their doing the editors included a photostat clearly showing the Ford Company letterhead.

The Times editorials for that day did not capitalize on the opportunity for comment.  No effort was made to meet an issue squarely which would have committed The Times on a Jewish problem, or which would have demonstrated the validity of the newspaper’s oft repeated boast that it is an independent, Democratic paper capable of editorially spanking those statesmen or captains of industry whose conduct  is erratic.  No editorials have appeared on the Ford letter in subsequent issues.

Like all assimilationists the publishers of The New York Times prefer to evade and ignore the lessons of  history as regards the Jewish people.  They shut their eyes to the fate of the Jewish-refugee editors and publishers who have arrived in numbers from Germany and Austria, and have flooded the slick paper magazines with their breast-beating confessions and testimonials which have reached a crescendo of mea culpa.  While the now penitent German tycoons dawdled and looked for Communists under their editorial beds, the Nazis were methodically infiltrating their sanctums and composing rooms.  The Jews and the Zionist movement had always been rejected as personae non gratae by the Jewish-owned German dailies.  Thanks to Herman Ullstein, of the famous Ullstein Publishing Company which was taken over by Hitler, we have been treated to constant repetition of the vivid scenes describing the fall of that gigantic enterprise.  How Wittkopf the doorman led a demonstration of 150 employees marching in goosestep, chanting, “Down with the Jews!”; or how Kleinmichel, the head messenger, attired in Storm Trooper uniform, stationed himself in the composing room to see that nothing inimical to Nazism was printed.  The UIlsteins were finally stripped of every possession.  Today the record stands as a warning to other smug and complacent publishers who hide ostrich-like behind their editorial facades, pretending that their fear is courage; their shame, spirit.

As if to warn friendly legislators and to prejudice rapprochements between Zionists and non-Zionists on united demands at post-war peace conferences, The Times burst forth, on the morning of January 22, with a startling, column-long lead editorial insolently entitled, “A Zionist Army?”  With characteristic presumption The Times chose to refer to the proposal for a Jewish Army to fight with the British forces as a “Zionist” Army, and to label the Yishuv in Palestine as a possible Zionist state.  This selection of terminology stems back to May 18, 1939, the day of the  British White paper, when a front page dispatch from a Times’ London correspondent coined the phrase “Zionist National Home” in contradiction to the historical record on Jewish Palestine which since 1917 has been officially known as the Jewish National Home.  The Times fearfully trotted out the usual bogies.  It became apprehensive over incurring Arab resentment and hostility and the British government’s opposition to the creation of separate military units.

With callous disregard for the fallacious logic of its argument, The Times carefully retrained from referring to the established fact of an active, thriving community of close to 600,000 Jews in Palestine, chose as their second reason for opposing a Jewish Army the “theoretical” argument that a “Zionist” Army would presuppose the establishment of a “Zionist” State as one of the aims of the United Nations after the war.  It inferred that the collapse of Nazism would automatically set right all the upheavals and distress in Europe with the nonchalant reference to the possibility that “some from Axis territories” will prefer to migrate to Palestine or other lands rather than face “the unhappy memories associated with the past.”  In postulating the editorial The Times’ management disclosed the extent to which it is still guided by the appeasement complexes of the Munich pact; despite constant decimations of Jewish populations in the areas overrun by the Nazis, despite the existence of the cruel, monstrous concentration camps in which Jews are tortured, starved and dumped unceremoniously, despite the actuality of disease-ridden, crowded ghettoes in Warsaw and other occupied centers, it chose this unpropitious moment to plunge the dagger of betrayal in the back of the helpless millions of Jews who look anxiously to Palestine for a haven after the war, and to dash the hopes of thousands of young and willing Jews who are eager to defend democracy by fighting with a Jewish Army.

According to dispatches to the Yiddish press, the Times editorial was immediately seized upon by the Nazi and Italian radios which beamed broadcasts to the Arabic speaking countries, pointing out that the Arabs would always find it easier to cooperate with the conservative, assimilationist type of Jews as represented by The Times school in preference to the “greedy” Zionists.  From Royal Oak, Michigan came an echo reverberating through an editorial similarly entitled, “A Zionist Army” and published in Father Coughlin’s weekly fascist journal, Social Justice.

Though swarms of letters of protest poured into The Times’ offices, only two were printed, four days later, on Monday, January 26.  One was an official reply from Dr. Stephen S. Wise, on behalf of the Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs, and one from a Times champion who as usual was produced with alacrity in the person of Professor Morris R. Cohen, emeritus professor of philosophy at City College, and one time head of the Conference on Jewish Relations.  Dr. Cohen aptly demonstrated the use of specious logic.  In his post-mortem comment he meekly indicated he would prefer to leave the problem of a Jewish Army to the military authorities concerned, scoffed at the idea of a Jewish State in Palestine relieving the Jewish problem.  He involved himself in a fatuous discussion of the shopworn contentions that Palestine could not absorb all the Jews, the conflict between national interests and individual rights, solicitude for the Arabs.  It poorly becomes a man of Dr. Cohen’s eminence who has indicated his interest in Jewish representation at a peace conference, to approve The Times’ watery, editorial balderdash.

Chiefly responsible for The Times shrinking stand on Jewish issues is Arthur Hays Sulzberger who has been at the helm of the paper since the death of Adolph S. Ochs in 1935.  Mr. Sulzberger consistently treats the Jewish question as if he wished it did not exist.  He has been vociferous in generalizing about  safeguarding the “democratic way.”  In an address before the Carnegie Institute at Pittsburgh nearly a year and one half ago (October 24, 1940), Mr. Sulzberger, in describing our press as a line of defense against propaganda from abroad, said: … “Yet, in the long history of man security has never been attained by a refusal to state or face the facts.”  Further he spoke of the aims of The Times in the following words: “Our consistent purpose is to treat the community as an adult and to give these adults the facts as accurately as we can secure them.”

But on numerous occasions The Times has belied the idea that the community’s interests are taken into account when it behooves the paper to suppress or minimize an item of importance to the Jewish community.  On June 5, last year Representative M. Michael Edelstein of New York fell dead of a heart attack in the speaker’s lobby of the House of Representatives after having answered on the floor of the  House a vicious attack on Jews made by ranting, demagogic Representative John E. Rankin of Mississippi.  The Times printed a bare outline of the story in the suburban section.  The other papers considered the story front page news, used complete analyses, and editorials on the subject.  A day later The Times recanted with a lukewarm editorial which employed a favorite Times phrase in referring mildly to attacks on “religious minorities.”

To cite an illustration of the strange editorial treatment of an item of concern to Jews: Last September 11, Charles A. Lindbergh made his famous anti-Semitic utterance at Des Moines.  The Herald Tribune editorialized on the subject on September 13, denouncing his views as “Against the American Spirit.”  It took The Times thirteen more days of deliberation before there finally appeared on September 26 an editorial indicating displeasure over Lindbergh’s remarks.  It prefaced its comment with the following statement: “Passing over the question whether a religious group whose members come from almost every civilized country and speak almost every Western language can be called a race let us examine what Mr. Lindbergh actually said.” The editorial concluded: “… We do not believe that the most sinister aspect of this episode lies in its appeal to anti-Semitism, however obvious the intent to make that shameful appeal may be … We do not believe that anti-Semitism will ever gain ground in this country so long as the masses of our people are true to the great  traditions on which this Republic was founded …”

Some years ago in an interview with a representative of a mid-western Anglo-Jewish paper, Mr. Sulzberger expressed fears which trouble him.  He indicated that he felt no particular kinship with Jews living in other parts of the world.  He declared that the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine would raise strong doubts in his mind as to the advisability of continuing his Jewish affiliations.  He contended that Mussolini was within his rights in his statement that Italian Jews could not be Zionists as long as Zionism was a recognized part of British Imperial policy which was in conflict with Italian interests as defined by the Fascist dictator.

It is interesting to compare the views of Mr. Sulzberger with a statement of a great American – Louis Dembitz Brandeis, who said: “… loyalty to America demands rather that each American Jew becomes a Zionist.”

In the light of The Times policy it is not difficult to comprehend why Mr. Joseph M. Levy, who has been Palestinian correspondent of The Times for a number of years, writes as he does.  Mr. Levy after a recent visit to the United States has returned to Cairo from where he covers the Libyan campaign.  His dispatches often are hostile to the Yishuv, partial to Arab nationalism.  When events of interest are happening in Palestine, Mr. Levy usually is “absent on assignment.”  He seldom gets rapturous about achievements in Eretz Israel, occasionally breaks his silence to cable a friendly report on a non-political institution such as the Palestine Symphony Orchestra.  Mr. Levy is no novice as a war reporter; however his Zionist readers are often inclined to question his military sagacity on the basis of past performances in his reporting of events in the Near East.

The Times makes its columns accessible to Dr. Judah Leib Magnes, president of the Hebrew University.  Rabbi Magnes, a likeable personality, can be counted on to express a minority view that will delight The Times.  He has opposed the idea of a Jewish Commonwealth, preferring a bi-national state within the framework of an Arab confederation; he has differed with the call of the Jewish Agency for obligatory conscription.  The Times makes a special point of interviewing him periodically and prominently displaying his opinions.

Zionist readers of The Times know that New York possesses other daily papers which do not bend over backward in chronicling Jewish news.  Unlike The Times they often print extensive reports on events in the Jewish community, are not afraid to take a bold stand on Jewish topics.

The Times commentators find occasion to champion the endeavors of many peoples.  Sympathy has been expressed for the Polish legion, the Free French movement, the uprooted Czechs, the hapless Chinese.  Editorials have often upheld the rights of men of good will to lead free lives no matter how contrary their views to that of the conservative school which The Times represents.

But throughout articles concerning Jews runs the thread of timorousness, the jittery inability of its publisher to look forthrightly at Jewish problems.

He has failed to see the need for Jews to establish either group equality or individual security.  He has constantly befuddled discussions of Jewish issues with evasions and subterfuges.

It would seem advisable for The Times to consider two alternatives:

One, that the paper tend to its editorial knitting, cease meddling with Jewish issues, stop trying to impose the opinions of its publisher.  Or, two, that The Times practice its own credo for Democracy: stand up and face facts, identify the Jews and their struggles as equal to the aspirations of other peoples, help implement their desire for human rights.

Just One Reference!

Scruton, Roger, The West and The Rest – Globalization and The Terrorist Threat, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Wilmington, De., 2002

Major Milton Joel, eighty-one years later…

I recently received the following comment from Jim Rubin, concerning Major Milton Joel, commander of the 38th Fighter Squadron of the 55th Fighter Group until his death in combat over Holland with Me 109s of Jagdgeschwader 1 on November 29, 1943.  (Among the posts about Major Joel, see here and here in particular.)

Being that – for a reason presently unresolved! (&$#@^&* (!?!)) – comments to this blog are not displayed in my sidebar, I thought I’d share Jim’s comment by turning it into a post.  (Extraordinarily brief, by the standards of my blog!)  So, herewith:

Maj. Milton Joel was my cousin (my dad’s contemporary, although eight years Pop’s senior).  When Pop (now 96 y.o. and going strong) was in the U.S. Army of Occupation in Germany (1945-47), he spent a lot of time trying to track down cousin Milton’s remains, but was unsuccessful.  Cousin Milton called my Pop “Little Buddy” and Pop loved and revered him.  The Joels, Weinstein’s and the Rubin families were all heart broken over the loss of Milton.  By all accounts he was a warm, kind and witty man.

My reply: Thanks very much for your insightful and moving comment, Jim.  Trying to ascertain Major Joel’s fate was a noble effort on the part of your father, but given the time-frame – the immediate post-WW II years – such an endeavor would have been utterly daunting, and well-high impossible.  For one thing, MACRs (Missing Air Crew Reports) were not declassified until the 1980s, while then-relatively-recently captured German Luftgaukommando Reports were – I think? – in a transitional stage of custody among & between American and British Forces.  

In human terms, the only survivor among the P-38 pilots shot down on November 29, 1943 was 2 Lt. John J. Carroll, and the possibility of even identifying him – as a returned POW, in 1945, as a person to interview, as one would do in “our” world of the twenty-first century – would have been miniscule, due to confidentiality of military and other records, unless one previously had an “in” among and familiarity with 38th Fighter Squadron personnel.  

As I explained in my series of posts about Major Joel and the other 38th Fighter Pilots lost over eight decades ago in the late November sky over Holland, I believe that Major Joel was shot down over the Netherlands, within or very near the area between Hoogeveen and Zwartsluis, as denoted by the blue oval.  

I do not believe his “Flying Wolf” ever (ever) reached a point anywhere near the Ijsselmeer or North Sea. 

I base this conclusion on the description of the sequence of events encompassing the shooting down of Lieutenants Albert A. Albino and Carroll, and, the arrival of Captain Rufus R.C. Franklin and 2 Lt. James W. Gilbride (of the 343rd Fighter Squadron, which by then, after having gone into two Lufberry Circles, was heading back to Nuthampstead under the command of a pilot who shall remain anonymous…) over Meppel and Hoogeveen, after they broke from their squadron to come to the aid of Major Joel and Lt. Carroll. 

If this is so, certainly a central and entirely valid question is why the wreckage of 42-67020 was never found in this area of the Netherlands – which certainly has hardly been devoid of human habitation! – and reported upon by either the Germans, or, Dutch authorities.  To this I can offer no answer.  I can only suppose that like Lt. Albino’s Spirit of Aberdeen, Major Joel’s P-38H impacted so very deeply into the Dutch earth, perhaps unwitnessed in an uninhabited locale, as to have obliterated its point of impact, let alone the aircraft itself.  

On an unrelated note, I’ve often wondered about the eventual fate of Major Joel’s correspondence – letters and V-Mails – with his parents and family members, let alone documents of an official nature, such as his pilot’s log-book.  (His widow Elaine having destroyed their personal correspondence before she passed away many years ago.)  Alas, I suppose this invaluable material has been lost to the randomness of time.      

Anyway, thanks for remembering Major Joel, and thanks for your comment.

Here are two views of CG * A, Major Joel’s un-named “Flying Wolf”…

                                                                 

Here are my blog posts about Major Joel…

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: I – A Fate Unknown

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: II – From Proskurov to Richmond

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: III – On Course [Revised post! … December 18, 2023]

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: IV (1) – Autumn Over Europe

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: IV (2) – Autumn Over Europe – The “Flying Wolf” Identified [Updated post…]

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: V – A Monday in November: Major Joel’s Last Mission [Updated Post! – January 14, 2021]

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: VI – The Missing Years

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: VII – A Battle in The Air [Updated post! – January 14, 2021]

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: VIII – A Postwar Search: The Missing of November [Updated Post! – January 14, 2021]

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: IX – The Major, Still Missing  [Updated]

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: X – Fragments of Memory

Next: Part XI – References  (No pictures, just lots of citations and links.)

And, these related posts…

The Names of Others: Jewish Military Casualties on November 29, 1943

An Echo of His Final Mission: 2 Lieutenant James M. Garvin, KIA November 29, 1943

 

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: II – From Proskurov to Richmond [Updated Post! … Jan. 13, 2021 and December 18, 2023]

(Update II – December 18, 2023: This year, I received an interesting message from P-38 historian John Clements. Specifically: “I stumbled on your websites the other day doing a semi-regular troll for P-38 information on the web. I am working on a book on the P-38, trying to present the most accurate information possible. I was stunned when I came across the two photos of Milton Joel standing in front of a P-38D during the Carolina Maneuvers in the articles from 2020.  #96 has all of the characteristics of a YP-38, not a P-38D.  It could also be a straight P-38, but I have never seen any model of the early aircraft with a YP-38 style lower cowling.”

Upon receiving John’s message, I consulted Volume I of Bert Kinzey’s two-part series on the P-38 – specifically, the set of 1/72 line drawings of the YP-38 on pages 23 through 25 – and immediately verified John’s observation: In YP-38s, the oil cooler inlets are less circular than those of the D version, featuring a vertical double-divider in the center. This is entirely consistent with the appearance of the inlets of the aircraft behind Major Joel.  As related by John, “I haven’t found evidence of any kind that this style was on any other model. I’m including another photo of the YP that was used in wind tunnel tests in Virginia. It’s the best photo of the engine nacelle of the YP’s that I have found so far.”

Thanks, John!  More information and photos appear below…!)

(Update I – January 13, 2021: Originally created on November 12, 2020, this post has been updated to include three new images.  These comprise a portrait of Milton Joel standing before a Stearman PT-17, taken while be was in Primary pilot training, and, two images from the U.S. School Yearbook database at Ancestry.com.  The latter are specifically from the 1940 Yearbook for the University of Richmond, Milton Joel’s alma mater.  These two images comprise a group photo of the University of Richmond Aviation Club, and, Milton’s graduation portrait.  Scroll on down to take a look…)

 

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Part II: From Proskurov to Richmond

Let’s start at a man’s beginning…

Milton Joel was born in Richmond, Virginia, on July 12, 1919, to Joseph and Minnie (Weinstein) Joel.  Characterized as a “change of life baby” due to his parents’ then relatively advanced ages (in the context of that era) of 38 and 32, respectively, he would be their only child. 

Joseph, described by Sara F, Markham (the best friend of Milton’s (eventual!) wife Elaine Ebenstein) as, “…a Judaica scholar and a homespun philosopher who was always writings letters to the Op-Ed page of our reactionary gazette, the Richmond Times-Dispatch,” owned and operated the Virginia Jewelry Store, following – to a minor extent – the footsteps of his own father, Salomon.

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Fortunately; remarkably, Joseph’s literary and historical bent led him, towards the end of his life in 1960, to compose – with Myron Berman (then rabbi of Temple Beth-El in Richmond) – an essay covering his family’s genealogy and history.  This appeared in the July 1979, issue of The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, under the title “My Recollections and Experiences of Richmond, Virginia, 1884-1892.” 

Though focused on his father, Joseph’s essay enables us to place Milton’s life in a deeper, multi-generational historical context.

The introduction to the essay (there’s far more to it!) follows below.  (References to the Ukrainian SSR should be understood in terms of the essay’s 1979 publication.)

THESE memoirs constitute a small portion of the autobiographical manuscripts written by Joseph Joel (1882-1960) near the end of his life.  They display a panorama of Jewish civilization at the turn of the century as well as the reflections of an East European immigrant upon life in Europe America.  The narrative, which focuses mainly upon the experiences Joseph Joel’s father, Salomon Czaczkes (Joel) (1853-1934), constitutes both the epitome and antithesis of an immigrant’s odyssey from Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian empire to America in the period immediately prior to World War I.  What is perhaps unique about Salomon Joel’s peregrinations is that unlike the majority of his East European compatriots whose transatlantic passages were paid by prosperous relatives from America, Salomon Joel and his family eventually returned to Europe on a prepaid ticket provided by the European branch of his family. (1)

Brought to these shores while yet an infant, Joseph Joel years later pieced together the poignant details of his parents’ migration from Proskurov, originally part of Poland but through annexation in the eighteenth century incorporated into the Russian empire. (2)   Because Salomon Joel had lived within the borders of Galicia, he was looked upon with suspicion by the Russian government.  With ten growing children to provide for, Salomon’s father earlier had decided to move from Tarnopol (3) to Podwoloczyska (4) as the railroad had been extended to that border outpost between Russia Austria-Hungary and afforded economic advantages for merchants dealing in agricultural products.

When his mother died, Salomon Joel was subject to the vagaries of his stepmother.  It was she who was responsible for his enrollment in a yeshiva or Jewish parochial school away from home and for his early marital alliance with a cousin of hers in Proskurov. (5)  Eventually he was himself the father of ten children, three of whom, including Joseph, were born in Europe.  The untenability of his legal status, the precarious nature of his livelihood, and, finally, the pull of a brother and a sister already residing in America were primary factors motivating the emigration of Salomon Joel with his family. (6)

Joel had a difficult time adjusting to the American economy.  Although he had been a grain merchant in Europe, he opened a jewelry store in Richmond, which proved a fiasco.  Never having learned the business, he was always dependent upon the services of trained technicians whom he had to employ.  Devoting himself more to communal pursuits than to his livelihood, Joel moved frequently within the city of Richmond and finally to Chicago to try his luck during the World’s Fair of 1893.  When economic conditions in the United States worsened shortly thereafter, Salomon Joel returned with his family to Podwoloczyska. 

In Europe, Joel was assisted by his stepbrother but never fared well.  He typified a large segment of immigrants who could not adjust to the American environment and to a certain extent may be categorized as Luftmenschen, trying to subsist on air.  Salomon Joel died in Europe, and tragically a large number of his family were later massacred by the Nazis. (7) 

Joseph Joel, however, returned to America in 1914 and, after a brief sojourn in Deming, New Mexico, became a jewelry merchant in Richmond.  More successful than his father, he wrote nostalgically about the good old days of strong religious and family ties, which contrasted rather starkly with the environment of the ‘fifties.  Joseph married Minnie Weinstein, the daughter of a Landtsmann or compatriot from Tarnopol, whose family’s voyage to America had been facilitated by Salomon Joel.  Their only son, Captain [sic] Milton Joel, was killed during World War II.  In later years, Joseph Joel, despite certain eccentricities, became a patriarch to his family. 

1) Joseph Czaczkes, a banker, Salomon Joel’s stepbrother, was the family’s benefactor.
2) Proskurov today is in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.  The population of the city was forty percent Jewish until World War II when it was occupied by the Germans.
3) Tarnopol, Galicia, today is called Ternopol and is in the Ukrainian SSR.
4) Podwoloczyska, Galicia, is called Podvolochisk and is in the Ukrainian SSR.
5) Salomon Josel first married Yetta Bernstein and upon her death, her sister Bertha.
6) The children of Salomon Joel were as follows:
Fannie (1873-1891), buried at the Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery in Richmond
Moses (1877-1904), buried in Podwoloczyska
Yetta died in infancy and was buried in Podwoloczyska
Joseph (1882-1960), buried at Beth Ahabah’s Hebrew Cemetery in Richmond
Israel (1886-1930), buried in Wiener Neustadt
Esther (1980-ca.-1940), exterminated by the Nazis
Herman (1890-1965), buried at Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery
Efraim (1893-1977), buried at Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery
Mushke or Moses (1904-1930), buried at Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery
Robert (1898 –      ), a resident of Miami
and Clara (1912 –      ), a physician in Baltimore
(7) Members of his family from America visited him just prior to his death in 1934.

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But how did “Czaczkes” become “Joel”?

As noted elsewhere in the essay, Joseph’s, “…father [was] Salomon Czaczkes, who changed his name on arrival at Richmond, Va. to Salomon Joel.  This changing of name was due to the fact that there were few foreigners here and the people just couldn’t pronounce the “Cz” as “Ch” as in Chicken,” etc.”

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A 1930s view of the Joel family home in Richmond. (c/o Harold Winston)

This Oogle Street View shows that the now-nearly-century-old residence (it was constructed in 1922) looks much the same today. 

Milton’s bar mitzvah portrait. (c/o Harold Winston)

Though I don’t know the date of his bar mitzvah, Milton’s birth on Saturday, July 12, 1919, may (may…) have correlated to a Bar Mitzvah date of July 18, 1932 (Tammuz 14, 5692).  If so, his Haftorah would have been Parshat Pinchas, concerning which there is a vast amount of commentary, such as these examples from…

The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (z”l)

Torah.org

My Jewish Learning

Wikipedia (well, inevitably Wikipedia!)

Chabad

Though, unsurprisingly, there’s little information about Milton’s childhood and adolescence, it is known that he graduated in 1936 from Thomas Jefferson High School in Richmond.  There, he was active in the school’s newspaper, aptly titled The Jeffersonian, as reported in Richmond Times-Dispatch article of February 16, 1936.


In the photo, Milton is among the group of students in the right-hand image, where he stands second from right in the second row.

Caption: “The staff of editors of The Jeffersonian, pictured above, includes those who served last term and their successors for editorial positions this term.  They are: Front row, left to right, Norman Robinson, Grant Morton, Adelaide Rose, Constance Strailmann, Watson James, Jr., and Thurman Day.  Second row, Shirley Sheain, Rosa Ellis, Mary Elizabeth Alvis, Ruth Keppel, James Harris, Milton Joel and Jane Obermeyer.  Back row, William Franch, Elizabeth Johnson, Charlotte Nance, Kathering Priddy, Robert Howard and Austin Gribb.”

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Milton’s father Joseph, at the family home in the 1930s or 40s. (c/o Harold Winston)

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Though the source of his aeronautical inspiration is unknown, Milton’s interest in flying was apparent by the time he attended the University of Richmond (he first attended the University of Virginia), his enrollment commencing in 1936.  There, he participated in a pilot training program sponsored by the CAA (Civil Aeronautics Authority; later the Civil Aeronautics Board), which was covered in the following three Richmond Times-Dispatch news items.

____________________

Students Are Taught to Use Parachutes – – – on the Ground

Richmond Times-Dispatch
December 19, 1939

University of Richmond flying students received their first instruction in parachute jumping yesterday, but, to the relief of many, the training was given on the ground.

Instructor J.H. Preissner pointed out the correct method of opening the ‘chute and delved into technical details for the benefit of the class of 17 students at Byrd Airport.

The group has been receiving the flight instruction, sponsored by the Civil Aeronautics Authority, since October 18, in two classes of two hours’ duration each week.  The course, consisting of 72 hours of class work, will be completed in June.

10 Are Active Pupils

Prior to the beginning of actual flying instruction 10 days ago, the students were taught civil air regulations and aerodynamics.  Ten member of the class are active pupils while the others are alternates.

Examinations will be given by the Federal Government.  The training is being given the students by the Government at approximately one-tenth what would be charged at private fields in order to raise the number of civilian pilots in the United States.

The students are in no way obligated to the Government, however, it was pointed out.  In all probability an advanced course will be given next year.

Caption: COLLEGE PUPILS STUDY ‘CHUTES – University of Richmond students who are taking a flying course under the Civil Aeronautics Authority, got their first instructions yesterday in taking to the air via a parachute.  Members of the class are shown above with Instructor J.H. Preissner.  Left to right, are Milton Joel, Parke Starke, Harvey Chapman, Ernest Taylor, Clyde Ford, Donald Murrill, Mr. Preissner, Samuel George, Thomas Bruno and Tom Wiley.

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In this Richmond Times-Dispatch news article of February 28, 1940, covering CAA pilot training of University of Richmond Students, Milton stands at the far right.  (c/o Congregation Beth Ahabah Archives)

A nearly similar image – below – appeared in the University of Richmond 1940 yearbook, which specifies that the fourteen men in the photo are actually members or associates of the University of Richmond Aviation Club. 

A close inspection reveals that these are actually two different photographs, albeit taken by the same photographer: S.L. Baird.  The giveaway?  While the men are standing in the same relative locations in the pictures, there are minor differences in their poses and facial expressions.  

The aircraft is a Rearwin Cloudster, a, “…two or three-seat civil utility aircraft produced by the Rearwin Aircraft & Engines Company of Kansas City, Missouri beginning in 1939.  It was a strut-braced, high-wing monoplane of conventional design with an enclosed cabin and fixed, taildragger undercarriage.”  You can view a restored Cloudster in this 2010 video narrated by owner Ed McKeown, from the Aero-News Network. 

____________________

This photo published (I think?) in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on July 7, 1940 illustrates CAA student pilots.  With hands on the controls – I think this is a Cloudster – Milton sits adjacent to the aircraft’s entry door. (c/o Congregation Beth Ahabah Archives)

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Milton’s graduation portrait.

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After his university graduation, Milton pursued flying in a military vein:  Here is notification received by his parents concerning his enlistment in the Regular Army on October 12, 1940, and, his departure for the Alabama Institute of Aeronautics at Tuscaloosa.  (c/o Congregation Beth Ahabah Archives)

The following three images show the Alabama Institute of Aeronautics as it appeared in the 1940s. 

This photo shows classrooms, dormitories, a hangar, and numerous (Boeing Stearman?) biplanes.

A barracks room.  Simple and spartan, but it does the job.

Flying cadets return from training. 

From the Archives of Congregation Beth Ahabah in Richmond, Virginia, this image shows Milton Joel standing before a Stearman PT-17, presumably at Tuscaloosa. 

Very (very!) close examination of the photograph (it’s actually a paper photocopy, thus accounting for its graininess and low resolution) reveals that the Stearman’s serial number is 40-1841.  According to the Aviation Archeology database, this aircraft was involved in a landing accident at Albany Field, Georgia, on October 29, 1941, while piloted by Donald P. Chapman.

The date of the photograph is unknown, but from crispness of shadows and bright illumination, it was certainly a very sunny day.

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Having completed his Basic Flying School at Gunter Field, Alabama, in March of 1941, Milton next attended Advanced Flying School at Maxwell Field, Alabama, from which he graduated the following May.  Along with six other Aviation Cadets from Virginia, Milton appeared in this Richmond Times-Dispatch photograph on April 27, 1941.  Here, the seven cadets and flight instructor Lieutenant Neener stand before a North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer.

Caption: YOUNG PILOTS TRAIN – Seven Virginians are shown here checking final flight plans with Lieutenant E.H. Neener at Maxwelll Field, Ala., where they are in training.  They are (left to right) Cadets Glassel Stringfellow of Culpepper, Charles R. Mallory Jr. of Richmond, Milton Joel of Richmond, Lieutenant Neener, Cadets George L.J. Newton of Powhatan County, Roy L. Reeve of Arlington, R.L. Tribble of South Boston and Thomas Campbell of Franklin.  The cadets will graduate next month with more than 200 hours’ air training at the Advanced Flying Field.  They will be commissioned second lieutenants and sent on extended active duty with regular Air Corps units. 

________________________________________

A review of National Archives Records covering Honor Rolls of WW II Army Dead (via the National WW II Memorial website) reveals that all the above (then) Cadets, as well as Lt. Neener, survived the war.  Milton was the only member of this group who did not return.

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This news item of May 2, 1941 from “The Richmond Daybook” section of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, reports on Milton’s final stages of Advanced Flying Training at Maxwell Field, Alabama.

FLYING Cadet Milton Joel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Joel of Greenway Lane, Richmond, has begun the final phases of his flying training at the Air Corps Advanced Flying School, Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Ala.  On May 29 he will be graduated into the status of second lieutenant, Air Corps Reserve, receive military aeronautical status of “pilot” and be assigned to extended duty training with a regular squadron for a period of one year.  Cadet Joel finished his basic training at Gunter Field, Montgomery, last March.

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This photographic portrait of Milton as a Flying Cadet, from the United States National Archives’ collection “Photographic Prints of Air Cadets and Officers, Air Crew, and Notables in the History of Aviation”, in NARA Records Group 18-PU.  Notation on the photo (not visible in this image) states “Graduated 5/29/41”.  This image is only one of the collection’s many thousands of portraits and related photos, which – spanning the very late 1930s through approximately 1944 and having heaviest coverage from 1941 through 1943 – includes a small number of photos from WW I and the twenties, and, a few pictures of foreign aviators from the 20s and 30s.  You can read much more about the this collection in Five Pilots in December (which displays images of the five Army Air Corps fighter pilots who lost their lives during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor), at my brother blog, ThePastPresented.  (Milton’s portrait, serial number “P-8000”, is located in Box 47 of RG 18 PU’s 105 archival storage boxes.) 

On May 30, 1941, Milton’s high-school newspaper the Jeffersonian reported his graduation from Maxwell Field.

Flying Cadet Milton Joel ’36, who was business manager at the Jeffersonian in 1935-36, was graduated into the status of second lieutenant, Air Corps Reserve, at the Air Corps Advanced Flying School, Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Ala., yesterday.  He also received the military aeronautical status of “pilot” and was assigned to extended active duty training with a regular squadron for a year. 

A little over a month later, on July 21, the Times-Dispatch reported Milton’s assignment to the 27th Pursuit Squadron of the 1st Pursuit Group, then at Selfridge Army Airfield, Michigan.

Richmond Aviator Goes to Michigan

SELFRIDGE FIELD, Mich., July 21 – Milton Joel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Joel, Greenway Lane, Richmond, and recent graduate of the Air Corps Flying School, Maxwell Field, Ala., has been assigned as a second lieutenant with the World War famous First Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field, and has taken over his flying duties with the Twenty-Seventh Pursuit Squadron, Major Robert S. Israel, Jr., commanding officer of the “P-38” Fighter Group, revealed today.

Joel, who has attended both the University of Virginia and the University of Richmond, is required to accomplish a minimum of fifty hours’ flying monthly.
Beside the regular aerial flights, Joel must undergo intensive ground flying.  Key to the paradox is the Link trainer, an ingenious and complex device which makes it possible to simulate the conditions of blind flying.

In November of 1941, Milton’s assignment to the 27th Pursuit Squadron involved participation in the Army’s Carolina Maneuvers, with the 1st Pursuit Group (a component of the 6th Fighter Wing) taking part in all four Maneuver phases: Louisiana Phases 1 and 2, and Carolina phases 1 and 2, from September 15 through 27, and November 16 through 27, respectively. 

These two images show Milton standing before a P-38D YP-38 Lightning bearing aircraft-in-squadron number “96”.  The aircraft carries temporary (water-based-paint) Maneuver markings, consisting of a red cross upon its nose, and, (rather fading) white paint on the bottom of its gondola and wings.  (c/o Sarah F. Markham)

In this image, the crest of the 1st Fighter Group is visible on Milton’s service cap, while the Army Air Corp’s pre-war “triple-pinwheel” orange and blue emblem is visible on his left shoulder. (c/o Sara F. Markham)

Here’s an example of the pre-war art-deco-ish shoulder Army Air Force patch, worn from July 20, 1937, through March 19, 1942, when it was replaced by the more well-known winged star. 

Continuing with John Clements’ identification of this plane as a YP-38, here the list of all YP-38s – but one – compiled by Joe Baugher:

MSN 122-2202/2214.  Model 122-62-02 service test aircraft.

689 crashed during high-speed dive Nov 4, 1941 over Glendale, CA, killing test pilot Ralph Virden.
690 assigned to NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Virginia Nov 27, 1941 to Feb 4, 1942. To Parks Air College, St Louis, MO Feb 26, 1942.
691 assigned to NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Virginia  Nov 27, 1941. Scrapped at Sacramento Air Depot Dec 17, 1945.
692 scrapped at Lowry Field, Denver, CO Jul 5, 1945.
693 relegated to class CL-26 maintenance trainer at Chanute, AK Jul 24, 1942.
694 relegated to class CL-26 maintenance trainer Jan 5, 1943, Granite Falls, WA.
695 w/o Jul 23, 1941, Alpena, MI.?
697 used as class CL-26 maintenance trainer Jan 5, 1943 at Lockheed
698 scrapped Mar 20, 1946 San Bernardino, CA.
699 crashed Jun 23, 1941, Atlanta, MI.  Pilot Lt Guy Leland Putnam killed.
700 relegated to class CL-26 maintenance trainer Jan 27, 1943 at Brookley Field, Mobile, AL.
701 relegated to class CL-26 maintenance trainer Jan 5, 1943 at Lockheed

On discussing the above list, John noted that aircraft “696” is missing.  Being that the plane-in-squadron (tail) number of Major Joel’s plane is “96” (as seen in the photo on page 81 of Dana Bell’s Air Force Colors), John suggests that the plane could be the absent “696”, or specifically, “39-696”.  Makes sense to me!

The photo below, provided by John, is of, “…the YP that was used in wind tunnel tests in Virginia.  It’s the best photo of the engine nacelle of the YP’s that I have found so far.”  The front of the nacelle is identical to that of Major Joel’s plane.

Interestingly, Bert Kinzey’s book states that for YP-38, “Armament was to be two .50-caliber machine guns, two .30-caliber machine guns, and a single 37-mm cannon.  However, this was not fitted, and the gun ports were faired over.”  In that context, perhaps 696’s armament of two machine guns, the muzzles of which are covered with streamlined cylindrical fairings, represents a modification carried out after the plane was assigned to the 1st Fighter Group.

The specific P-38D YP-38 serving as a backdrop to Major Joel can be seen (a very tiny portion of it can be seen) in Army Air Corps Photo “A 20599AC / 342-3B-41009”, dated November 3, 1941:  The number on its port fin and rudder is visible immediately to the left of the port fin and rudder of P-38 “67”, the latter in the right center of the image.  This picture can be found on page 81 of Dana Bell’s Air Force Colors, Vol. I.

Another photo provided by John: 1st Fighter Group P-38s – #54 and #51 – at the Carolina Maneuvers.

From Air Force Colors, Vol. I, here’s an illustration of a P-38D in “red force” markings:

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Two images of Milton in the United States.  Date unknown; location unknown.

(c/o Ida Joel Kaplan)

(c/o Harold Winston)

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While assigned to the 27th Fighter Squadron, Milton was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in February or March of 1942, and then Captain in June.  It was at the latter rank that on October 3, 1942, he took command of the 38th Fighter Squadron at Paine Field, Washington.  This photo, showing Milton wearing a flight jacket with the insignia of the 27th Fighter Squadron, can therefore be dated as having been taken before that date.  (c/o Harold Winston)

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The circumstances – random luck? – a mutual acquaintance? – by which Milton and his future wife, Elaine Ebenstein of Beverly Hills, California, met one another, are unknown.  However, most definitely known is that they were married at Paine Field in June of 1943, as reported in the Richmond Times-Disptach on June 25, of that year.

Miss Ebenstein Will Marry Major Milton Joel, USAAF

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert R. Ebenstein, of New York and Beverley Hills, Calif., announce the engagement of their daughter, Elaine, to Major Milton Joel, United States Army Air Force, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Joel, of Richmond.

The wedding will take place June 29 [Tuesday] at Paine Field, Everette, Wash.
The groom is a graduate of the University of Richmond in the class of 1940.

Characterized by her friend Sarah Markham as “tall, thin, and regal”, here is Elaine’s portrait. (c/o Harold Winston)…

…and, here’s a view of Minnie, Joseph, and their beaming daughter-in-law in Richmond.  (c/o Ida Joel Kaplan)

Next: Part III – On Course

1,507 – November 12, 2020

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: III – On Course [Revised post! … December 18, 2023]

[Update: Created in November of 2020, this post has been updated to reflect information provided by Andrew Garcia, pertaining to the P-38 that serves as a backdrop for the image of Major Joel and Capt. Joseph Myers, Jr.  The picture can be seen towards the (very) bottom of the post.]

Part III: On Course

Now in command of the 38th Fighter Squadron, Milton’s promotion to Major was announced in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, on February 2, 1943. 

MAJOR AT 23 – Milton Joel (above) son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Joel, 5 Greenway Lane, is believed to be one of the army’s youngest majors.  He completed his civilian pilot’s course at the University of Richmond in 1939 after attending the University of Virginia.  He later trained at Tuscaloosa Field, Ala.  He was commissioned a second lieutenant in May, 1941, promoted to first lieutenant in February, 1942, and a captain in June.  He is now commanding officer of a fighter squadron at Pendleton Field, Ore.

Flying-battle-axe emblem of the 38th Fighter Squadron, digital…

…and physical, as a patch, available from EBay seller EZ.Collect.  (Not a “plug” – I simply found this image via duckduckgo!)

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Three and a half months after taking command of the 38th Fighter Squadron, on February 19, 1943, Milton and several of his squadron’s pilots gathered for this group photograph, under what seems (?) to have been an overcast sky.

Interestingly, at least four pilots in the rear row (thus all perhaps in the rear row?) were members of the 27th Fighter Squadron (Milton’s former squadron) and attained aerial victories in the Mediterranean Theater.

Though this image is present in the squadron’s historical records (specifically, in AFHRA Microfilm Roll AO 136) inquiries to the National Archives revealed that it’s absent from the WW II U.S. Army Air Force Photo Collection.  Thus, it seems to have remained at squadron level, never having been bureaucratically passed “upwards” to any higher organizational level.

From a technical point of view, the photograph clearly illustrates the counter-rotating propellers used in all P-38 Lightnings commencing with the XP-38, with the exception of 22 of the 143 P-38s which had been ordered by the Royal Air Force as Lightning Mark 1s.  As such, viewed from the “front”, it can be seen that the propellers rotate outwards, away from the aircraft’s central gondola and toward the wings.  

Another point: It appears that the aircraft’s nose has been painted, perhaps as a form of squadron identification. 

The text on the photograph states…

“(G868A – 22M – 33AB) (2-19-43) FLYING OFFICERS, 38TH FIGHTER SQUADRON, PN FLD, WN. (RES)”

…while the back of the image bears the notation…

Restricted Photograph

Do not use without permission U.S. Army Air Force

Air Base

Photo Laboratory

…and includes the pilots’ surnames – and their surnames only.  However, this clue enables identification of most of these men.  They are:

Front row, left to right (All members of the 38th Fighter Squadron)

Wyche, Wilton E., 0-729407
Ayers, Jerry H., 0-659441
Leinweber, Gerald F., 0-659473
Joel, Milton, 0-416308  (KIA 11/29/43 – MACR 1429 – P-38H 42-67020; No Luftgaukommando Report)
Hancock, James H., 0-659122
“Meyer” (Myers?), Joseph, Jr., 0-659166
Leve, Morris, 0-791127 (KIA 1/31/44 – MACR 2110 – P-38J 42-67768; Luftgaukommando Report AV 641/44)

Rear row, left to right (The four identified men were members of the 27th Fighter Squadron)

Ellerbee
Conn, David M., 0-732171
Meikle, James B.
Connors
Dickie
Crane, Edwin R., 0-728980
McIntosh, Robert L., 0-802054
Harris
Smoot
Hammond
Purvis

Here’s another 38th Fighter Squadron photo, from Robert M. Littlefield’s Double Nickel, Double Trouble.  Taken on June 4, 1943 at McChord Field, Washington, these seven men comprise the original squadron commanders of the 38th Fighter Squadron, and, the four officers heading the 55th Fighter Group.  Akin to the preceding photograph, an inquiry to NARA revealed that this photograph is absent from the WW II U.S. Army Air Force Photo Collection.  Also paralleling the above photo, this P-38’s nose (the plane is a P-38G-15) has been painted – probably – in white or yellow, and bears a (plane-in-squadron?) identification number.  Unusually for a stateside warplane, this aircraft bears nose art.  This takes the form of Walt Disney’s “Thumper” holding a machine gun, and the appropos nickname “WABBIT”.  (Albeit no relation to Elmer Fudd…)

The men are…

…left to right:

Major Richard W. (“R. Dick”) Busching, 0-427516, Commanding Officer of the 338th Fighter Squadron
Major Milton Joel, 0-416308, Commanding Officer of the 38th Fighter Squadron
Wendell Kelly, Group Operations Officer
Colonel Frank A. James, Commanding Officer of the 55th Fighter Group
Lt. Colonel Jack S. Jenkins, 0-22606, Group Executive Officer
George Crowell, Group Operation Officer
Major Dallas W. (“Spider”) Webb, Commanding Officer of the 343rd Fighter Squadron

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This third image, from the collection of 38th Fighter Squadron pilot (and only survivor among the four 38th Fighter Squadron pilots shot down on November 29, 1943 – but we’ll get to that in a subsequent post) John J. Carroll, was taken on July 20, 1943.  From The American Air Museum in Britain (image UPL 40377) the photo shows the original members of the 38th Fighter Squadron sent to England in late summer of 1943.  (This picture also appears in Double Nickel, Double Trouble.)

Paralleling the above pictures, this photograph is absent from the WW II U.S. Army Air Force Photo Collection.  The text on the image as published in Double Nickel, Double Trouble (but not visible on this web image) states:

“(G1067 – 22M – 33AB) (7-20-43) FLYING OFFICERS, 38TH FTR. SQDN. (RES)”

The men are:

Front, left to right

Shipman, Mark K., 0-431166
Wyche, Wilton E., 0-729407
Ayers, Jerry H., 0-659441
“Meyers” (Myers?), Joseph, Jr., 0-659166
Joel, Milton, 0-416308 (KIA 11/29/43 – MACR 1429 – P-38H 42-67020; No Luftgaukommando Report)
Meyer, Robert J.
Leinweber, Gerald F., 0-659473
Hancock, James H., 0-659122
Unknown

Rear, left to right

Albino, Albert A., 0-743330 (KIA 11/29/43 – MACR 1428 – P-38H 42-67051; Luftgaukommando Report J 307?)
Fisher, D., (“David D.”), (T-1046) (KIA 1/31/44 – MACR 2106 – P-38J 42-67757; Luftgaukommando Report Unknown)
Brown, Gerald, 0-740139
Unknown
Kreft, Willard L., 0-740219
Erickson, Wilton G., 0-748934 (KIA 12/1/43 – MACR 1430 – P-38H 42-67033; Luftgaukommando Report Unknown)
Erickson, Robert E., 0-743324
Gillette, Hugh E., 2 Lt., 0-740169 (KIA 10/18/43 – MACR 1040 – P-38H 42-66719; No Luftgaukommando Report)
Steiner, Delorn L., 0-740297 (KIA 1/31/44 – MACR 2105 – P-38J 42-67711; Luftgaukommando Report Unknown)
Fisher, (Paul, Jr.), (0-740149)
Peters, Edward F., 0-746168
Peters, Allen R., 0-743368
Carroll, John J., 0-743313 (POW 11/29/43 – MACR 1431 – P-38H 42-67090; Luftgaukommando Report Unknown)
Unknown
Garvin, James M., 0-740164 (KIA 11/29/43 – MACR 1427 – P-38H 42-67046; Luftgaukommando Reports J 338 and AV 513 / 44)
Forsblad, Richard W., 0-740153
Des Voignes, Clair W., 0-743425 (KIA 7/13/44 – MACR 6709, 6717 – P-38J 42-28279; Luftgaukommando Report J 1635)

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The 55th Fighter Group departed McChord Field, Washington, for England on 23 August 1943.  The Group reached Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, on August 27, remaining there until September 4, when the Group boarded the H.M.T. Orion (a 24,000 ton ocean liner launched in 1934) in New York Harbor, the burned-out wreck of the SS Normandie – renamed the USS Lafayette – visible nearby.  The Orion departed the next day, reaching its English base at Nuthampstead on September 14.  Milton’s diary verifies these dates and locations.

In this image (U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 2009.006.096) a Coast Guard J4F Widgeon flies near the wreckage of the Lafayette, with the Empire State Building faintly visible in the distance.  This area is probably the location of the Orion’s departure for England.  

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During this hectic interval, Milton kept a diary covering the 18-day trans-Atlantic journey, in which he recorded observations and impressions of people, places, and events, noting the controlled chaos associated with the rapid movement of his squadron and group to a foreign shores.  Specifically mentioned (albeit not including first names!) are pilots Willard L. Kreft, Gerald F. Leinweber, Mark K. Shipman, Albert A. Albino, Colonel Frank A. James, and ground officers Octavian R. Tuckerman (Ordnance), and Arthur S. Weinberger (Personnel). 

The first two pages of Milton’s diary are shown below, followed by a transcript of all diary entries.  Milton’s penmanship was not (!) the best, so the text includes some “gaps” (thus [“_____”]).  But, enough of his writing is legible such that the sequence of events, his impressions of people (one observation of human behavior is quite frank by the standards of the 1940s) and sense of activity emerge from the document’s pages, as do his pride in his squadron. 

Aug 23-1943 En Route Paine Field to NY P of E

This first entry in the daily record of events and sidelights of my participation in the action toward victory is made with the hope that it will not suffer the ignominity of becoming merely another bit of evidence of slovenly performance & tasks undertaken.  At 08:30 AM left Mukilteo Washington in command of the 38th Fighter Squadron.  Everyone eager and straining at the bit just as I am.  Feel sure we can do a good job of it since I know we are better in a hundred ways than any outfit that has previously left the cont. for foreign duty both in efficiency and spirit.  Wish Elaine could have been there to see us off but that would have been an anticlimax.  Then too make it a first not to see her after the men were placed incommunicado.  What’s good enough for them is good enough for me. 

Aug 24 ’43

Trip so far completely uneventful, train shakes so cannot write. 

Aug 25th ’43 No change.  All serene. 

All the men really on the ball – violent bridge game constantly in progress involving _____ _____ [Willard L.] Kreft & [Gerald F.] Leinweber.  They have screamed themselves hoarse.  Particularly Leinweber now sounds like a fog horn.  Sporadic poker games continue on.  [Mark K.] Shipman is like a kid just bubbles over with enthusiasm.  He wrangled a ride on the engine & stayed there some four or five hours.

Aug 26th Everyone thoroughly encrusted in soot. 

We look like miners not soldiers.  [Albert A.] Albino & his _____ _____ _____ _____.  Shipman worried about poker games _____ as though we should see that pilots learn to take care of their money.  Losses haven’t been heavy.  _____ (_____) & I talk him out of it.  Is indignant when we try to explain that paternalism should not be carried that far.  Am proud as pink over the conduct & appearance of the outfit at exercise time at stop by the wayside.  Even though they are grimy they are sharp.  Leinweber spends waking hour looking for a spoon from his mess kit – 200 pounds of almost _____ _____. 

Aug 27th Camp Kilmer, N.J.

– arrived here at 08:05 from then on it was nit & tuck – nip a breath & tuck it away to last for an hour or two when you may or may not be able to catch another.  Was met at the station with everything but the brass band. 
I.F. a billeting officer, a supply officer, a medical man, a rail transportation man & truck transport man and two or three others for good measure.  We whisked the men off the train & marched them off to their barracks.  I stayed behind with _____ (Exec. Off) & went through the train with a rail officer & train Rep. & a Pullman Rep. to check for damage.  There was none.  Dashed madly to new quarters while the rain started to pour.  Have a piece of paper shoved at me telling me that I and the whole staff report at 9:00 AM for instruction –  Do not have time to even wash off the weeks soot & grime or change clothes. 

We report, Larry (_____) S-2, _____ S-1, Shipman S-3 & _____ S-4 & I _____ _____ officer _____ who gives us 2 hours instruction & a thousand sheets of paper (S.O.P. – Standard Operating Procedures). 

We receive a schedule for the day which is a killer.  Return to barracks Four & officers are just settling down.  Tuckerman & Weinberger have just returned with the baggage detail & the baggage and it is all stowed away in our building –  Rush away to lunch.  Return & going to quit as too tired to continue. 

Sept 1 Have decided that war is hell. 

If the battling will be as rough as the getting to it.  We’ve had at least 6 countermanding orders on our load list, we pack them then unpack.  Then pack.  Then unpack.  That’s the way it goes.  Everyone is beginning to get thoroughly disgusted but that’s the way they said it would be. 

This camp is tremendous place thousands & 10’s of thousands of men pour through here each week.  They are practically re-equipped.  It’s amazing really.  We had a meeting today and there were at least 300 unit commanders and adjutants.  This is going to be a tremendous deal, but big rumors are rampant.  Morale however is getting very low.  Pilots like a bunch of race horses.  They’re tense & at each others throats practically.  Mainly due to hanging around with nothing to do & hangovers, everyone having gone to New York last night & night before.  I went in.  Had a big lobster dinner & a fried chicken but was too tired to stay late. 

Sept 14 Haven’t had a moment to do more than write a few words to Elaine. 

Left Camp Kilmer on the 4th in the morning for Embarkation.  Our B-4 bags & packs were so damned heavy don’t know how we made it.  Rode the train to ferry & thence off the harbor to the pier and boarded H.M.T. Orion.  Saw the Normandie still lying serenely on her side like some tired old man refusing to get up & go to work.  As soon as all the men were aboard I managed to drag my raincoat, briefcase, blanket roll, mussette bag, gas mask, pistol, web belt and canteen aboard half carrying & half falling over my B-4 bag to my stateroom.   This was pleasantly surprised by a Staff Sergeant Symanoff who brought me four letters from Elaine.  She had a hunch – the _____ _____ _____ that I would come to New York and had contacted Gene Symanoff who worked in the port.  That was to prove the greatest treat to date aboard this tub. 

No sooner did I get on board ship then was I summoned to Col. James’ [Frank James] room – where I found a great stir & dither.  I was informed that I was to be Deck Commander of “E” Deck, which at this time didn’t seem so bad.  Was soon to find out just what a rough deal it really turned out to be.  Col. James was the senior line officer slated to come aboard and was then made troop commander.  We were informed that there had never previously been American troops board ship and in addition there were 2000 more of them than the British had ever conceived of placing aboard.  I.E. We had 7000 troops placed helter skelter on the ship and no one with us had ever had any experience of either handling troops aboard ship or _____ _____ any permanent _____.  Men had been loaded helter skelter like sardines thrown into the can and then lid forced down.  There were not even any set instructions orders or the like.  This looks like the goddamnedest mess the brass hats could dream up & was.  Went below & found my deck was “double loaded” I.E. 1500 men eat & sleep below deck & 1500 sleep & two above on another deck for 24 hours.  All eat below in double shifts of 2 sittings each man shifting the _____ _____ for each of the 2 meals and again in the middle of the day.  At night there wasn’t room either below or above to move an inch without stepping on someone’s face 1/2 _____ staying below slept on mattresses on the floor and tables the other half in hammocks.  Those above decks slept on blankets on hard decks rain or shine – oh rough –  To add to it all compartments on all decks had to pass through my deck to go to & from the galley also the twice daily canteen details also went through all the latrines for EMs aboard ship were also located _____.  At meal times shift it looked like 42nd & Broadway on New Year’s Eve.  How we ever got any organization is still a mystery to me.

To add to it all men consisted of the raunchiest crew I had ever seen.  A larger proportion was criminals most of whom had 2 to 3 court martials against them some of whom even brought on board by armed guard.  It was utter chaos.  For first 3 days there was utter chaos and it took some days to eliminate the confusion.  Many groups had one unexperienced 2nd Lt. in command who had just picked them up the day before.  There was a group of 80 officers all _____ aboard who much like the men here were as motley as Joseph’s Coat and had an equivalent record.  We found the total officers straight aboard to be 700 including eighty very recently commissioned and very eager nurses.  These turned out to be as big a problem the 2nd Lts went after them like hound-dogs after a bitch in heat.  I believe most of these girls were actually in heat because it seemed they were very cooperative.  Ended up by picking a staff from the staff of the squadron & assigning each squadron officer a job with the men.  Had about 150 officers assigned me and to other deck commander and took them down into Compartment Commanders and watch officers so that officer would be with the men 24 hours a day. 

Morale for the first four days was the lowest I’ve ever seen it.  The confusion was unimaginable.  At meal time the corridor looked like 42nd & Broadway on New Year Eve.  Only thing that made it satisfactory were boat drills weren’t always went over in first order.

There is a Moving Picture version of a British Colonel aboard as permanent Liaison Officer.  Had been troop C.O. for two years aboard same ship.  Knows every knook and cranny.  Knows every argument that comes up with ships company before it comes up.  Without his help this tub would have sunk in this chaos.  He is one of the shrewdest men I have ever met & just as humorous.  Whenever an argument in Staff Meeting is going the wrong way he can draw a red herring through the conversation so fast that it makes your head swim or tell some fantastic typical statement.  “Ships officers are dead from 2 PM til’ four.  If you attempted to wake one up the ruddy funnel will fall off.” 

Took about seven days to get things afoot so that trip became very pleasant U.S.O. shows helped immensely.  Billy Gilbert the Hollywood _____ artist is aboard with a troop and his shows have done wonders for morale.  After the first three days the men’s spirits raised and remained amazingly high considering the hardships of sleeping in stinking holds & open but cold decks.

No excitement yet other than an incident the seventh night out.  A Swedish ship blasted through the entire convoy at perpendicular courses & all ships had to make a sweeping torn to avoid her she was completely lighted & must have completely silhouetted us also made sub contact at the same time & depth charges were dropped well over the place which sit up a “ruddy din”.

About 1/3 of the men were thoroughly sick the second & third day out when it got fairly rough out water has been like a mild pond ever since.

Units were so spilt up _____ Lord knows how we will debark them.  Tuckerman has been made garbage disposal officer and has taken a hell of a beating.  Trash & garbage has to be disposed of only at a _____ _____ prior to black out to prevent causing a trail so it’s a hell of a job.  Carroll is official announcer on P.A. system and as _____ that an official ____ for everyone aboard when he announces _____ time.  Typical crack “Dumping time tonight will be at _ _ o’clock.  Stick out your cans for the scrounger man.  Tuckerman the garbage man.” 

Cards & crap games fill every deck & latrine.  Officers and men at it 24 hours a day.  One EM cleared $ 1300 one day.  Some even have set up boards with numbers on them carnival fashion & have this game in the canteen. 

________________________________________

The 55th Fighter Group, the first P-38 equipped 8th Air Force Fighter Group to enter combat with the Luftwaffe, moved to Wormingford, England, on April 16, 1944.

________________________________________

During the 55th’s movement to England Milton managed to send a single V-Mail letter to his parents in Richmond, in which he commented on the hectic nature of the Group’s inter-continental journey, a sea-food dinner in Manhattan, and expressed pride in his wife, Elaine. 

In light of Milton’s then as-yet-unknown future, the letter closes with the unintentionally (or not?…) prophetic statement, “It will probably be some time until you hear from me again so don’t worry.  This is my real opportunity.  Think of it in that light.  I’m really on my way home in a way that this is what I had to get under my belt before I could do that.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Joel
1119 Hull Street
Richmond, 21, Va.

Milton Joel, Major AC
38 Fighter Sq 55th Fighter Group
APO #4833 c/o Postmaster New York
Sept. 3, 1943

Dear Folks,

Have been here “somewhere” in New Jersey.  Have never had such an exasperating or busy few days in my life.  It’s just like recruit camp all over again.  Quite an experience.  We’ve been held incommunicado so didn’t have time to call anyone in N.Y.  Managed to get in one evening long enough for a lobster and a drink.  Wonderful to eat Eastern sea food again.

Elaine is in L.A.  Got a letter from her yesterday.  She’s done a swell job of taking care of our affairs and getting home.  Her attitude about this whole thing, I tried to give you a hint about two weeks ago but you couldn’t catch on evidently.

Did Elaine send you some pictures that we took?  I’m proud of them particularly the ones taken in the house.  Got a swell letter from Elaine’s father.  Our two weeks of living together you know showed Elaine to be every thing that I thought her to be plus a great deal.

It will probably be some time until you hear from me again so don’t worry.  This is my real opportunity.  Think of it in that light.  I’m really on my way home in a way that this is what I had to get under my belt before I could do that.  Don’t send any thing until I ask for it.  Use “V” mail.

Love to all
Milton

________________________________________

This Oogle map below shows the location of Nuthampstead (indicated by Oogle’s emblematic red pointer) in relation to London. 

This British Government Royal Ordnance Survey aerial photo shows Nuthampstead Airfield as it appeared on July 9, 1946.  Annotations on the photo are from Roger Freeman’s 1978 Airfields Of The Eighth, Then And Now.  The original image has been photoshopifically “rotated” from its original orientation such that the north arrow points “up”.  As such, the orientation of the airfield is congruent with the area as seen in the contemporary Oogle Earth photo, below.

Here’s a contemporary Oogle air photo view of the area of Nuthampstead airfield and its surrounding terrain.  Practically all the land upon which the air base was situated has been turned over to agricultural use.

________________________________________

Newly arrived at Nuthampstead, the 55th Fighter Group’s Commanders are visited by Major General William E. Kepner (far left), then head of the Eighth Fighter Command. 

To General Kepner’s own left in the photo (left to right) are:

Col. Frank B. James
Lt. Col. Jack S. Jenkins, 0-22606
Major Dallas W. Webb
Major Milton Joel, 0-416308
Major Richard W. (Dick) Busching, 0-427516

Though I don’t recall the specific source of this image as used “here” in this post, this picture can also be viewed at the 55th Fighter Group website.  It also appeared in print in the October, 1997, issue of Wings magazine (V 7, N 5, p. 13), where it’s noted as having been part of Jack Jenkins’ photo collection, from which the names above are taken.  There, Milton’s name is incorrectly listed as “Walton”.  Wings mentions that General Kepner, then in his 50s “…flew his personal P-47D everywhere, including an occasional sortie into combat.  Kepner was a strong and successful commander.” 

________________________________________

The following Army Air Force photographs, taken some time between the 55th Fighter Group’s arrival at Nuthampstead in September of 1943, and November 29, 1943 (that sad day will be covered in detail in subsequent posts…) may be well known to those with an interest in the history of Eighth Air Force fighter operations, and, the P-38 Lightning.  But, for those newly acquainted with this story: 

First, image A1 79829 AC / A14144 1A.  The photo caption states:

“Flight leaders of the 38th Fighter Squadron, based at Nuthampstead, England, gather for an informal briefing by Major Milton Joel of Richmond, Virginia just before a mission over enemy territory.  They are, left to right: 1st Lt. James Hancock of Sebring, Fla., 1st Lt. Gerald Leinweber of Houston, Texas, 1st Lt. Joseph Myers of Canton, Ohio, and 1st Lt. Jerry Ayers of Shelbyville, Tenn.” 

Obviously posed (Lt. Ayers and Major Joel have wry smiles) it’s still a great photo.   Notice that Lt. Hancock and Major Joel are – gadzooks! – smoking!  (In the world of 2020, how … er … uh … um … ironically, dare I say “refreshing ”… as it were?)

Second, image: B1 79830AC / A14145 1A. 

The caption?

“Lt. Albert A. Albino of Aberdeen, Wash., and Lt. John J. Carroll of Detroit, Mich., both members of the 38th Fighter Squadron stationed at Nuthampstead, England, discuss the map of a future target in the squadron pilot room.”

Like the above image, this photo is almost certainly posed, but it’s still an excellent study.  While Lt. Albino wears a classic leather flight jacket, it looks as if Lt. Carroll sports a home-made (?) sweater.   

By day’s end on November 29, 1943, Lt. Albino would no longer be among the living, and Lt. Carroll would be a prisoner of war. 

________________________________________

After Major Joel failed to return from the mission of November 29, Captain Mark K. Shipman of Fresno, California, took command of the 38th, until replaced in that role by Capt. Joseph Myers. 

The below portrait of Major Shipman (long before he became a Major!) is from the United States National Archives’ collection “Photographic Prints of Air Cadets and Officers, Air Crew, and Notables in the History of Aviation”, in NARA Records Group 18-PU, which also includes (see prior post) a Flying Cadet portrait of Major Joel.  Major Shipman’s photo is from Box 84 of the collection.  You can read about the collection at The Past Presented.

This image, from The American Air Museum in Britain, shows Captain Shipman in front of his personal P-38, 42-67080, “Skylark IV”, “CG * S”.  This photograph appears on page 93 of Roger Freeman’s The Mighty Eighth, albeit in cropped form, and transposed (a mirror-image) from the actual print.  Major Shipman was officially credited with 2.5 aerial victories:  One in North Africa, and two in Europe.

This image of the aircraft and ground crew was photographed by Sgt. Robert T. Sand, who not-so-coincidentally completed Skylark IV’s nose art.  Note that the 20mm cannon has been removed from the plane’s nose.

The below article about Major Shipman appeared in the Pittsburgh Press on February 6, 1943, and pertains to his experience on January 23, 1943, while he was serving as a lieutenant in the 48th Fighter Squadron of the 14th Fighter Group.  Accounts of this mission, in which the 48th lost six pilots – of whom Lt. Shipman turned out to be the sole survivor – can be found at emedals.com  and Rob Brown’s RAF 112 Squadron.org.

U.S. Flier Walks 2 Days Through Italian Positions

Pilot’s Clothes Stolen, So He Wraps Feet in Rags; Brings Back Valuable Information

By the United Press

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, North Africa.  Feb. 6 – For two days Lt. Mark K. Shipman, 22, Fresno, Cal., wandered over desert and mountains, his feet bound with shreds of his uniform, but when he finally reached an American outpost he brought with him valuable reconnaissance information.

The lieutenant told about his experience today.

His Lightning fighter plane was shot down on the morning of Jan 23 when he left formation to help a comrade fighting a cluster of Messerschmitts.  Lieut. Shipman said he made a belly landing.

“The ship was practically undamaged,” he said.  “I ran about 40 yards away because I knew the Messerschmitts would strafe me.  Three of them riddled the plane with three dives.  Then I went back to it and took out a helmet, canteen and pistol and started hiking for the mountains.”

Clothes Stolen

Lieut. Shipman said all his clothes except his trousers and undershirt were stolen from him, although he managed to retain a wedding ring and Crucifix which were presents from his wife.  (The dispatch did not say who did the looting.)

“I found I couldn’t walk in my bare feet,” Lieut. Shipman continued.  “So I cut off my trousers below the knees and wrapped the cloth around my feet.  I walked over a mountain knowing by the sun I was traveling toward the American lines.  I found a narrow dirt road and started making better time but my feet were getting sore.

Fixes Crude Bed

“So I took off mv trousers and managed to cut off more cloth above the knees, which I added to the strips I already had tied about, my feet.  I turned off the trail and went over to a creek bed and fixed a crude bed in a hole. I got kind of warm and rested.

“After a while the moon came up and I got out and started down the creek bed.  About 10 o’clock I passed what I believed were some Italian tents and snaked along silently, finally getting into the open.

“I ran along a dirt road for a while and was hiding in a ditch when a motorcyclist came along.  He was Italian.  I decided it was safer to keep off the road.  My feet were so sore I could scarcely stand so I made a sort of fox hole about a hundred yards from the road.

Crosses Road

“When daylight came I positively identified other passing vehicles as Italian.  I crossed the road and crept along, finally reaching three Italian road blocks.  I took off my white cotton undershirt so I wouldn’t be conspicuous.

“By that time I was getting desperate and I decided on a break.  I got into ravines and at times I saw Italian sentries on both sides.  After I sneaked along for about five miles I didn’t see any more Italians.   About 5 p.m. I approached an American outpost.  They recognized me.”

________________________________________

Capt. Joseph Myers, Jr. and Major Joel stand before a P-38.  The date and location of the image are unknown.  Thanks to information from Andrew Garcia in November of 2023, I’ve been able to correlate the four-digit Lockheed Aircraft Company factory production number “1526” on the fighter’s nose to its Army Air Force serial: The aircraft is P-38H 42-67015.  Being that this aircraft isn’t listed at the Aviation Archeology database and there is no Missing Air Crew Report for it, it seems that it survived the war, I assume to be turned into aluminum siding or pots & pans after 1945.  (Photo c/o Harold Winston)  

Another image of Capt. Myers, this time in front of his personal aircraft, P-38J 42-67685 “Journey’s End’ / “CG * O”, with ground crew members Sergeants K.P. Bartozeck and J. D. “Dee Dee” Durnin.  The image presumably dates from very late 1943, as “Journey’s End” was destroyed during a single-engine crash-landing on January 4, 1944. 

This image, from The American Air Museum in Britain, can also be found on page 93 of Roger Freeman’s The Mighty Eighth.

This image shows Lt. Col. Joseph Myers, seated in a P-51D Mustang, to which the 55th Fighter Group began converting in July, 1944.  He commanded the 38th Fighter Squadron between February 10 and April 22 of that year.  This image is from the collection of Dave Jewell.

________________________________________

Another pilot whose P-38 sports distinctive nose art: Capt. Jerry H. Ayers and ground crew in front of his personal aircraft, P-38J 42-67077, “Mountain Ayers” / “CG * Q.  Like many examples of 55th Fighter Group nose art, this painting was completed by Sergeant Robert T. Sand. 

Just One Reference!

Maloney, Edwatd T., Lockheed P-38 “Lightning”, Aero Publishers, Inc., Fallbrook, Ca., 1968 (The book includes a table correlating Lockheed Aircraft Company serials to Army Air Force serials.)

Next: Part IV (1) – Autumn Over Europe

11/13/20 – 1,634

A Very Long Mission: First Lieutenant Henry Irving Wood, Fighter Pilot, Prisoner of War of the Japanese, 1943-1945

Many posts at TheyWereSoldiers specifically pertain to the military service of Jewish soldiers in the Second World War.  Inevitably, one of the themes that follows is the experience of Jewish prisoners of war in the European and Mediterranean Theaters of War, given the nature, ideology, and aims of Germany during that conflict.  Such posts as…

January 14, 1945 – A Bad Day Over Derben

An Unintended Return:  The Tale of S/Sgt. Walter Bonne, a German-Born Jewish Soldier’s Experiences as a Prisoner of War, in Aufbau, May 18, 1945

Eighteen Days from Home: Corporal Jack Bartman (April 20, 1945)

Double Jeopardy Remembered – The Reminiscences of a Jewish Prisoner of War

The Reconstruction of Memory: Soldiers of Aufbau – Jewish Prisoners of War

The One That Got Away!…  “I Was A Prisoner of War of the Nazis” – “Ich war ein Kriegsgefangener der Nazis,” in Aufbau, October 15, 22, and 29, 1943

… focus on this topic directly, while many of my other posts – particularly those specifically covering Jewish military casualties in WW II, some of which mention American POWs at Berga-am-Elster, Germany – touch upon this in passing.

What of the experience of Jewish servicemen captured in combat against Japan, whether in the Pacific, or, the CBI (China-Burma-India) Theaters of War?  In the United States armed forces, the total number of Jewish military personnel captured in the Pacific Theater – soldiers, Marines, and sailors captured during the war’s opening months during the fall of Corregidor and Bataan, and later on, aviators in the Army Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps – was vastly fewer than those captured by Germany, Italy, Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria.  This is an indirect reflection of the greater magnitude of the Allied war effort against Germany and its European allies, relative to that against Japan.

Based on my investigation of a very wide variety of documents and sources, I’ve determined that a total of 686 Allied aviators – from the air arms of all Allied nations – survived Japanese captivity.  (See this post, albeit the numbers therein need revising…)  This number indirectly reflects several factors inherent to the Pacific air war, and over all, indicates the hauntingly low probability of an Allied flier – once captured – actually surviving Japanese captivity through and specifically beyond Emperor Hirohito’s announcement on August 15, 1945 of Japan’s surrender.

Of the thirty-five Jewish aviators captured by the Japanese during combat missions from among all branches of the American armed forces between 1942 and August 7, 1945 (…information about the latter date here…), First Lieutenant Henry Irving Wood (0-789035), was one of the nineteen who survived the war.  A fighter pilot, he was shot down on October 1, 1943 during a bomber escort mission to Haiphong, French Indochina, a regular destination for American combat aircraft in a war that that began some two decades later. 

Though I mentioned his name some five years ago (2018) in a post about the experiences of 1 Lt. William S. Lyons – Revenge of the Tiger – only very recently did I discover that there has long existed a complete account of his experiences.  This comprises a full chapter – a revealing chapter – in Wanda Cornelius’ and Thayne R. Short’s 1980 book DING HAO – America’s Air War in China -1937-1945.  As described by Short in the book’s introduction, “Of dramatic importance was Henry I. Wood, who chose Wanda and me to reveal his 36-year-old secret by walking into the 1978 [November 18, to be specific] reunion of the Seventy-fifth in Nashville, Tennessee, when everybody had thought him dead in flames over war-torn China in 1944.  An entire chapter tells his story.”  Here, the by-1978 civilian Henry I. Wood relates the events of his last mission, his capture, imprisonment, mistreatment, and eventual return to American military control.

Lt. Wood’s story is presented in full, below.  It begins with a portrait (from DING HAO) of him sitting in his P-40, and is accompanied by maps, images of Missing Air Crew Reports, and, War Crimes Case File Index Cards from NARA Records Group 153 (Records of the Judge Advocate General’s Office) which pertain to postwar depositions or reports about his experiences.  In these, Lt. Wood mentions the names of several American (and one Chinese) military personnel, and these are accompanied in dark red text, like this – by insertions giving the full names and serial numbers of these people. 

I have absolutely no idea if the account in DING HAO was written by Mr. Wood and provided to Cornelius and Short, or, if it’s a transcription of either a cassette recording (this was in the ancient, pre-digital world 1978, after all) or a one-on-one interview.  Such information isn’t given in the book. 

What about Henry I. Wood, the person?  He was born on July 11, 1918, in Jacksonville, Florida, the son of Isadore Raymond (1883-1945) and Josephine Harris (Hughes) (1890-1979) Wood, and had two brothers, one of whom was Bernard Bear Wood (10/6/21-12/26/85).  The family’s wartime address was 2217 Herschel Street, in Jacksonville.  His paternal grandmother was Adaline Silverberg Wood.

Information about his MIA status appeared in the Jacksonville Commentator on October 21, 1943, and in an official Casualty List released by the War Department on November 5 of that year.  His name does appear in American Jews in World War II; it’s on page 86.

His loss in combat is covered in Missing Air Crew Report 759, which indicates that he was missing in P-40K 42-46250. 

Henry Irving Wood died on October 28, 1986.  I have no information about his postwar life, or, his place of burial.

Isadore and Bernard were two of Isadore and Josephine Wood’s three sons.  Their third son, RM 2C David Robert Wood (5519400), born on Oct. 6, 1921, did not survive the Second World War.  A crew member of the USS Albacore (SS-218), commanded by Lt. Cdr. Hugh Raynor Rimmer, he was one of eighty-five men killed when their submarine struck a mine and sank on November 7, 1944, just off Cape Esan (east of Hakodate), Hokkaido, Japan.  (See also…)  There were no survivors.  His name is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial in Hawaii. 

Henry I. Wood was one of eight 23rd Fighter Group pilots who survived as POWs.  The names of the seven others are listed below, along with their serial numbers, squadrons, date of capture, type of aircraft flown upon their “last” mission (and when known, the aircraft serial number and pertinent MACR number), the location of the POW camp where they were interned, and, their state of residence.  Of those USAAF Fighter Groups from among whom men survived as POWs of the Japanese, only the 311th Fighter Group had more men who returned from Japanese captivity, with ten POWs surviving the war.  And so, the names:  

Lucia
, Raymond W., 1 Lt., 0-427755

74th Fighter Squadron
POW 3/19/43; P-40; No MACR
Omori Headquarters (Ofuna) – From Glendale, New York
Reported in News Media 4/12/1943

Pike, Harry M., Lt. Col., 0-024110
Headquarters Squadron
POW 9/15/43; P-40; MACR 15584
Omori Headquarters (Ofuna) – From Westbury, New York
Reported in News Media 10/19/1943

Quigley, Donald L., Maj., 0-432207
74th Fighter Squadron
POW 8/10/44; P-40N 43-23400; MACR 7349
Shanghai POW Camp, Kiawgwan – From Ohio

Bennett, Gordon F., 1 Lt., 0-797926
74th Fighter Squadron
8/29/44; P-40N 42-106318; MACR 8017
Shinjku, Tokyo – From Massachusetts

Thomas, James E., 2 Lt., 0-812174
118th Fighter Squadron
POW 9/4/44; P-40N 43-22800; MACR 8115
Shanghai POW Camp, Kiawgwan – From Kentucky

Taylor, James M., Jr., 2 Lt., 0-817130
75th Fighter Squadron
POW 11/11/44; P-51C 43-24947; MACR 10078
Shanghai POW Camp, Kiawgwan

Parnell, Max L., 2 Lt., 0-686010
118th Fighter Squadron
POW 12/24/44; P-51C 43-24984; MACR 10967
Shinjku, Tokyo – From Georgia

Neither the War Crimes Case Files nor Wood’s story in DING HAO make any reference to the implications of his being a Jew, in terms of his experiences as a POW, probably because there simply weren’t any, this almost certainly never having been focus of interest by his captors to begin with.  Of course, this would presume a nominal awareness on their part about Jews and Judaism beforehand, which I doubt was manifest in the rank and file of the Japanese military at that time. 

Admittedly conjecture on my part…!  I think that during the 1930s, while there was likely some familiarity with Christianity among the Japanese people, knowledge about Jews was essentially limited to the very few who were members of economic or social elites residing in the United States as college or university students, or, military attaches and diplomatic personnel.  In that context and setting, any awareness that emerged “about” Jews would probably have been a sort-of-caricature derived from popular culture, rather than a result of direct interpersonal interactions.

This was a definite aspect of what befell Second Lieutenant Joseph Finkenstein (0-730433), a fighter pilot in the 339th Fighter Squadron of the 347th Fighter Group, 13th Air Force.  Born in Denver on April 20, 1921, he was the only son of Frank Israel (9/27/88-2/4/66) and Dora R. (Goalstone / Udelson) (10/29/92-1/9/67) Finkenstein, and the half-brother Joe Louis and Rita Pellish, Dora’s children from a prior marriage.  The family resided at 718 ½ South Ridgeley Drive in Los Angeles.

The insignia of the 339th Fighter Squadron insignia, from a2jacketpatches.

✡                                 ✡

These two photos of Lt. Finkenstein are via Rita Pellish Diamond.  First, his graduation portrait…

…and second, here he’s standing on the wing of a PT-17 Stearman (probably 41-8959) during Primary Training.  If I have the serial correct, based on the Aviation Archeology database, the photo may have been taken in 1942, at Ocala, Florida.

– .ת.נ.צ.ב.ה. –
…Tehé Nafshó Tzrurá Bitzrór Haḥayím
May his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life.

✡                                 ✡

Joseph Finkenstein did not survive the war.  He was missing in action on his eighth combat mission, during the “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre” of February 14, 1943, P-38G “21”.  Though the MACR covering his loss (#585), his IDPF (Individual Deceased Personnel File), and, NARA Records Group 153 are devoid of any information about his ultimate fate, a Japanese propaganda broadcast transmitted to the American West Coast on November 24, 1943, and recorded by the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service (NARA Records Group 262) – the text of which was never incorporated into his IDPF – definitively confirms that he was captured. 

The text of the broadcast, almost certainly abstracted from a transcript of his interrogation, reveals that his interrogator (or interrogators?) took particular note of Finkenstein having been a Jew, with Joseph’s residence in Los Angeles implying that the interrogator (a member of the Japanese military? – the Kempei Tai?) subscribed to antisemitic caricatures about Jews prevailing in the American entertainment media, likely from pre-war residence in the West Coast. 

Joseph Finkenstein’s name appears in a War Department Casualty List that was issued to the news media on March 11, 1943, and also in the records of the National Jewish Welfare Board, but most definitely not in the 1947 compilation American Jews in World War II.  The records of the American Battle Monuments Commission – which indicate that his name is commemorated on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery – note that he was awarded the Air Medal and Purple Heart.

Though Joseph Finkenstein’s fate will never be known among men, based on the general location where he was lost, I believe that he was imprisoned at Shortland Island.  Later, he may well have been transported to Rabaul, New Britain, the latter being the location where 2 Lt. Wellman H. Huey – also of the 339th; also lost on February 14, 1943; who also never returned – is definitely known to have been held captive.

Here’s Lt. Huey’s Class 42-I graduation portrait, from the United States National Archives collection “Photographic Prints of Air Cadets and Officers, Air Crew, and Notables in the History of Aviation – NARA RG 18-PU”.

The body of literature pertaining to the experience of Jewish POWs of the Japanese is – unsurprisingly – extraordinarily small, but what does exist is utterly compelling.  I know of four books in this limited genre.  They are:

Barbed-Wire Surgeon, by Alfred A. Weinstein, M.D., MacMillan, 1956

Chaplain on the River Kwai – Story of a Prisoner of War, by Chaim Nussbaum, Shapolsky Publishers, 1988

These two were penned by members of the Army Air Force:

They Can’t Take That Away From Me – The Odyssey of an American POW, by Ralph M. Rentz, Michigan State University Press, 2003

ETA Target 1400 Hours or Hi Ma, I’m Home, by Irving S. Newman, 1946 (unpublished manuscript)

I’m sure that there exist other yet-unpublished manuscripts, collections of letters, and diaries, but whether these will reach publication by now, nearly eight decades after the war’s end, is problematic.

Also problematic is the question of whether, in the “fundamentally transformed” America of 2023, there remains – and will remain? – an interest in history. 

Truly, the past is a very different country. 

And what of the future?

✡                                 ✡

So, onward to Lt. Wood…

Here’s his Craig Field (Alabama) graduation portrait, also from the Photographic Prints of Air Cadets and Officers, Air Crew, and Notables in the History of Aviation – NARA RG 18-PU. (Specifically, Box 102.)

xx

And now, his story from DING HAO

Introduction

Of dramatic importance was Henry I. Wood, who chose Wanda and me to reveal his 36-year-old secret by walking into the 1978 reunion of the Seventy-fifth in Nashville, Tennessee, when everybody had thought him dead in flames over war-torn China in 1944.  An entire chapter tells his story.

Lt. Henry I. Wood, Prisoner of War

Lt. Wood, in the cockpit of what is presumably his “personal” P-40 Warhawk, at the 23rd Fighter Group’s base at Kweilin, China

Insignia of the CBI (China-Burma-India) Theater, which appears on the left shoulder of Lt. Wood’s jacket.

On October 1, 1943, sixteen P-40s of the Seventy-fifth escorted bombers over Haiphong.  Over the target the bombers made direct hits on installations and upon completing their runs turned the formation for home.  Suddenly enemy Zeroes struck and in the battle, four Zeroes crashed to destruction.  Lt. Henry I. Wood, pilot of one of the P-40s, disappeared in the brief interval of fighting.  So read the record of that fateful day.  The men believed Wood to be gone forever since he did not return to base.  He arrived in China early in March of that year, a few days before the Fourteenth Air Force was activated.  This was his thirtieth mission.  He had downed a bomber the previous June or July in combat.  Years afterward, Wood recalled all that had happened to him after he was shot down on October 1, 1943.

This example of the 75th Fighter Squadron insignia is from Flying Tiger Antiques.

The October 1 mission had been postponed three separate limes due to bad weather, and finally, instead of taking off during the morning, we took off shortly after noon.  The mission was uneventful until we got over the target at Haiphong when the B-24s dropped their bombs.  I had been scheduled to lead the right rear flight and Don Brookfield [1 Lt. Donald S. Brookfield, 0-430778, 75th FS, 23rd FG, 4 victories], who already had orders to go home, elected to go with us.  He took the flight and I look the echelon as the clement leader.  Of the eighteen fighters who were doing the escort, two didn’t join up.  One was my wingman and one was Brookfield’s.  So I flew wingman for Brookfield and only two of us were guarding the right rear.  We were at about twenty-one thousand feet and the bombers at twenty thousand when we went over the target.

After the bombers dropped their bombs and turned northeast, instead of heading back to base, Brookfield for some reason kept staying over the target.  But at twenty thousand feet we couldn’t see much but smoke, so we got quite a bit behind the main formation, about one and a half miles behind to be precise.  Antiaircraft fire was hitting us all around.  I took a severe hit from “AA” fire and was picking up my microphone to call Brookfield, when we were hopped by about thirty fighters.  Brookfield peeled off to the left and I peeled off to the right.  I dove down approximately five thousand feet, picking up considerable speed, and turned up into the last part of the bomber formation.

The last Zero had left the fighters and had gone to the bombers and it began a half roll through the tail bombers.  And as I pulled up to the loop, one of the Zeroes came out in front of me, and I fired my guns.  He still hadn’t dropped his bamboo wing tanks, and he flamed immediately.  I flew within fifty feet of him and saw his wing disintegrating as he went down.  My own engine seemed to quit but I didn’t think much of it, because often in a high angle of attack and after firing six .50s, the airplane tends to stall out.  So it didn’t immediately dawn on me that it had stopped.  I just nosed over to pick up airspeed, and then I realized that I didn’t have a working engine.

The antiaircraft fire had hit the tail section of my airplane.  At that time the P-40’s control surfaces were fabric, but the rest was metal.  I could see most all of my right aileron and most all of my right elevator.  The rudder was pretty badly damaged, and I didn’t have good control of the aircraft.  I leveled off and looked around to see if anybody was following me.

Then I dropped down to see if there were any more Zeroes.  I couldn’t jump because I knew they would shoot at me in midair.  Next I tried everything I could think of to get the airplane engine going again, but I couldn’t get it to come to life.  I turned off and on all of the switches, even doing the ridiculous thing of turning off and on the gun switch.

I theorized that I had taken a hit earlier from the “ack ack” or possibly from the fighter that first fired at me, before pulling away when I dove.  It must have nicked the gas line and when I fired my guns, the vibration shook it where it wouldn’t feed.

Many years later Wood learned about a similar incident from another Seventy-Fifth Fighter Squadron member, Charlie Olsen [1 Lt. Charles J. Olsen, 0-789937, 1 victory].  Olsen said that his plane engine once quit and restarted at twenty-five hundred feet, and when he got it back to the base they found several aircraft with belly tanks full of some sort of green slime.  The belly tanks had been shipped over from the United States and were not properly cleaned out before being put to use.  The slime moved up to the carburetor and caused the engine to cut out.  Therefore, Wood came to the conclusion that perhaps it was green slime which killed his engine rather than a hit in the carburetor.

I got low to about eleven hundred feet as indicated, and I knew I was near a small village northeast of Hanoi, probably about thirty miles from the city.  And I jumped.  What I did to make sure my plane was destroyed was to trim it up nose heavy, crouch down in the seat, and when I was ready to go, I was in a stooping position.  I just pushed the stick forward.  In theory, if you did that you would do a back flip out of the airplane.  I didn’t do a back flip.  I did sort of an angle flip over the side.  I used to dive in high school, so I just tipped my body naturally, instinctively, and it is a good thing that I did because as I turned and went by the horizontal stabilizer, it was just about two inches in front of my nose.  And my feet just cleared the vertical stabilizer.  As soon as I realized I was clear of the airplane, I counted two and pulled the ripcord.  It is a good thing I pulled it when I did because I was almost too low to jump.  I was in some low foothills, and I fell backward, forward, and backward again and on my back swing, or my third one, I hit the ground.

A wind caught the chute dragging me until it collapsed up the hill about fifty feet.  My face was scratched a little.  I disengaged the chute.  This was about 4:30 in the afternoon and there was still considerable daylight in Indochina at the time.  So I took the chute down the hill with me into a rice paddy, because I knew I was too deep into enemy territory.

Missing Air Crew Report 759

Lt. Wood was flying on my wing when the bombers went into their run.  I last saw him when the escort made a turn following the bombers from the target.  Major Brady (B-24, Flight Commander) states that he saw a P-40 and a zero make a head-on pass; the zero exploded and the P-40 went straight down smoking badly.  This was probably Lt. Wood.  Other bomber crews reported a pilot parachuting from a P-40 shortly after leaving the target.

DONALD S. BROOKFIELD,
1ST Lt., Air Corps

From Carl Molesworth’s book 23rd Fighter Group – ‘Chenault’s Sharks’ , this painting by Jim Laurier – of Lt. James L. Lee’s P-40M number 179 in late summer of 1943 – is a representative view of a 75th Fighter Squadron Warhawk during the time-frame of Lt. Wood’s service in the squadron.  Note that the squadron insignia appears on the fin, over the painted-out serial number.  Unfortunately, MACR doesn’t list the side number of the aircraft Lt. Wood was flying on his last mission. 

I got into the paddy and laid down between the growing rice there.  In about twenty minutes I could see activity come into the rice paddy, coolies, natives, and later men in uniform.  I just laid real still and several times within twenty or thirty feet of me they would come by, but they didn’t see me.  The parachute was wadded down beside me in the water.  After dark, about nine o’clock, I decided I could move.  I got up cautiously.  My parachute was soaked but there was a little fishing paraphernalia in there, and I took it out along with a machete, some C-rations, and a chocolate bar from the pack.  I look them with me toward the little village I had seen as I was coming down in the parachute.  About a quarter until ten, I came to the edge of this village, which was a compound composed of mud huts arranged in a circle.  I worked my way all around the wall until I came to the entrance.  Entering, I saw several people standing by a fire.  Immediately a dog began to bark.  And I said in Chinese, “I am your very good friend.”  I was hoping I was anyway.

And as I started over to these natives at the fireplace, there was an elderly man of about sixty there.  He held up his hands to indicate to the rest of them to be quiet, and I walked over to him, reaching for my little booklet called a pointee-talkee.  I turned my leather jacket inside out to show I had a Chinese-American flag, and I pointed to the place in the book which said I was an American pilot, to help me, that my government would pay him well.  This happened the day after payday and I had a good bit of Chinese yen which I did not know was any good to them or not, but I pulled it out anyway.  I gave it to him indicating that be would get much more if he could hide me and work me back into China.

He apparently knew no English but motioned to me, indicating that things were all right and took me into one of the little mud huts.  They gave me some cold boiled water and scrambled eggs.  I was sitting on the floor by a little table eating the eggs and drinking the water when something caused me to be apprehensive.  It was a noise, a kind of dull thud.  It was probably a rifle butt striking the side of the mud hut.  What had happened to me was that a platoon of Japanese soldiers led by a lieutenant and a noncom who could speak some English had come to the village.  They had been brought there by the people I had talked to.  I had asked for the Chinese guerillas.  They had sent for the Japanese troops instead.

The locals were probably too scared to hide me because they were afraid they would be killed if they were caught.  I indicated from the book for them to hide me.  They took me to the next room, but there wasn’t any real place to hide because there wasn’t anything there besides thatch rugs on the floor and a small table in the corner.  I held up a couple of these rugs over me in the corner.  Then suddenly, the room lit up and I could hear these gruff voices which I presumed were saying “hands up” in Japanese.  I didn’t move.  Somebody snatched the rug.  I stood up with my hands up.

I was not treated rough initially, surprisingly enough, as I had been led to expect I would be.  They did take my jacket off and search me thoroughly, and the one which could speak some English said, “Never mind.  Never mind.”

He took me to the other room where I had been eating and motioned for me to finish.  I had suddenly lost my appetite.  In fact I was so confused (and even though I had fairly good intelligence – later I graduated with honors from college) by being treated nice, that I asked them through the pointee-talkee what Chinese troops were doing in this area?  And there was an uproar – a sound of laughter when one of them read it to the others.  Finally the tall one who kept saying.  “Never mind.  Never mind,” said, “Ha.  Ha.  You think we Chinese.  We Japanese.”

It was a big joke to them, but not to me.  They then tied my hands behind my back and put some of the troops in front of me.  They had cattails which had been dumped in kerosene which were lit and we started traipsing through the rice paddies, with troops in front and back of me.  And it was pretty slippery trying to walk through the rice fields and every once in a while I would start to go down.  I was afraid that somebody would shoot me in the back thinking I was trying to escape.  I had no such ideas at the time, being in the middle of a bunch of Jap soldiers.

After about forty-five minutes or an hour we reached a road where they sent up some flares and indicated to me to sit down.  While we were sitting there one of the soldiers took the chocolate bar they had taken from me and offered me some.  And I said thank you to him.  They all laughed.  They thought it was funny since they had taken me prisoner and confiscated my food and here I was thanking them for offering me something to eat.  In about thirty minutes, a big truck came down the road and we all piled into it.  It had an open bed with low sides.  I stood in the middle with the rest of them hovering around me.  My hands were still tied.  We came to a compound which was apparently a troop training area because there was a number of barracks.  I was taken inside one of the buildings with an extremely mean-looking Japanese.  The only other Japanese I had seen like him was when I had shot down a bomber on another mission and flew almost into the nose of his plane before I cut under it.  And I could see the pilot’s face there.  I had apparently killed the copilot and the pilot was just staring at me through the canopy.

This mean-looking fellow had on a kimono, not a uniform, and he apparently was the man in charge.  I found out the next morning he was a captain, and he was definitely in charge of the outfit.  The man glared at me, and through one of his subordinates, he told me to answer his questions or he would cut off my head.

And I nodded my still intact head that I understood.  He then asked me what my rank was and I told him first lieutenant.  He then asked me how many planes were in my formation.  I said to ask one of his pilots who was up there on the mission.  He must not have liked my answer because he became even more enraged.  And he had someone tie my hands behind my back, to the back of the chair and my feet to the runner of the chair.  Then he took out some paper towels and took his own neck and wiped it and removed his sabre from its sheath, indicating to me that he was going to cut my bead off.

He then had someone tell me to answer his questions and I nodded that I understood and be asked the same questions again.  I told him that I did not have to answer questions of this nature.  He then ordered his soldiers to carry me outside where there was a big bonfire.  They set the chair down with me in it, and at that moment I was convinced I was going to be killed.

I had always been told that one’s life flashed before you if you were going to die.  Mine didn’t flash before me.  But I had already done some thinking along these lines during the afternoon.  I had been very apprehensive.  Then I went to the compound and met the natives, and I got a glimmer of hope that they were going to hide me.

And I thought, “This is going to be rough on my mother as she has six boys in service, and I am going to be the first to go.”  And the last thing I thought about as he started to bring down the sword was how I used to have to wring chickens in the neck, and my mother plucked them afterwards when I was a kid.  I could see me squirming around with the reflexes going and I thought to myself, “I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me squirm.’’  So all I could think of was to stick my neck way back as far as possible so he could have a good clean whack.

Down came the sabre, stopping just an inch above my neck.  He did that twice and then he said something in Japanese and untied my legs.  He untied my hands from the chair but left them tied behind my back, took me over to a tree, tied my hands to the tree, and wound the rope around my whole body and the tree.

He apparently gave them instructions, “Ready!  Aim!  Fire!” in Japanese because they all brought their rifles up to bear and they all clicked on empty magazines.  He did that twice.  Then it began to dawn upon me that he was apparently just trying to scare me, that they were stiff wanting the information or I would already be dead.

They took me to a guard compound or jail and put me on the floor and took off all my clothes except my shorts.  My hands were tied behind my back and hands tied to my feet.  They laid me on the concrete floor and put a hard bag of cement under my head.  I would have been much more comfortable lying flat.  And then they proceeded to beat me with long sticks which looked like broom handles.  Some of the officers took off their boots and began beating me too.  And I lapsed into unconsciousness.  Several hours later, I awakened and all of them had gone.

NARA Records Group 153 Case File 56-41 (August, 1946)

1st Lt. Henry Irving Wood states that he received a beating following his capture at Luc Nahm, Indo China, by a roving detail of Jap soldiers, but does not know their names or any unit designation.

This document, from NARA, is a summation of Case Files 56-41 (above), and both 58-132 and 61-47 (see both below), and is based on an interview of Lt. Wood that occurred at Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco on October 9, 1945.  Due to the circumstances and nature of his treatment by the Japanese, as well as the near-impossibility of specifically identifying any of his captors, let alone locating them postwar, further investigation was fruitless.   

This map shows the location of “Luc Nahm” (actually, Luc Nam) then French Indo China, and now, Vietnam…

…while this map, at a smaller scale than above, shows Luc Nahm to the southwest, and Guilin (Kweilin) China – the 23rd Fighter Group’s base during the time frame of Lt. Wood’s service – to the northeast.

In this guard compound the guards were sitting along a bench with a noncom in charge, and one of them had apparently brought some incense because I had been bitten badly by mosquitoes and didn’t realize it until I came into consciousness.  As my awareness came back and the mosquitoes were still chewing on me, that was really the worst part so far because I couldn’t scratch the bites.

Shortly before dawn, I noted the noncom in charge kept reading a big heavy book, which was probably a Japanese-English dictionary.  He came over to me showing a little paper with writing on it.  Looking at it he said, “You are very brave man.  My maundy you go to New York.”  My maundy is a Chinese term meaning “later.”  Why a Japanese would use a Chinese word, I don’t know.  But that is what he said.

I had never heard of a prisoner being expatriated from Japan so I was very skeptical of what be said.  And then a humorous thing happened.  Just as he finished saying the words, the paper still in his hand, an officer walked in and the Japanese soldier jumped to attention.  He said something which sounded like Jejugius and presented arms, even though they were indoors.  And I could see what he had in his hand was carefully camouflaged so that the officer could not see it.  I am sure he would have caught hell if indeed he had written there what he said to me and somebody bad seen it.

The next morning about ten o’clock, my uniform was given back to me and I was told to dress and put the jacket on with the flag outside.  I was paraded in front of a large formation of Japanese troops while the captain in charge was speaking lo them.  I didn’t know what he was saying about me.

NARA Records Group 153 Case File 61-67 (August, 1946)

Lt. Henry Irving Wood states they were marched through the streets of Canton and Hanoi, China, in a ceremony exhibition before the Jap Army during Oct. 1943.

Later in the afternoon I was put in a truck again and taken to Hanoi.  I recognized the town when we got there to the suburbs because there were a good many signs in French and English which the Japanese had not obliterated.  I was taken to a beautiful occidental type building in the heart of Hanoi, led inside, and the ropes were taken off my hands.  Shortly later.  I was seated in a nice dining hall with china and silverware.

A very nicely dressed man in Western style clothing, a Japanese, came in speaking with an Oxford accent and told me he was sorry I had been mistreated the night before and wished to assure me this was not the Japanese’ nature.  But I should realize that there was a war going on and sometimes troops from the field got upset.  He said I would be treated well in the future, and he just wanted to talk to me a little.  He didn’t often get a chance to talk with an American.  I didn’t believe that.

It turned out that his name was Ariaa and he was the Japanese premier for French Indochina at the time.  It became obvious in a very short time with him trying to converse with me, that he was trying to discuss military information with me through seemingly irrelevant conversation.  First he asked me where I was born.  Where did I live?  Did I have brothers and sisters?  Apparently these questions were innocuous.

Then he said, “How did you like the place you were flying out of in China?  Where was that?”

Of course I refused to answer the questions.  And I told him in a nice manner that I didn’t mind talking with him, but there were things of obvious military significance and he must realize it.  After he understood he wasn’t making any headway, he apologized, said he had to leave and that I would be served a nice meal right at the table I was sitting at.  And again he apologized for the behavior of the Japanese.  As he left the room other Japanese came into another door and immediately tied me up and hustled me down to a basement where they had made some cells by taking a large room and segregating them with four-by-fours from the floor to ceiling with an inch space between each board.  They stripped me of all my clothes except my shorts, made me get down through a little door like an animal cage into one of the cells where there were four native Vietnamese, I presume.  They indicated for me to sit on the floor like the others were doing with knees crossed and with my hands folded across my knees.  So I sat there for a while and naturally that got tiring, so I leaned back and when I did, I was yelled at in Japanese, and a long thin stick came through the bars and I was knocked in the bead.

So I learned that I was supposed to be sitting and not lying down.  I was kept in this room for five days without food.  I was allowed to have water twice a day.  They got us up in the morning and put us to bed at six at night and allowed us water and took us to the ben jo as they called it, which was the bathroom, consisting of a little slit in the floor.

At the end of the fifth day, they brought me a big fish head which was supposed to be a delicacy in that area.  I still wasn’t hungry enough to cat a fish head, but later on during my incarceration, I would have gladly eaten it.

The next morning after offering me the fish head in the middle of the morning, they took me out of the cell and into a room where there were a number of Japanese in a big ring on the floor and others sitting behind them in chairs.  And that is where they started pressuring me in earnest about intelligence.  I let them know that all I would tell them was my rank, name, and serial number.  They tried to talk me into the information by being innocuous in their questioning like Ariaa had done.  They felt that if I talked they would get their information.  After they questioned me about an hour and a half, they put me back into the cell.  That afternoon about three o’clock, they took me out again and told me that I had to talk.  They were tired of talking to me in this manner, and they expected me to answer the questions.  When I refused to answer, they locked the windows.  There was this little device I called a windlass.  They put wires on your wrists and put it around your finger and tightened it gradually, pulling the finger back until it broke.  They didn’t break my finger but it was very painful.  And they also took a hammer and you can still see the scars on my hand where they broke the bones.  This went on for several days, and after the second day, they initiated a new procedure where they had a ladder which was inclined at about a forty-five-degree angle to the wall.  Then they tied me to the ladder with my head low, and they put water-laden heavy towels over my face where I would choke and gasp and eventually pass out.  Then they would bring me to and ask the questions again.  This went on for about three weeks.

NARA Records Group 153 Case File 58-132 (August, 1946)

1st Lt. Henry Irving Wood, states he was imprisoned at Nanking, China, and placed in solitary confinement for about 21 days.  Received severe treatment.

Then they took me to an airfield where I had been on an escort mission a time or two when the B-24s had bombed them.  While I was at the airfield up in a high room, but not in a control tower, there was an air raid alarm.  Everybody became very excited and they were bustling me out of the building and into a truck.  There were a number of trucks trying to leave the field with troops on them.  No pilots were trying to take off because they apparently felt that the American planes were imminent which they were.  They had not received the alarm in time.  But there was a road which paralleled the runway.  And as we were leaving I looked up and I could see the B-24s at a high altitude and barely make out the fighters with them.

I knew that the bombs bad already been dropped and were on their way and sure enough in a matter of seconds, the bombs were dropping all around us.  I had extremely mixed feelings – I was hoping that they would blast the hell out of the Japanese, but I sure didn’t want to get hit It was a real terrifying feeling to be in that situation.  We continued on down the highway for several miles, got into ditches on the side of the road, and stayed there for an hour.  Then we got back into the trucks and went back to the airfield.  Unfortunately the bombing had not been accurate, almost all of the bombs had gone off parallel to the runway about three hundred yards from the road we had traveled.  A couple of the bombs had hit the field, and one bad hit a large hangar where a number of airplanes were housed, and there was considerable damage to the planes as I could see fires still burning.  I could see the damaged airplanes.

Later on during the day I was put on this airplane, a Lockheed Lodestar, along with some Japanese passengers, and there were four guards with rifles and bayonets accompanying me and a Japanese captain in charge of the troops.  In the course of the flight it was very pleasant.  This particular officer was very courteous, and he indicated he understood English but he could not speak it well though he could write it.  He showed me pictures of his children and said he had been away from home five years.  He made no attempt to interrogate me for information.  He also offered me some of his chow because they apparently didn’t have any box lunch for me on the plane.  He gave me some cheese and a sandwich and I could tell from the course of the sun that we were flying along the southern China coast over towards Taiwan.  And sure enough we landed on the island.

For the first time in several weeks I had an enjoyable couple of hours, apparently while the plane was being refueled.  I got to lie outside in the open on the grass near the runway.  It was a beautiful sunny day and in no way was the captain in charge attempting to hamper me.  I had come through some pretty difficult times in the course of the flight, from a mental condition.  Several times I felt that I might have had the opportunity to get out of the seat in a hurry, run up to the front of the plane.  There was a “stepover” in the Lodestar which was approximately two and a half feet high, separating the cockpit from the area for the passengers.  I kept thinking that if I could realty get up there and grab bold of the pilot’s wheel, I could spin that plane in with everybody on board and accomplish something besides being a prisoner.

I could never bring myself to do it, but I would have never reached the cockpit if I had tried.  I’d have been stabbed in the back or shot.  But I bad some real tough times worrying whether I should try or not.  I had been in excellent health at the time I went down.  My main activity in Kunming – I wasn’t a gambler or a player of bridge – was working out with weights and doing a little running and push-ups and reading a good many books.  My health was good at age twenty-five and I was in top physical condition before my capture.  My health had not deteriorated rapidly in their hands.  After the first five days I had a fair diet with rice in the morning with some sort of Chinese vegetables and the same thing in the evening.  I was getting an adequate diet even though it wasn’t the most palatable one.

We eventually landed again, and I ascertained that I was in Nanking.  What made me realize that was I was again in solitary but not made to sit on the floor this time.  I was allowed to walk around all I wanted to.  The room was approximately eleven feet long and five feet wide, so I paced up and down that room most of the day.  It was right near the entrance of a large compound, and I could see into a large courtyard.

The second day I was there a big black car came up with general’s flags on it and a man got out.  I am sure it was the man they called “The Tiger of the Orient.”  He was the Japanese general in charge of that area.  He simply came over and looked at me through the bars, didn’t say anything, looked at me for about thirty seconds, and turned around and walked away.

Again I stayed in this cell for approximately three weeks because I was making marks with my fingernails on the wooden bars, four-by-fours, but wider spaces between them than the ones before, about two and a half inches.  One day they came in and said I would be moved that day.  They had not tried to interrogate me at all in Nanking and this morning they told me why they had stopped questioning me.

They told me they had captured a Chinese pilot named Chen [2 Lt. Ping-Ching Chen – Survived as POW] who was in my unit and that he had been badly wounded and they had been able to get all the information they wanted.  And I found out later that what they said was true because I was taken to a prison camp with him and he said he had been wounded – his leg bad been broken and he was shot in the arm.  Apparently under the severe mistreatment he had and the painful conditions, be told them things they wanted to know.

Missing Air Crew Report 759

Lt. Chen was flying on my wing when the formation left the target area. He remained in his position for approximately fifteen (15) minutes. When my flight turned back to protect two straggling bombers, Lt. Chen was missing.

THOMAS W. COTTON,
1st Lt., Air Corps

From Nanking we traveled to Shanghai where I was put into a large prison camp.  At that time, it held Italian prisoners from a ship that had been scuttled in the harbor at Shanghai.  It also contained some civilians from Wake Island, Marines from Wake Island, and the North China Embassy Guard.  It was a well-formed prison camp, and I simply was put into a cell by myself for approximately one week and then released with the general prisoners.  I remained in this camp from December of 1943 until late May 1945.

Other than two bad personal experiences in the long stay at the prison camp, it was not particularly bad other than the lack of communication with the outside, poor diet, and very little recreation.  We normally worked nine days and then were off one day.

My first bad experience was when I was asked to work by Maj. Luther Brown [Major Luther A. Brown, 0-3815, POW Dec. 8, 1941], who was a Marine major acting as executive officer for Colonel Ashhurst [Colonel William A. Ashurst, 0-000028, POW Dec. 8, 1941], who was the senior American officer in charge of the camp.  Brown had ordered me to go to work in a garden with other Americans which stood within the compound.  I told him I didn’t feel like I or any other prisoner should work.

He attempted to reason with me, saying that he was in charge and this work was not of any particular help to the Japanese.  It helped get us our own food and was of some value.  It was up to him to make a decision like that, and it was not up to me as an individual to decline or accept.

I still felt it was my own individual decision and I told him so.  He went over to a Japanese noncom named Neasaki [Lt. Myasaki], who was in charge of this particular detail.  Neasaki walked up to another prisoner who had a shovel, grabbed it, and hit me on the side of the head with it as hard as he could.  It knocked me to the ground.  I was stunned.  And when I got back up Major Brown told me he was sorry, but if I didn’t work, I would get similar treatment.  That was my first experience with any collaboration by an American with the Japanese.  I later found out that within a small group there was considerable collaboration.

NARA Records Group 153 Case File 58-108 (January, 1946)

1st Lt. Henry Irving Wood states on or about 10 Nov 1943, while a PsW at the Shanghai War Prison Camp, he was engaged in a detail of hauling dirt within the camp compound area.  Lt. Myasaki seized the shovel which he was working with and struck him a heavy blow in the face; he then turned and struck 2nd Lt. Robert E. Greeley, M.C., also in the face.  Myasaki was involved in torture treatments, such as water treatment, breaking fingers with a windlass contraption and numerous beatings.  Col. Otera was Jap commanding officer. 

In fact volumes of information on it were filled out in Manila at the end of the war, but nothing was done by the psychiatrists or attorneys.  They felt that a lot of what we said, due to living under such bad conditions for such a long time and to our mental health, was imagined.  But that wasn’t so.  It wasn’t until the Korean War that they realized that we were brainwashed and that there were Americans who collaborated with the enemy after they became prisoners.

I decided I had better go to work, that I didn’t want to get whacked anymore since I was a lone individual in the crowd.  Life was bearable except for the dairy drudgery of going out to work on days when it was cold and sleeping in a building that wasn’t heated and observing some American prisoners, including Major Brown, sleeping on innerspring mattresses with big trunks full of canned food from the Marine ship stores which they had been able to salvage in Peking.  They were treated differently from the rest of the prisoners too.  The reason why they were being treated differently, I found out, was they surrendered lo the enemy.  You can’t blame them for surrendering.  They were the embassy guards when the war broke out, and these people were the ones who had been fraternizing with the locals on a daily basis, the Japanese who occupied Peking at the lime.  And as the embassy guards, they were good friends with them, drank with them, danced with them, fraternized with them, and the Japanese gave them twenty-four hours to surrender.  For doing this, they were rewarded.  There was no attempt to dispose of the military hardware they had, which consisted of guns and bayonets and food.  Anyway, whatever arrangements were made, the former guards kept their personal clothing, watches, trunk loads of food, and it was shipped from Peking to the prison camp in Shanghai.  Their goods were maintained in a separate warehouse, and they were allowed to use it and no one else.

I found out that before I came to the camp, the Wake Island Marines, the ones that defended Wake Island, were put into the camp and Major Brown would not allow them to associate with the Peking Marines.  Here was a group of Marines who had been undergoing harsh mental treatment and some of whom were wounded, and they weren’t even allowed to associate with other Marines, who were the former embassy guards.  It took months before Major Devereaux, who after the war became a brigadier general, was able to resolve the situation with Major Brown and get him to share some of the clothes with the other prisoners.

Besides Brown, there must have been between sixty and eighty people from the embassy guard, including several officers, a number of captains who enjoyed the favors.  Major Brown allowed everybody from the former guard better treatment than the rest.  It may not have been the others’ nature to take advantage of the situation while fellow Americans were deprived, but Colonel Ashhurst apparently made the decision and Major Brown implemented it because Ashhurst said he was a sick man and put his executive officer in charge.  Finally Devereaux apparently overcame the situation.  He had been the commander at Wake Island.

Otherwise there was just minor ill-treatment when they would call a shakedown, like trying to find out why so much electricity was being used at the camp.  Some of the men had been taken to town to build a rifle range on “front days.”  They called it Mt. Fuji, but it was just a hill.  On a “front day” the Japanese would take us and mistreat us, telling us that there were severe conditions on the front.  We were well protected, so we should be mistreated because our [sic] comrades were having a rough day at the front.  There was a song we made up.  “With a front day every day out of nine / They run a short load (we’d push cars up this hill and we’d push a light load if we thought the Japanese weren’t watching) / Then Yaza day is a day of rest / Yaza day …  Yaza day.  …”

Eventually, in May of 1945, treatment wasn’t as harsh as usual and we received two Red Cross boxes.

Then Colonel Otaru, who was the Japanese commander at the camp, indicated we would be moved.  We were transported in boxcars from Shanghai beginning in late May of 1945, on up through Manchuria down through Korea to Pusan on the southern tip, where we were put into a large encampment with one water spigot for the entire camp.

We were kept in the camp mostly out in the open for four days, and we didn’t know what we were waiting for.  But apparently they were waiting to put us on a ship to take us up by rail to Hokkaido, the northern island, where they had in mind to put us to work in the mines.  It was a real rough trip, and the only time any prisoners escaped en route was a time when five escaped by cutting barbed wires late at night.  We were separated in two ends of the boxcar with barbed wire, and in the center of the car was the Japanese guard.  There was a small window in each end with wire over it.  They were able to cut the wire by putting a little commode there and placing a blanket up for a screen and fooling the guard by making him think they were just going to the bathroom there.  And they were able to work the barbed wire loose and five slipped out into the night before they were discovered.

Then we left Pusan on a ship.  We were crowded into the hold where we stood up.  I don’t know how many hours we were on there.  But it must have been between thirty-six and seventy-two hours on board, and there was no room between the bodies.  Then we were moved across the Tsushima Straits, into Japan proper onto Honshu island, put on small Japanese railroad cars, eighty to a hundred of us on each car, lying on the floor, under the seats, on the seats, up in the baggage baskets.  They had heavy opaque screens over the windows so you couldn’t see what was going on outside.  But we were so tightly packed in there that there were several places we cut the screens and could see the vast devastation of the countryside that the B-29s had wrought It was just at ground level for blocks on end close to the railroad tracks.  In one place we saw hundreds of railroad cars which had been destroyed.  And every now and then there was a B-29 raid and we would huddle up in the cars in some subterranean chamber.  They were really trying to protect us at that time.

We finally reached the island of Hokkaido, the northern island and were taken to a small mining town called Ashamitzabetsu.  At that time they separated the officers and the civilians and the airmen for the first time.  I felt they were trying to protect us and give us more consideration than they ever had before, or they wouldn’t have done that.

So on the third day they ordered us to go to the mines and I refused to go.  I was the only one out of eighty-three of us (among them were Marines, an orderly, two Navy medics, and several enlisted men who had been put in with the officers).  Brown was still in charge of the camp.  I refused to go out.  I was ordered to stand at attention by the Japanese this time.  Brown finally lost all of his friends he had in the move, and he had been mistreated several times himself for the first time since his incarceration.  So I stood at attention all day long, from when they first went out at seven o’clock in the morning, and I was still standing at attention when they returned at five o’clock in the afternoon.

They ate and I was still at attention at ten o’clock that night.  Every time I moved, and I couldn’t help but move, I was beaten by a particular guard standing over me at the lime.  He hit me with a rifle butt

But I must have accomplished something by my tenacity at that late stage in July of 1945 because the next day, instead of standing at attention again, and instead of taking me out to the mines, they put me lo work at a pookey party.  Pookey was a plant very much like an elephant ear, edible if you did a lot of boiling.  I was taken out with several Japanese and two other Americans, and we went out to the forest.  There were streams and low mountains, and it was beautiful country.  There we cut pookey.  It was carried back to camp and boiled for our food.  And for the rest of the time I went on pookey parties, and they made me the rice cook for the camp.  So I never did work in the mines with the rest of the prisoners.

On August 14, the commandant of the camp, the first lieutenant did not come to the camp.  No one was taken out to work.  No one was taken out to pookey parties, and we realized something must be going on.  Three days later some lieutenant colonel whom we had never seen before came in and told us the story that the Americans had some horrendous bombs but the Japanese would never surrender.  They also kidded us about being cowards for surrendering and said the Japanese would always commit hari-kari before surrendering

But the Japanese people as a whole had given in due to the horrendous weapons, he said.  And we were to wait there and see what was going to happen to us.  Well, I didn’t want to wait, even though I was urged by Colonel Ashhurst and Major Brown, whom I had no use for, to wait and see what would happen.  I felt we should be fed better and have better care, and I talked another officer, Lieutenant Rouse, into leaving with me.  We simply walked out of the camp.

We ignored the guards who hollered something to us and kept walking.  They didn’t do anything.  We went down to the center of the little town to the railroad station and kept saying, “Sapporo!  Sapporo!”

We ended up on a railroad train car, were transferred to another one and onto a third, and by the time we got to Sapporo on the third train, there was a Japanese noncom who spoke very good English and who asked us why we left camp.  We told him we understood there were some American Air Force officers in Sapporo and we wanted to be taken to them.  And sure enough, we were taken to a place where there were eleven men under Maj. Don Quigley, who turned out to be a squad commander of the Seventy-Fifth Fighter Squadron of which I bad been a member.  He came to China after I did and became squad commander before he was shot down.  For the next few days, we lived like kings.  Quigley got on the ball and got us on tours of the farms, universities, and even a small group to church.  Instead of being treated like prisoners, we were treated like tourists.  And we had plenty to eat, eggs, all sorts of vegetables, good meat, things we had been told earlier weren’t available.  I was real glad that I had the nerve to walk out of camp along with Lieutenant Rouse, who was a bomber pilot.  [1 Lt. Richard R. Rouse, 0-735669.  Member of 11th Bomb Squadron, 341st Bomb Group, 14th Air Force, captured November 11, 1943, during mission to Yochow, China, in B-25G 42-64757.  Aircraft shot down by anti-aircraft fire and crashed with all six crew members surviving.  Five of the six eventually survived war as POWs, being interned at Shanghai POW Camp.  Loss covered in MACR 1106.]

After a few days, one of the Japanese soldiers said the Americans would be coming in and they would be dropping supplies first and for us to go out and mark an area where they could drop them.  And they did.  They dropped big fifty-five-gallon drums from parachutes with clothes and food in them.  We had good food, good shoes, and uniforms again.

But some unfortunate things happened, too.  I remember when I was in the Shanghai camp there was an enlisted man, a Marine who was always in good humor even though in terrible health.  He almost died several times.  A Captain White, a Marine non-flying officer, had marked the drop for the camp where this Marine was, and he didn’t make the people stay far enough from the area.  And this sick Marine and two others were standing close to where the drum came in.  The parachute slipped off it, and it killed all three of them standing together.  This man had been captured at the outbreak of the war, the first day of the war, and he was killed by one of our own air drops at the end of it.

Several days later we were taken to an airfield where Americans had flown in some DC-3s and some P-51s.  And we were flown to the Philippines.  Army Air Corps men were flown to the Philippines and the Navy-Marines were flown to Guam.  We arrived at the Philippines September 12, 1945.  There we were plainly told after we revealed all of the tales of the Shanghai prison camp personnel, not to talk about it again.  We were interrogated several days by psychiatrists and by American attorneys, who were members of the armed forces and civilians, and we had to sign statements that we would not relate any of this when we got home or else we could not be taken home before we were cleared.

They didn’t want any of this information in the newspapers.  And they didn’t want to believe us, and they didn’t want us knocking any other Americans.  It was all right to tell about any atrocities of the Japanese, but with Americans we were supposed to show our patriotism.  Luther Brown had gone through the Naval Academy and was promoted to colonel before he retired.  And nothing was ever done to him.  They wouldn’t believe that an American officer would do what he did.  He was such a party boy at Shanghai that he had become real stout, but after getting in prison camp, he decided to take care of himself, and he slept in a private room with an innerspring mattress and worked out with weights.

I returned to the States October 8, 1945.

Notes

Crew members of B-25G 42-64757

Pilot: Rouse, Richard R., 1 Lt., 0-735669 (California)

Co-Pilot: Townsend, Alton Lloyd, 2 Lt., 0-672253 (Louisiana)

“On November 10, 1943, as a co-pilot on a low altitude mission over Yochow, China, Alton and a crew of 5 others were shot down and captured by Japanese and held in a Chinese prison camp for 10 days.  Because of the treatment the Chinese received, Alton and the crew were grateful to be Americans!  The six American prisoners were taken down the Yangtze River by boat at which time the Americans bombed the boat, not knowing Americans were on board; 2 of the 6 member crew escaped the boat—one drowned and one was picked up by a fishing boat and returned to the Japanese who had to move the prisoners to another boat to continue down river.  They were interred at the Allied Prisoner of War Camp at Shanghai, China.  Later the Japanese transferred Alton and his remaining crew with 1000 to 1100 other prisoners of war packed in rail cars through Manchuria to Korea and then in the hull of a boat crossing the Sea of Japan from China to the Northern Island of Japan, Okido.”

Navigator-Bombardier: Walsh, George T., 2 Lt., 0-741817 (Missouri)

Flight Engineer: Penka, Carl Steven, S/Sgt., 38165009 (New Mexico)

Radio Operator / Gunner: Hogue, Harold Franklin, S/Sgt., 18166447 (Arkansas)

Gunner: O’Brien, David J., Sgt., 32471178 (Died during escape attempt) (New York)

Sino-Japanese air operations on October 1, 1943
from
Sino-Japanese Air War 1937 – 1945 (by Håkan Gustavsson)

20 P-40s and P-38 escorting 22 B-24s pounded Haiphong warehouses and harbour.  Some 40 Japanese interceptor rose to meet them in an air battle lasting some 40 minutes.  30 Japanese aircraft were claimed to be shot down (!) for the loss of three P-40s.

2nd Lieutenant Chen Ping-Ching from 75th FS, 23rd FG, was shot down at 15:30 over Haiphong and he bailed out of P-40 42-45906 (MACR 758).  1st Lieutenant Thomas Cotton reported:

“Lt. Chen was flying on my wing when the formation left the target area.  He remained in his position for approximately fifteen (15) minute.  When my flight turned back to protect two straggling bombers, Lt. Chen was missing.”

1st Lieutenant Henry L. Wood (0-789035) from 75th FS, 23rd FG, was also shot down at 15:30 over Haiphong in P-40K-1 42-46250 and was missing (MACR 759).  1st Lieutenant Donald Brookfield reported:

“Lt. Wood was flying on my wing when the bombers went into their run.  I last saw him when the escort made a turn following the bombers from the target. Major Brady (B-24, Flight Commander) states that he saw a P-40 and a zero make a head-on pass; the zero exploded and the P-40 went straight down smoking badly.  This was probably Lt. Wood.  Other bomber crews reported a pilot parachuting from a P-40 shortly after leaving the target.”

The third P-40 crashed-landed and the pilot, Wang Te-Min, was killed.  [Sharks Over China: Lt. Te-Min Wang, CAF, Oct. 1, 1943, “KIFA engine trouble; en route to Haiphong; P-40”]

2nd Lieutenant Akihiko Nishidome (NCO79) of the 25th Sentai and Sergeant Major Yasuo Hasegawa (NCO86) of the 33rd Sentai were killed over Haiphong.

Other References – Books

Cornelius, Wanda, and Short, Thayne, DING HAO – America’s Air War in China – 1937-1945, Pelican Publishing Company, Greta, La., 1980

Jackson, Daniel, Fallen Tiger: The Fate of American’s Missing Airmen in China, Master’s Thesis presented to Faculty of Department of history, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Tx., December, 2017

Molesworth, Carl, Sharks over China: The 23rd Fighter Group in World War II, Castle, Edison, N.J., 2001

Molesworth, Carl, 23rd Fighter Group – ‘Chenault’s Sharks’ (Aviation Elite Units 31), Osprey Publishing, Oxford, England, 2009

In Baltic Skies: The Last Flight of Ensign Aleksander Broch, March 15, 1945

Within my ongoing series of posts about the military service of Jews in the Second World War, a frequent thread – specifically for events in 1945 – has been reference to the six reference works created by the late Benjamin Meirtchak, covering Jews in the armed forces of Poland.  Published in Tel-Aviv between 1995 and 2003, Meirtchak’s books encompass virtually every facet of Jewish military service – and Jewish casualties – in Poland’s armed forces, ranging from men who were officers, members of the Polish Resistance, service in the Polish armed forces in exile, POWs captured in the German campaign of late 1939, and, the over 400 Jewish officers murdered during the Katyn Massacre in April and May of 1940.

While Mr. Meirtchak’s works are as invaluable as they are unique, perhaps inevitably – due to the sheer number of names involved – the information within them is typically limited to a man’s name, rank, military unit (that is, for men who served in infantry and armor) year and place of birth, father’s name, and for those men killed in action or who were murdered as POWs – date of death, and if known, place of burial. 

However, there are some men in Meirtchak’s books whose stories – by absence of substantive information – are enigmatic. 

One such man is mentioned in my post covering Jewish military casualties on March 15, 1945: Warrant Officer Aleksander Broch (“Soldiers from New York: Jewish Soldiers in The New York Times, in World War Two: Hospital Apprentice 1st Class Stuart E. Adler – March 15, 1945.), which is limited to the following information:

Polish People’s Army [Ludowe Wojsko Polskie]

Broch, Aleksander, WO, in Poland, at Zachodniopomorskie, Kolobrzeg
Born Sosnowiec, Poland, 1923
Mr. Stanislaw Broch (father)
Kolobrzeg Military Cemetery, Kolobrzeg, Poland
Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: Vol I, p 73

This is how the record for WO Broch appears in Volume II of Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II, in a format and content consistent with other biographical entries…

…while here’s the book’s cover, the plain appearance of which is identical to that of Volumes I, III, and IV.

I’d long assumed that Broch’s story would remain unknown, but fortunately, that supposition has been proven to be incorrect.  The answer to the puzzle was discovered in a very unanticipated source:  The database of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Center of the nation of Israel. 

Though the central focus of Yad Vashem is upon the fate of the civilian Jews of Europe and North Africa during the Shoah, the Center’s archives, which are a historical repository as much as a museum (and far more than a simple museum, at that) comprise a tremendous variety of artifacts, documents, and photographs, that – hailing from the late 30s through the mid-40s – encompass a wide variety of facets of Jewish life, as a civilization, during that time period

In this sense, Yad Vashem possesses a trove of material relating to the military service of Jews in the Allied armed forces during the Second World War, which is accessible – akin to records directly pertaining to the Shoah – by entering search terms in the dark blue banner atop the Center’s home page.  Though the website’s search engine isn’t designed to allow the “Advanced Searches” typical of other digitized archives and repositories, the search records, once returned, can be displayed by order of Relevancy, person’s Name, Photos, the names of Righteous (Among the Nations), Testimonies, Movies and Books, and, Artifacts.  Simultaneously, search results can be filtered by Subject, Source, Rescue Mode, Religion, Profession, Collection, and Language, these seven fields being displayed within the web page’s left sidebar.  Examples are show below… 

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Here’s Yad Vashem’s home page.  The search field occupies the horizontal dark blue banner at the top of the page.  Clicking on the small magnifying glass symbol at the right end of the banner transforms it into a search box with text stating “Type and press enter…”

…and here are the 120,652 results generated (in November of 2023) by typing “Jewish Soldiers”.  As can be seen under “Refine and Filter” in the left sidebar, and, record types listed horizontally, results are filtered after searching.     

Here are the total “hits” returned for a variety of searches pertaining to Jews in the military in WW II:

“Jewish Partisans” > 10,600
“Jewish Prisoners of War” > 92,500
“Jewish POWs” > 4,400
“Jewish Brigade” > 3,780
“Jewish Women Soldiers” > 1,695
“Monte Cassino” > 137
“American Jewish Soldiers” > 750
“British Jewish Soldiers” > 2,080
“French Jewish Soldiers” > 880
“Greek Jewish Soldiers” > 145
“Polish Jewish Soldiers” > 13,100
“Russian Jewish Soldiers” > 3,700

An impressive and moving example of the nature of Yad Vashem’s holdings, and, the website’s design and ease directly relate to my June, 2021 post “The Jewish Brigade at War – The Palestine Post, April 13, 1945”, which includes biographical information about Private Asher (Uszer) Goldring [גולדרינג אשר] (PAL/16323).  Presumably captured by the Germans after a night-time battle in the Senin Valley of Italy on March 31, 1945, he was never seen again.  Seventy-eight years later, he is the only fallen member of the Jewish Brigade whose body has never been found.      

Yad Vashem possesses an enormous trove of documents about Asher, as described in this catalog entry:  “Letters related to Asher Goldring, born in Konstantinov, Poland in 1910, and other documentation related to him, his wife Hana (Schmuckler) Goldring, born in Strlishche, Poland in 1910, and their family members, dated 1938-1948”.  The full entry states: “Letters sent to Hana Goldring, regarding the fate of her husband Asher, who made aliya to Eretz Israel as a pioneer and enlisted in the Jewish Brigade.  Included in the letters is notification by the British Ministry of War, dated 13/01/1948, that the soldier Asher Goldring was killed in action; letters sent to Asher and Hana Goldring in the British Mandate for Palestine by their families in Poland in 1938; letters sent by Asher Goldring to his wife Hana while in service as a soldier in the Jewish Brigade, written during 13/01-31/03/1945; poems; a newspaper; drawings by Asher Goldring”. 

Comprised of over 200 items (!), a perusal of these documents reveals the magnitude of the Center’s efforts in processing documents for public access:  The quality of the scans is really excellent.  (I’d like to translate them, as they embody a story that merits telling.  But, they’re all in Hebrew.  Oh … well.)

A few other examples of Yad Vashem’s records about the military service of Jews in World War Two include documents pertaining to…

Juda Waterman (B-25 Mitchell pilot in No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron, RAF)

Naum Naumovich Rabinovich (Yak fighter pilot and ace in 513th Fighter Aviation Regiment (see also), 331st Fighter Aviation Division, 2nd Air Army, Soviet Air Force), a “Refusenik” in the 1980s.  Possible future post.  (Who knows?)

Semion Yakovlevich Krivosheev (Il-2 Shturmovik aerial gunner in 810th Attack Aviation Regiment, 225th Attack Aviation Division, 15th Air Army, Soviet Air Force, who, having been shot down and captured on July 18, 1944, was one of the extraordinarily few Russian Jewish aviators to have survived the war as a POW of the Germans.)  Possible future post.  (Who knows?)

Testimony of Miroslav Sigut…  (Born in Dobratice, Czechoslovakia, 1917, regarding his experiences in Krakow, as a French Foreign Legion soldier in France and as a Czechoslovakian Army soldier in England.”  Includes comments about Squadron Leader Otto Smik of No. 312 and (later) 127 Squadrons, RAF.)

Those just scratch the surface, of the surface.  (Of, the surface.)

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And so, what of Aleksander Broch?

On a whim, I searched for information about “Jewish Pilots”, and was more than startled to find the following: “Confirmation of the service of Aleksander Broch as a pilot in the Polish Army and his having been declared missing during a campaign conducted 15 March 1945; excerpt from the “Polska Zbrojna” newspaper regarding the memoirs of Polish pilots, dated 18 March 1947”. 

Another document about Broch is the “Page of Testimony” that was filed in his memory by his father Stanislaus (Shmuel Barukh), on July 8, 1955, while the latter was residing in Israel.  The aforementioned web page for this document incorrectly lists Aleksander’s date of death as “13/3/1945” and status as “murdered”.

And then…  I remembered my post pertaining to the events of March 15, 1945. 

And then…  I duck-duck-goed “Aleksander Broch”, and was once again startled:  A biography of the pilot by Wojciech Zmyślony appears at Polish Air Force.pl, along with Broch’s portrait.  Zmyślony’s account being invaluable and unavailable elsewhere, I thought it merited presentation “here”, to make the story relevant to a wider audience. 

To that end, a the translation of follows below.  This is followed by two documents about Broch at from Yad Vashem, which are alluded to in Mr. Zmyślony’s list of references. 

One document is the article “Wings over Kołobrzeg – Memories of the fights of Polish pilots”, published in Polska Zbrojna (Armed Poland) on March 18, 1947, while the other is a letter by chaplain M. Rodzai to W/O Broch’s father Stanislaw.  For the purposes of this post, the English-language translation of each document appears first, and then, a transcript of the document in the original.  (Well, as best as I could transcribe them!)  

Accompanying the Polska Zbrojna article are four maps showing locations of places mentioned in Mr. Zmyślony’s story, and, the Polska Zbrojna article itself. 

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So to start, here’s Wojciech Zmyślony’s biography of Aleksander Broch, which includes a portrait of Broch – below – provided by fellow pilot Kazimierz Rutenberg; a fellow pilot in the 1st Fighter Aviation Regiment “Warszawa”; see The Direction Was Clear (Kierunek był Jasny), by Kazimierz Rutenberg.  Wojciech’s article in the original Polish can be viewed here, at Polish Air Force.  

The biography…

Aleksander Broch

– .ת.נ.צ.ב.ה. –
…Tehé Nafshó Tzrurá Bitzrór Haḥayím
May his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life.

Aleksander Broch was born on February 9, 1923 in Przemyśl.  His parents were Jews from Warsaw: his father, Samuel Broch, earned his living as a merchant, and his mother, Perla Lea née Pillersdorf, took care of the house.  Later, Samuel changed his name to Stanisław, and returned to its original Hebrew form – Szmuel – after emigrating to Israel after the war.  The mother later also Hebrewized her name to Pnina.  Aleksander, still as a child (at the age of 10 or earlier), moved with his family to Sosnowiec.  There he attended a primary school, and then the Jewish Co-educational Gymnasium of doctor Henryk Liberman.  The Brochs – parents, Aleksander and his younger sister – lived in a tenement house at the market square in Sosnowiec.  The friendship between two later aviators of the 1st Fighter Aviation Regiment “Warszawa”, raised in Sosnowiec, dates from this period: Broch and Kazimierz Rutenberg, a year younger than him.

When in September 1939 the Third Reich invaded Poland, the Brochs fled east.  After the September Campaign, they had no reason to return to Sosnowiec, incorporated by Hitler’s decree into the Third Reich.  Choosing between two evils, they stayed in Lviv, occupied by the Soviet Union, where at least they did not have to fear Nazi persecution on the basis of their nationality.  It is not known what Aleksander Broch did in Lwów; he probably attended school.  Less than two years later, he was once again forced to flee from the Germans, when on June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the USSR.  Persuaded by his father, he decided to go deep into Russia.  When Lviv was occupied by Wehrmacht troops on June 30, the 18-year-old boy was already somewhere else.  He was not imprisoned or repressed and presumably worked in kolkhozes.  For unknown reasons, he failed to join the Polish Army, formed from July 1941 under the orders of General Władysław Anders (perhaps he was rejected as a Jew).  This army finally left the Soviet Union in September 1942, also taking tens of thousands of civilians with it.

After the Polish troops were moved to Persia (i.e.  today’s Iran), repressions were intensified against the Polish citizens remaining in the USSR, imposing, among other things, Soviet citizenship and making it impossible to leave Soviet territories.  So Broch decided to get to the Polish Armed Forces in the West on his own.  He hoped to reach British-controlled India by way of Afghanistan.  He failed to implement this idea.  He crossed the border of Afghanistan, but was injured by wild animals there and turned back west to the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic.

A few months after the departure of General Anders’ troops to Persia, the formation of the Polish Army began once again.  Commanded by General Zygmunt Berling, who was loyal to the Soviets, it was soon to go to the front in accordance with Stalin’s plans.  In response to the recruitment to the army, Broch volunteered in the first months of 1943 at the recruitment commission in the city of Jolotan, in the Marian district, on the edge of the Karakum desert.  Like all recruits, he was sent to Sielce nad Oką, about 30 km north-west of Ryazan, where the 1st Infantry Division of Tadeusz Kosciuszko.  To reach his destination, Broch had to cover a distance of nearly 4,000 kilometers.  During the journey he made with a couple of companions, he got rid of the rest of his possessions, replacing, among others, clothes for salt, which he managed to sell at a large profit elsewhere, where it was considered a luxury item.  This provided him with the funds needed to reach his destination.

In Sielce, Broch initially joined the infantry.  There, he unexpectedly met a friend from his youth, Kazimierz Rutenberg.  Their paths parted again, but this time for a short time: Rutenberg was assigned to the anti-tank artillery, and Broch (who could ride a motorcycle) was assigned to the communications service in the 1st Tank Regiment.  When the air force recruitment was announced in Sielce, both Broch and Rutenberg applied.  After a successful medical examinations, at the beginning of August 1943 they were transferred to the nearby Grigoriewskoje, where the Air Squadron of the 1st Infantry Division named after Tadeusz Kosciuszko.  On August 20, the Polish squadron was expanded to a full-time regiment, and on October 6, 1943, it officially adopted the name: 1st Fighter Aviation Regiment “Warszawa”.

In Grigorievskoye, students began pilot training in difficult conditions.  The pace was very fast – training (including theory) in the field of basic pilotage and fighter specialization was planned for only ten months.  Theoretical lectures were conducted in Russian, and the list of subjects included: air navigation, airframe construction, engine construction, theory of flight, aerial shooting, aviation tactics, radio communication and parachute training.  After theory, it was time for practice.  Basic pilotage was trained on light UT-2 training aircraft.  The next step was training on twin-steered Yak-7Vs (similar in construction to the target fighter on which the pilots of “Warszawa” were to fly), and finally launching and training in air combat, shooting and aerobatics on the Yak-1b.

On May 28, 1944, Broch was promoted to ensign, which was the first officer rank in the Polish People’s Army.  In August 1944, the regiment was moved to the Gostomel airport near Kiev (now the airport of the capital of Ukraine), and at the beginning of June 1944 to the village of Dys near Lublin.  It was the regiment’s first airport in Poland.  In Dysa, several more experienced pilots joined the unit, and on August 18, 1944, the planes flew to Zadybie Stary, from which combat flights finally began.  When the regiment left for the front, Broch was assigned to the position of the pilot of the 2nd squadron.

On August 23, 1944, the pilots of the 1st Regiment were baptized by fire.  Broch had to wait nearly a month for his first combat assignment.  On September 19, his plane took off from Zadybie Stary together with five other Yaks to cover eight Il-2s from the 611th Air Assault Regiment, attacking targets in the area of the south-eastern outskirts of Warsaw.  The next flight, exactly 10 days later, consisted in the escort of a single Il-2 reconnaissance over the left-bank Warsaw by a pair of Yaks.  On this assignment, Broch used his on-board weapons the enemy for the first time, firing at ground targets.  It was one of the few tasks that the pilots of the 1st Regiment could perform over the insurgent capital…  Unfortunately, it was already dying at the time, as providing effective help to the insurgents was definitely prevented by Stalin’s cynical decisions.

Broch performed another task on October 15, escorting with three other Yaks a group of six Il-2s attacking targets in the area of Nowodwory, Winnica and Jabłonna.  During this flight, Focke-Wulf 190s were spotted flying in the distance, but no combat took place.  A similar flight – an escort of a pair of Il-2s for reconnaissance of the Poniatów-Suchocin-Jabłonna-Legionowo area – Broch made on October 27, firing again on the ground targets he encountered.  On November 8, he flew for reconnaissance north of Warsaw, in the area of Jabłonna, Modlin and Olszewnica.  Two Messerschmitt 109s were encountered in the air, but there was no combat as the fighters moved away.  Broch, however, dived and strafed the ground targets he spotted.  On 20, 22 and 25 November, he flew for visual reconnaissance, respectively: Jabłonna-Nowy Dwór-Leszna-Grądowa, Jabłonna-Nasielska-Kroczewa-Leszna-Warszawy-Błonia and Mokotów-Grodziska-Błonia-Piaseczno.  During the second of these flights, he attacked air defense positions, and during the third – German motor vehicles.  It was Broch’s last combat task in 1944.  The longer break was related to the stopping of the front near Warsaw on the Vistula River.

Broch completed the next three tasks only in 1945, on January 19-20, after the capture of Warsaw.  The first was to cover the parade of the 1st Polish Army, which marched along the ruined Aleje Jerozolimskie.  Broch flew in a formation of six planes, led by the regiment commander, Lt. Col. Ivan Taldykin.  On the same day, he flew to the air cover of his own troops in the area of Warsaw-Błonie and crossing the Vistula north of Warsaw.  The next day he conducted another patrol over the capital itself.

After this series of tasks, the regiment again had a break in combat tasks.  At that time, it was moved to the Sanniki airport near Gostynin, and then to Bydgoszcz, from where flights were started to support the 1st Army of the Polish Army fighting to break the Pomeranian Wall.  On February 20, Broch was covering a pair of Il-2s flying towards Złocieniec.  At the local railway station, four trains without steam locomotives were spotted.  Broch dived and strafed both the trains and the station.  Five days later, he flew for visual and photographic reconnaissance of railway traffic in the area of Szczecinek, Grzmiaca, Barwice, Połczyn Zdrój and Czaplinek.  During the task, he attacked trains at Dalęcino and Grzmiąc stations, and two cars near Czaplinek, which were damaged.  On February 27, he performed a similar task in the area of Drawsko Pomorskie and Złocieniec.  And this time he shot at the train at the station in Złocieniec, defended by a battery of anti-aircraft guns.

On March 1, Broch completed the last mission from Sanniki, escorting eight Il-2s to the Wierzchów area.  He himself also used on-board weapons, attacking infantry in the trenches near Żabin.  Two days later, the 1st Regiment was moved to the recently captured Mirosławiec airport, from which the unit took part in further flights to support the 1st Polish Army fighting to capture Kołobrzeg.  From there, on March 11, 1945, Broch flew in the cover of four Il-2s over “Festung Kolberg”, i.e. stubbornly defended by Wehrmacht troops (including navy and air force) and Waffen SS Kołobrzeg.  The ground guidance station warned that Focke-Wulfs might appear in the air, but the pilots saw no sign of enemy aircraft.

On March 15, 1945, Broch took off at 11:20 at the controls of Yak-9M No. 81 [serial number 3315381, via ARMA HOBBY News Blog] as side [wingman] to second lieutenant Vsevolod Bobrowski.  It was his 17th combat flight and – as it turned out – the last.  The task of the pair was to patrol the skies over Kołobrzeg in order to provide cover for Il-2 Shturmoviks, which were to attack ground targets.  Over the coast, Broch separated from Bobrowski and disappeared.  His leader circled for a long time looking for the wingman, returning to base on the last of the fuel after 2 hours and 45 minutes of flight.  To this day, it is not clear what happened to the pilot.  For years, it was reported in the literature that he was lost in the waves of the Baltic Sea, which, however, is not true, because his body was found and buried.

Ensign Aleksander Broch rests in a mass grave of soldiers of the Polish People’s Army at the War Cemetery in Kołobrzeg.

Wojciech Zmyślony

Sources:

Photo from the collection of Mr. Kazimierz Rutenberg
Documents from the Registry Office in Przemyśl
Documents from the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem
Bulzacki Z., Logbook of flights and combat and reconnaissance reports of the 1st Regiment “Warszawa”, b.w., Poznań 1976
Sławiński K., The First Hunter, Publishing House MON, Warsaw 1980

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This representative image of Yak-1B fighters (not the Yak-which was piloted by Ensign Broch, though the general appearance is very similar) of “Warszawa” is from “Four Fours” at Arma Hobby’s News Blog.  Caption: “Jak-1b No 4, 1 eskadra (squadron) of the 1 Regiment piloted by chor. pil. Edward Chromy.  In the background is the aeroplane No 13 from 2 eskadra.  Artwork by Marcin Górecki.”

Here’s a translation of Polska Zbrojna’s 1947 article about Broch’s last mission.  The translation is followed by four maps, a transcript of the article in Polish, and then, an image of the article.

Wings over Kołobrzeg
Memories of the Fights of Polish Pilots

Armed Poland
March 18, 1947

For half an hour now, Bobrowski and Broch have been cruising over the rough waves, looking for enemy sea transports heading for Kolobrzeg, which is besieged by the First Army.  Strong winds and driving winds carrying fog make patrolling difficult.  At times the world becomes completely dark with clouds floating low over the horizon.  The sea is empty.  Don’t see any movement on it.  Pilots’ eyes, accustomed to the brightness of the landscape, become tired and tired from constant looking.  Second after second, builds into a long rosary of minutes.  No; no change.  Suddenly, Broch’s hawk-like gaze notices, beneath the dark, blurred horizon, several black, monotonous lines swinging on the perpetually wavering waves.

– Transport! – he shouts over the radio to Bobrowski.  In an instant, he notices the barely visible ships.  There’s three of them.  In the depths of the water, near the ships, the spindly shapes of two submarines escorting the transport glide.  Direction: Kolobrzeg.

And now let’s get to work, until they are spotted, until they can take a closer look at the German transports, until the on-board artillery responds.  They made their way through the fog and rain and went two stones [?] down, straight towards the steamships. – One larger one with a characteristic bulge in the hull – a tanker; two smaller ones, full of equipment and combat reinforcements, filled to the decks – he calculates quickly.  Bobrowski and pulls the [control] stick slightly so as not to fall into the ship’s large, smoking stack.  And Broch is already playing with his “machines” [machine guns] on the decks; on the sides, on the stacks – a hurricane is breaking through the sky after the Germans who were not expecting an attack.  A few more series – a faint flash down below.

The fire smolders for a while; twitches awkwardly.  Will it go off?  [Will it explode?]  As if in response, a terrible shock shook the air; the air heaved and vibrated with smoke and fire.  It’s getting hot.  The middle ship carrying gasoline disappeared from the sea surface.  It sank into the depths.  Only in the place where the ship was swinging in front of the waves in the waves, the sea was strangely luminous, full of long spots burning with luxuriant flame.  A strange and terrible, unforgettable image of the burning sea.

That’s enough for today! – Bobrowski shouts with joy and, under heavy fire from the artillery of the remaining ships [?], they return to the shore to submit a report to the command.

Sending shturmoviks now! – he says to Broch, strangely unenthusiastic about the success he has just achieved.  Bobrowski, concerned about his friend’s silence, exhorts on the radio:

Did the eagle become so silent as if he had drunk German gasoline?  But Broch is silent.  Only after a while, when they reach the coast, his voice is heard in the host’s headphones:  Listen, if something happens to me, write home to [?] parents, okay?

Bobrowski suffers.  He thinks for a moment; his thoughts come together.  Then he bursts out: Whatever comes to mind, don’t stop the _____! – and listen to the _____.  But Broch is silent.

The weather is deteriorating with every moment. Immediately after passing the coastal strip, they fall into such fog that they lose themselves completely.  Conscious, attentive to everything, the patrol commander takes a sharp 180-degree turn, trying to turn around and avoid the fog sideways.  Broch flies on.  Bobrowski, terrified by his friend’s absence, constantly calls on him to change course like he did.  The pilot hears him, faintly at first, but he does not respond.  And the fog grows and then disappears.  Just a moment and you won’t be able to turn back.  When this difficult moment passes, Broch is gone.

This is Bobrowski…  This is Bobrowski…  I’m going to pick up… – Broch…  Broch…  Where are you? – a dramatic question flies into space.  Out of nowhere, as if out of this world, the answer comes back.

No, I can’t see!  I don’t know where I am!  Light!…

Keep to the seashore! – advises the concerned friend, because in the meantime he is losing his orientation, unable to find any point of support on the ground covered with spring snow.  Not a single river down there, but full of ash-covered railway junctions and forests.  Forest everywhere.  Minute by minute passes.  Broch no longer responds to the radio signal at all.

Apparently he went over the sea – Bobrowski thought and, afraid of the tentacles of fog that were covering him more and more and unable to determine exactly where he was – he was heading south.

After ten minutes of flight in difficult weather conditions, he suddenly jumped out of the clouds over a German city, next to which there was a lake.  Following the characteristic, broken shoreline of the lake, which he knew from the flight routes in this area, he realized that he was over Walcz, located at the intersection of large roads, 30 km away from the home airport in Frydland [Pravdinsk].

After reporting to the headquarters of the unit and reporting on the flight, attack aircraft of the 3rd Assault Aviation Regiment accompanied by fighters were immediately sent over Kolobrzeg.  They destroyed the German sea transport, which sank at the very entrance of the port.

And Broch?  He left his combat flight for Poland on Saturday, March 15, 1945, and did not return.  And the Baltic Sea jealously guards its secrets.

Five days later, after this combat flight, Kolobrzeg fell and was captured by the soldiers of the First Polish Army.

K. Gozdziewki, second lieutenant

The Baltic Sea relative to Poland, Russia, Latvia, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany, with Kolobrzeg in the map’s lower center.

A “close-up” of Kolobrzeg and nearby Polish coastline.

Kolobrzeg, showing Walcz to the south-southeast.

Kolobrzeg, with Walcz denoted by the circle to the south-southeast, and the location of Frydland (Pravdinsk), southeast of Kaliningrad, to the east.  Though the Polska Zbrojna article indicates that the latter two locations are 30 kilometers from one another, in reality, they’re much (much) farther apart.

Skrzydła nad Kołobrzegiem
Wspomnienia z walk polskich pilotów

Polska Zbrojna
March 18, 1947

Już od pól godziny kraża Bobrowski i Broch nad wzburzonymi falami w poszukiwaniu nieprzyjacielskich transportów morskich dażacych do oblężonego przez l Armie – Kolobrzegu.  Silny wiatr i zacinajacy, niosacy ze soba mgle wiatr ultrudniaja patrolowanie.  Chwilami na świecie robi sie zupelnie ciemno od sunacych nisko nad horzyontem – chmur.  Morze jest puste.  Nie wiadę na nim zadnego ruchu.  Oczy pilotów przyzwyczajene od zrólany krajobrazow nuża sie i mecza od ciaglego wypatrywania.  Sekunda uplywa za sekunda narastajac w dlugi różaniec minut.  Nie, żadnej zmainy.  Nagle sokoli wrzok Brocha sposlrzega hen pod ciemna, zamazana linia horyzontu kilka czarnych, jednostajnych kresek rozhuśtanych na wieczystej chwiejbie fal.

– Transport! – krzyczy przez radio do Bobrowskiego.  Ten w jednej chwili dostrzega, ledwie widocżene statki.  Jest ich trzy.  W glebi wody, w poblizu statków suna wrzecionowete ksztnity dwóch lodzi podwodnych eskortujacych transport.  Kiorunek: Kolobrzeg.

A teraz do dziela, póki ich nie spostrzezono, póki moga przyjrzeć sie dokladniej, z bliska, niemieckim transportowcom, poki nie odezwie sie artyleria pokladowa.  Przerżneli sie przez mgly i deszcz i poszli jak dwa kamienie w dól, prosto na sunace parowce. – Jeden wiekszy z charakterystycznym wybrzuszeniem kadluba – cysterna, dwa mniejsze, pelne sprzetu i posilków bojowych, zapelnione aż po pklady – oblicza szybko.  Bobrowski i sciaga lekko drazek na siebie azeby nie wpakować sie na wielki, dymiacy komin statku.  A Broch już gra ze swoich „maszynek“ po pokladach; po burtach, po kominach – przewala sie pak nuragan po niesposdziewajacych sie ataku szwabach.  Jeszece kilka serii – nikly blysk w dole.

Ogień tli sie chwile, pelza niezdarnie drga.  Zgaśnie?  Jakby w ódpowiedzi powietrzem targa potworny wstrzas powietme laluje i drga od dymu j zara.  Robi sie goraco.  Środkowy statek wiozacy benzyne – znikl z powierzchni morza.  Zapadl sie w glab.  Tylko na mieiscu, gdzie przedtyni huśtal sie w przyplywach fal statek, morze bylo dziwnie świetliste, pelne dlustych plam palacych sie bujnyn piomieniem.  Dziwny i straszny, mezapomnlany obraz palacego sie morza.

Na dzisiaj wyzarczy! – wrzeszczy z radoni Bobrowski i pod silnym obstnalem artyleril pozostalych okreów zawracajo do brzegu, ażeb zlożyć raport dowództwu.

Zaraz wyśla szurmowców! – mówi do Brocha, dóry dziwnie nie entuzjazmuje sie odniesionym przed chwila sukcesem.  Bobrowski zaniepokoony milczeniem kolegi nalega przez radio:

Cos tak zamilkl ragle jakbyś napil sie benzyny nienieckiej?  Lecz Broch milczy.  Dopiero po chwili, gdy dolatuja uż do wybrzeża odzywa sie jego glos w sluchawkach prowadzicego: Sluchajl Gdyby _e ze mna cós stalo napisz do domu, do rodżicow, dobrze?

Bobrowski cierpnie.  Chwile zastanawia sie, zbiena myśli.  Po tym wybucha: Co_i_do glowy przyszlo nie zawrazaj gitary!  – i nadsluchuje pinie.  Lecz Broch milczy.

Pogoda psuje sie z każda chwila Zaraz po minec u pasa nadbrzeznego wpadaja w takamgle, że traca siebie z oezu zupelnie Przytomny baczny n wszystko dowodea patrolu kiadze sie w ostry skreto 180 st. próbujac zawrócić i ominać mgle bokiem.  Broch leci dalej.  Bobrowski przerażony nieobecnościa kolegi nawoluje go bez przerwy, ażeby zmienil tak jak i on kurs.  Pilot sluszy go, wptawdzie slabo, ale slyszy i nie odpowida.  A mgla rośnie, poteż nieje.  Jeszcze chwila i nie bedzie można już zawrocic.  Gdy mija ta ciezka chwila, Broche nie ma.

Ja Bobrowski… ja Bobrowski… przechodze na odbiór… – Broch… Broch… gdzie jesteś? – leci w przestrzeń dramatyezne pytanie.  Skadś z daieka, jakby juz nie z tego świata wraca odpowiedż.

Nie nie widze!  Nie wiem, gdzie jestem!  Bladze!

Trzymaj sie brzegu morskiego morza! – radzi zatroskany kolega, bo w miedzyczasie sam traci orientacje, nie mogac znależć na zasnutej wiosenna sazruga ziemi żadnego punktu oparcia.   Ani jednej rzeki, tam w dole, pelno zato popiatanych wezlów kolejowych i lasy.  Wszedzie las.  Mija minuta za minuta.  Broch nie odpowiada juz wcale na sygnal radia.

Widocznie poszedi nad morze – mysil Bobrowski i rainiac sie przed zalewajacymi go coraz bardziej mackami mgly i nie mogac ustalić dokladnie gdzie sie znajudje – bierze kurs na poludnie.

Po dziesieciu minutach lotu w cieżkich warunkach atmosferycznych wyskoczyi nagle z chmur nad jakims miastem niemieckim, obok ktorego znajdowalo sie jezioro.  Po charakterystycznej, lamanej linii brzegow jeziora, ktore znat z poprze laieb przelotow w tym rejonie uzmyslowil sobie, że znajduje sie nad Walczem leżacym na skrzyzowaniu wielkich dróg w odlegiośei 30 km. od [błąd!] macierzystgo iotniska we Frydladzie [Pravdinsk].

Po zameldowaniu sie w sztabie jednosiki i zadniu relacji z lotu, wyslano natychmiast nad Kolobrzeg szturmowce 3 Pulku Lotnictwa Szturmowego w asyśnie mysliwców.  Dokonaly one dziela zniszczenia niemieckiego transportu morskiego, który zatonal u samego wejścia portu.

A Broch?  Wylecial do swego lotu bojovego dla Polski w sebote dnia 15 marca 1945 r. i nie wrócil.  A Baltyk strzeże zazdrośnie swoich tajemnic.

W pieć dni póżniej po tym locie bojowym padl Kolobrzeg zdobyty przez żolnierzy I Armi W.P.

K. Gożdziewki, ppor.

The article, from Yad Vashem…

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Here’s Chaplain Rozdai’s letter to Aleksander father Stanislaus…

For
Citizen Stanislaw Broch

in Sosnowiec, 20 Targowa Street

According to the letter of the 1st Fighter Aviation Regiment No. 898/I of August 10, 1945 I will inform you that the son of the citizen, ensign pilot Broch Aleksander, took an active part in the fight against the Germans in the 1st Belarusian Front and on March 15, 1945, he flew on reconnaissance and disappeared without a trace.

At the same time, I am enclosing a certificate attesting to the amount of monthly salaries received by warrant officer Aleksander, issued by Lieutenant Myśliwski.

1 enclosure

Supplementary District Commandant

M. RODZAI
Chaplain

…and, the document in the original Polish.

Do
Ob. [Obywatel] Brocha Stanisława

w Sosnowcu, ul. [ulica] Targowa 20

Zgndnie z pismem l Pulku Lotnictwa Myśliwskiego Nr 898/I z dnia 10 sierpnia 1945 Pr. zawiadsmiem, że syn Obywatela chorazy pilot Broch Aleksander brał czynny udział w walce z Niemcami na l-szym Białoruskim Froncie i w dniu 15 marca 1945 r. poleciał na wywiad i przepad ł ben wieści.

Równocześnie przesyłam w załaczeniu zaświadczenie atwierd za jace wysokość pobiernayc_ poborów miesioczynch przez chor. proc__ Aleksandra, wystawione przez l p. Letn-Myśliwskiego.

1 zał. [załącznik]

Rejenowy Komedant Uzupełnienie

M. RODZAI
Kaplian

The original document, from Yad Vashem…

One reference…

Meirtchak, Benjamin, Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: I – Jewish Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945, World Federation of Jewish Fighters Partisans and Camp Inmates: Association of Jewish War Veterans of the Polish Armies in Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1994

The Invisible Airmen – The Invisible Jews: Captain Seymour M. Malakoff and the Crew of C-47 “Butchski II”, 1944

“…the fact that its entire crew of five are all from New York.”

_______________

Definitions of the phrase “New Yorker”…

… at Wordnik:
“a native or resident of New York (especially of New York City)”


… at Cambridge Dictionary:
“someone from the US city of New York”

“someone from the US state of New York”

…at Collins Dictionary:
1. a.  “of the state of New York”

1. b.  “of the city of New York”
2. a.  “a person born or living in the state of New York”
2. b. ” a person born or living in the city of New York”

______________________________

My prior post, The Invisible Sailor – The Invisible Jew?, concerning Warner Brothers’ 1943 film about the United States submarine service, Destination Tokyo, focuses on a fascinating scene that arrives at the film’s halfway point.  After “Mike”, one of the sub’s crew, is murdered – quite literally stabbed in the back – by a Japanese fighter pilot ostensibly in the act of surrender, the Greek-American sailor “Tin-Can” (played by Dane Clark, actual name Bernard Elliot Zanville) is unwilling and unable to attend the former’s funeral.  Tin-Can’s absence from the ceremony sparks anger and shock from his fellow crew members, who take deep offense at his detached and seemingly passive reaction to the death of a fellow crewman.  Then, with great and increasing intensity, Tin-Can explains the reason for his absence.  He relates how the suffering of his family in German-occupied Greece – particularly the murder of his kindly philosopher uncle – has become the central motivation for his military service, which is a form of patriotism and deeply personal – if not familial and ethnic – revenge against the Axis.  In a story otherwise devoted to action, adventure, drama, and occasional moments of levity (what, with Alan Hale, Sr.!), Tin-Can’s speech grounds the film upon a plane of seriousness and depth.

But, I believe there was a story behind Tin-Can’s story.  As I explain fully in the post, given the ownership of the studio that produced the film, as well as identity of some of the writers, producers, and actors involved in the movie’s creation – let alone the time-frame of the film’s release – I believe that the writers and producers of Destination Tokyo used Tin-Can’s speech as a disguised soliloquy about the fate of of the Jews of Europe.  The proviso being of course, that unapologetically and explicitly drawing attention to the fate of the Jews of Europe in the context of fighting the Axis powers, in a form of popular entertainment created for a nationwide audience, was – in the Hollywood of 1943 – perceived as being anathema, in terms of cultural, social, and professional acceptability.

Anyway, Destination Tokyo was a movie; a story; fiction, in which reality lay behind a cloak of invisibility.  

In the world of life; of fact; of literature and journalism, there are other forms of invisibility; even if unintentional; even if benign.  But, just as in Destination Tokyo, the absence of a fact can “speak” far more loudly and leave a far deeper impression, than if it is mentioned … even if briefly, even if fleetingly, even if in passing.  This will reveal more about the writer, publisher, and tenor of the times, than the story itself.  Such was the case of a news item published in The New York Times in early 1944…  

But first, by way of explanation:

Many of my posts on this blog – an ongoing series as it were?! – focus on the military service of Jewish soldiers during the Second World War.  These are centered around news items about Jewish military casualties from the New York metropolitan area, which were published in The New York Times, in the final two years – 1944 and 1945 – of that global conflict. 

Appearing under the heading “Jewish Soldiers in The New York Times in WW II”, I’ve created about forty such posts as of the completion of “this” post in mid-July of 2023.  As explained more fully at Soldiers from New York: Jewish Soldiers in The New York Times, in World War Two, the now-distant impetus for this effort was my review of every issue (seriously!) of the Times published between late 1940 and 1946 for any news item related to the military service of Jewish soldiers during that time.  (I did this in the 1990s by reviewing the Times on 35mm microfilm.  Lots and lots of microfilm.  Did I say lots?  Lots!The goal of this endeavor was to learn about the experience and thoughts of Jewish soldiers in the Armed forces of the Allies in the context of the Shoah, and, the historical experience of the Jewish people during that awful, complex, and transformative time.

I thought – when I began this research three now-seemingly-distant decades ago – given the Times being a newspaper headquartered in Manhattan, with the New York metro area then being the demographic “center” of Jewish life in the United States, that the newspaper would occasionally feature news items about the implications or aspects of Jewish military service during the war, even if in passing: even if tangentially; even only hesitantly.  Well, was I wrong about that.  Very wrong.  Completely wrong; completely-upending-your-assumptions and jaw-droppingly kind of wrong. 

Certainly news about American Jewish servicemen (and on vanishingly rare occasions, Jewish soldiers in the armies of other Allied nations) appeared in the Times, but this facet … or central aspect? … of their identity was never a focus of the paper’s reporting, assuming it fell into the awareness of the paper’s journalists and editors to begin with.  Well…  Given the history of the Times, the prevailing self-perception of the Jews of America at that time, and, the nature of the times (pun entirely intended), perhaps this was inevitable.  An example of this, from early 1944, follows…

On February 4 of that year, this article, by an anonymous Times correspondent, appear in the first section of the newspaper:

FIVE NEW YORKERS ON INVASION PLANE

Crew of Butchski Plan to Run ‘Overseas Branch of the Bronx Express’

By Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.

AT A UNITED STATES TROOP CARRIER COMMAND STATION in Britain, Feb. 3 – All the twin-engined transport planes on this station look alike in their grubby green-brown war paint, but one is really different.  Its two chief points of difference are the white lettered name Butchski on the nose and the fact that its entire crew of five are all from New York.

When the invasion starts and the troop-carrier command begins shuttling combat soldiers from bases to actual fighting fronts Butchski will become an “overseas branch of the Bronx Express,” according to its crew.  Every member of the crew agrees the service will be strictly “express.”

The skipper of Butchski is quiet, youthful-looking Capt. E.M. Malakoff of 60 East Ninety-fourth Street, Manhattan.  A graduate of Penn State and New York University Law School, he passed the New York bar examination in 1941.

He is only 27 years old now, but handles the transport plane as if he had been flying it all his life.  The plane is named for his 9-year-old brother James, whose nickname is Butchski.

Co-Pilot “Typical New Yorker”

Lieut. James P. Wilt of 538 East Sixteenth Street is co-pilot.  He maintains he is the most typical New Yorker because he was born in Dayton, Ohio, twenty-five years ago and moved to New York to attend New York University after having gone to the University of Cincinnati.  After finishing school he worked in radio before joining the Army.  His father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Noble Wilt, now live in Troy, Ohio, with his younger brother and sister.

Flight Officer Saul Bush, who is 25 years old and lives at 1749 Grand Concourse, the Bronx, is the navigator of Butchski.  He insists his chef distinction is that he is the only married man in the crew and he feels sorry because the other members will never be able to marry a girl as incomparable as his wife, Beatrice, who lives in the Bronx.  He attended De Witt Clinton High School and City College in New York.

Staff Sgt. David Lifschutz, who says he “was born, reared and hopes to die” in New York, is the fourth member of the crew.  He is only 21.  His home is 32-17 Seventy-seventh Street, Jackson Heights, and for years before he joined the Army he used to hang around La Guardia Field hoping to be a flier one day.  He attended Long Island City High School and his parents still live at the Seventy-seventh Street address.

Youngest Member Is 20

Staff Sgt. Lester Leftkowitz [sic], who attended Morris High School and lived at 586 Southern Boulevard, the Bronx, with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel H. Lefkowitz, is the fifth and youngest member of the crew.  He is just 20 years old.

The job of Butchski is to haul paratroops and tow gliders loaded with airborne fighting men to fighting areas when the invasion starts.  They all realize it is a tough job, but one that has to be done, and they are just waiting until the time comes to do it.

Here’s how the article appeared in the paper:

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Biographical information about each of these men follows below.  (A minor caveat:  “Letfkowitz” is actually “Lefkowitz”.)  As will soon be evident as you scroll through this lengthy post, Captain Malakoff was killed in action, but every member of his crew survived the war.  With the significant caveat, that Staff Sergeant Lifschutz was shot down and taken prisoner of war in late December of 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge.

And so, Butchski’s crew:  

Pilot: Capt. Seymour M. Malakoff, 0-660774, Air Medal, Purple Heart
Mr. and Mrs. Jacob John (3/6/91-6/14/55) and Vera (Ida) (Partman) (7/12/90-11/18/43) Malakoff, 60 East 94th St., New York, N.Y.
James Leonard “Butchski” Malakoff (brother) (6/20/33-7/24/07)
Born New Haven, Ct., 10/24/16
The New York Times 2/4/44, 6/27/44
Casualty List 7/25/44
Forvarts 6/29/44

Co-Pilot: Lieutenant James Philip Wilt
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Noble (5/21/93-1984) and Katherine (Harper) (Folckemer) (1/4/93-12/29/61) Wilt (parents)
Robert N. Wilt (brother) (1/6/30-7/2/60), 234 South Plum St., Troy, Oh.
Wartime residence: 538 East 16th St., New York, N.Y.
Born Dayton, Oh., 4/2/18; Died 12/13/78
Riverside Cemetery, Troy, Oh. – Section 1, North West Corner

Navigator: Flight Officer Saul Bush
Mrs. Beatrice (Rosen) Bush (wife), 1749 Grand Concourse, Bronx, N.Y.
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred and Dora (Stein) Bush (parents), 2101 Morris St., New York, N.Y.
Born New York, N.Y., 6/29/19; Died 10/20/04
American Jews in World War II – Not Listed

Radio Operator: S/Sgt. David Lifschutz, 12147259, Air Medal Three Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart
Mr. and Mrs. Ephraim (“Frank”?) and Claire Lifschutz (parents), 32-17 77th St., Jackson Heights, N.Y.
Born New York, N.Y., 6/3/22
Casualty List 6/13/45
Long Island Star Journal 4/14/45, 6/14/45
American Jews in World War II – 381

Crew Chief: S/Sgt. Lester Lefkowitz (Hersch G’dali bar Shmuel), 12182071
Born Bronx, N.Y., 5/25/23; Died 10/3/00
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel H. and Etta Leftkowitz (parents), 586 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, N.Y.
Mount Ararat Cemetery, East Farmingdale, N.Y.
American Jews in World War II – Not Listed

What about Seymour Malakoff? …  He received his pilot wings and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on May 20 1942.  His portrait appears below.  Taken when he was aviation cadet, it’s from the United States National Archives, where it’s one image among thousands of similar photos within 105 archival storage boxes encompassing the collection “RECORDS OF THE ARMY AIR FORCES – Photographic Prints of Air Cadets and Officers, Air Crew, and Notables in the History of Aviation”. 

Lt. Malakoff’s portrait, “P-14933”, is in box 57.

(Digression one: The overwhelming majority of these images were taken during the very late 1930s, and early 1940s; with a very small number from WW I and the twenties.  A few civilian flyers (like Amelia Earhart and Anthony Fokker) are also present, along with a few images of famous German WW I aviators.  Most of the portraits are of Flying Cadets, or, men who had just graduated as Second Lieutenants and received their “wings” from Army Air Force pilot, bombardier, and navigator schools.  The majority of the images seem to have been taken from 1941 through 1943, with some from 1944, and a very few thereafter.

Some pictures were taken outdoors, along an airfield flight-line, apparent from background scenery.  Some, with photographic back-drops of aircraft, clouds, or other aviation-related images, were obviously taken in studios.  Other were taken in simple, unadorned, indoor settings.  Some images are printed upon 8 ½” x 11” black & white glossy finish photographic paper, while others, of smaller dimensions, are mounted upon (glued to) heavy 8 ½” x 11” stock.  Typically, information such the date of the photograph, name and rank of subject, and the aviation school where the image was taken is recorded with the image; sometimes on the image itself.

Inevitably, given the coincidence between the timing of their graduation and the time-frame of the Second World War, many of these men were killed in action, while others lost their lives in training or operational accidents.  Similarly, it is notable that there are no photographs of aircrews; only individuals.  Notably, this collection of photographs comprises a limited number of the tens of thousands Army Air Force pilots, bombardiers, navigators who were Aviation Cadets, or were commissioned, during World War Two.)

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The Times article obviously attracted attention well beyond the confines of Manhattan, for it was referenced in Walter Winchell’s column three days later, in which S/Sgt. Lifschutz was mentioned in reply to comments by Mississippi Senator John E. Rankin concerning the latter’s remarks about the ethnic backgrounds of American servicemen.  Here are the first two paragraph’s from Winchell’s column:

By Walter Winchell

The Man on Broadway

NEW YORK, Feb. 7. – Man About Town:

     U.S. Senator Styles Bridges is helping his State Department heart trousseau shop …  Al Jolson is Jinx Falkenberg’s most constant visitor at her St. Luke’s Hospital bedside…  Dorothy Fox, the dance director, got a quiet melting down (from her Naval Intelligence bridegroom in Florida last week)…  Barbara Booth, who understudied Hepburn in “Without Love,” was secretly married last week in San Francisco to an Army lieutenant…  New Yorkers suspect that Wayne (wife-killer) Lonergan’s sudden coin (to hire a lawyer) came from men named in her diary…  Betty Hutton is Capt. C. Gable’s morale builder this week…  “Under Cover” author Carlson is 1-A and rarin’ to go.

     HERR RANKIN’S disparagement of certain war heroes is the consequent result of a defense mechanism.  He is Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.  Rankin is a World War I war vet – by virtue of 17 days’ service…  The AP reports that the first American ashore on the Anzio beaches (south of Rome) was Pvt. Walter P. Krysztofiak, a father, of Illinois.  Wonder what Rankin would say about this American whose name can hardly be pronounced? …  And then there’s the New York Times report of Feb. 4 (about New Yorkers making up the crew of a bomber) – one crew man being Staff Sgt. David Lifschutz…  You can tell Rep. Hoffman from the others in Congress.  While he talked about a march on Washington – his constituents were more interested in a March of Dimes…  Ralph Pearl says Hoffman is so unimpressive (haw!) he goes in one eye – and out the other.

Here’s how Winchell’s column actually appeared … as published in the Syracuse Herald-Journal:

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If the Times article of February 4 was (in its own way) enlightening, the following very small news item, published on June 27, three weeks after D-Day, was much sadder:  It reports that Captain Malakoff was missing in action. 

New York Flier Missing

On June 5, Capt. Seymour M. Malakoff of 60 East Ninety-fourth Street, skipper of “Butchski,” a twin-engined transport plane, wrote to his father, J.M. Malakoff, that “everything was fine”.  The next day air-borne troops invaded the coast of France, and Mr. Malakoff said yesterday he had received a War Department telegram saying his son had been reported “missing in action since June 6 over France.”

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What happened?

Missing Air Crew Report 8409 reveals that Captain Malakoff was the pilot of C-47A 43-30735 (otherwise known as “CK * P” / chalk # 37 / “Butchski II“), of the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron, 435th Troop Carrier Group, 9th Air Force.  His aircraft was one of nineteen 9th Air Force C-47s lost during D-Day (this number based on MACRs covering C-47 losses on June 6), with the 435th losing two other aircraft, both from the 77th Troop Carrier Squadron.  These planes were 42-24077, “IB * J”, piloted by 1 Lt. James J. Hamblin (MACR 7801), and 43-30734, piloted by Captain John H. Schaefers (MACR 8414).  Identical to Captain Malakoff’s “Butchski II” (as will be evident a few paragraphs down…), there were no survivors from the crew of either transport; four men in Lt. Hamblin’s crew, and 5 in Captain Schaefers’. 

(Digression two: Here’s the insignia of the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron.  (It’s from Ebay seller abqmetal.))

The fate of Butchski II is described in this excerpt from Ian Gardner’s Tonight We Die As Men, the story of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, encompassing the history of the Battalion’s from its creation through D-Day.  The excerpt describes the loss of the C-47 as seen from the ground.

The two men moved cautiously off along the line of the wall toward a hedge.  A few minutes later they discovered George Rosie hiding under a tree.  He was overjoyed to see them.  They remained hidden in the hedge for a while wondering what they should do.  Suddenly Rosie pointed in the direction of the farmhouse and muttered something through his broken teeth that sounded like, “Jesus Christ.  Look!”

A C-47 had been hit, its port engine was on fire and it was banking sharply to the right.  The men watched as the aircraft leveled out and its paratroopers started to jump.  As the last man left the aircraft it became totally engulfed in flames.  It was then that Gibson, Lee, and Rosie realized that it was heading directly toward them.  They flattened themselves against the ground and the stricken plane tore through power lines and swept 20 ft above their heads before exploding in a ball of flame at Clos des Brohiers.  Just moments later they were surprised to see four men, silhouetted by the inferno, sprinting toward them.  A water-filled ditch briefly interrupted their run, but they waded in and quickly scrambled out.  Watching in amazement, Gibson’s small group could not believe their eyes.  Before them, covered in mud and dripping wet, were Cyrus Swinson, Leo Krebs, Phil Abbey, and Francis Ronzani.  All four had jumped from the same plane as Gibson.  They had been hiding in a field and the burning plane forced them out.

Dr. Barney Ryan had landed in the flooded area close to L’Amont and could see something burning furiously on higher ground nearby.  He had met up with three other men and led them toward the fire.  Ryan recollects, “I couldn’t be sure what was burning at the time but thought it was an aircraft.  We were shot at by figures running around the flames.  As we weren’t supposed to open fire until daybreak we guessed they must be Germans.”  The figures were probably Mongolian soldiers who could see Ryan’s group illuminated in the flames.  Their firing forced Ryan and his men to dive under the water and swim away.

The burning plane had been carrying 18 men from H Co, 501st Bn.  They had been scheduled to jump on Drop Zone C, which was about 3 miles north of the crash site.  All the paratroopers got out safely but unfortunately the plane’s five-man crew perished in the inferno.  The aircraft was piloted by Capt. Malakoff from the 435th Troop Carrier Group’s 75th Troop Carrier Squadron, based at Welford in Berkshire.  It was probably hit shortly after crossing the French coast and fell back in the formation.  Losing altitude and unable to reach the drop zone, the pilot switched on the green light allowing the paratroopers to jump to safety before the plane crashed.

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Missing Air Crew Report 8409 includes thirteen (!) eyewitness accounts pertaining to the loss of Captain Malakoff’s C-47.  These comprise a total of ten statements from the eighteen paratroopers aboard the plane (all eighteen jumped successfully) and, statements from Captain Paul W. Dahl (C-47 42-92093), and First Lieutenants Charles P. Kearns, Jr. (C-47 42-100675) and Edgar H. Albers, Jr. (C-47 42-92099), fellow pilots in the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron.  Here’s Captain Dahl’s statement:  

I last saw Captain Malakoff as we entered the West Coast of the Cherbourg Peninsula. I was leading the second element of the 4th Squadron.  Captain Malakoff was leading the last squadron directly behind me.  Immediately after crossing the coast we went into an overcast laying over the coast directly on our course.  I turned out to the right a short distance to avoid collision with other ships in the overcast and then resumed course letting down until I broke out beneath the overcast.  If Captain Malakoff had continued straight on course he undoubtedly would have caught up with us out on our left.  A short time after breaking out of the overcast I was fired upon from the ground, guns firing all over the sky.  I saw two ships explode and go down in flames off to our left front about 300 to 500 feet above.  Approximately one-half a minute later I made a left turn into the D.Z. (my navigator recognizing it) and it was about this time I saw a violent explosion directly to our left and then saw the flames engulfing the remnants of the plane as it went down.  I would say this occurred about approximately one mile Northwest of the DZ according to my navigator’s calculations.  The exploding plane was at about the same altitude as we were which was 1000 ft indicated letting down.  I definitely saw tracers going into the explosion.  I had to make a left turn into the DZ because of the previous right turn I made in the overcast which is another fact that might indicate Captain Malakoff’s being off to my left.

I would estimate Captain Malakoff’s speed at 140 to 150 mph the last time I definitely saw him before we entered the overcast.

I was in the overcast approximately few and one half minutes.  We were under fire most of the time after breaking out of the overcast.

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This statement is by Pvt. Joe L. Cardenas, of (at the time) H Company:

I was the last man in my stick, the last to jump from the plane.  Because of my position near the radio compartment I couldn’t see out but 1 did notice the plane lurch a little possibly from wing hits.  Lt. Hoffmann [1 Lt. John W. Huffman] gave the order to “stand up”, “hook-up”.  The crew chief came out and said that he thought they were coning in south of the DZ.  He told us to hold it up and I passed this word down the line.  He then went back to the pilot.  He came out again and wanted to know why we were in the plane and went back into the pilot’s cabin.  He came out again, rather excited and said “we are coming over the DZ when you get the light.  “Go!  Go!  Go!”  The plane seemed to be OK.  I had no trouble getting out.  I never saw the plane again after I jumped.

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Missing Air Crew Report 8409 lists C-47 43-30735 as having last been seen west of Etienville, France.  In reality, the plane crashed on the ground of the Frigot Farm, about two miles north-northwest of Carentan.  Several images of Butchski II’s crash site can be seen at TAPA Talk (“Meehan Crash Site“), while Mark Bando has this account at The Carrington News:  

C-47 #43-30735 (pilot Seymour M. Malakoff) belonged to the 75th TCS and was shot down during mission Albany on D-day.  Butchski II came down near Frigot Farm on D-Night, just north of the road that runs straight east toward Basse Addeville [La Basse Addeville] from Dead Man’s Corner.  The plane was carrying the stick of 3rd platoon H/501.  Capt. Seymour Malakoff, pilot, 2nd Lt. Thomas Tucker, co-pilot, 1st Lt. Eugene Gaul, navigator, Sgt. Paul Jacoway flight engineer, S/Sgt. Robert Walsh, radio … were all killed in the crash.  

All the troopers on board including Harry Plisevich, Len Morris, Robert Niles, Paul Solea, and Clarence Felt jumped before the ship went in.  Solea’s reserve chute opened accidentally in the plane, causing a four minute delay in jumping.  Due to the cloud banks and ground fire which brought down two other planes of the same serial carrying G/501st personnel [42-24077 and 43-30734], the plane had strayed off-course.  Butchski II was actually hit somewhere south of Carentan and then began a route bringing her NE, on an angle that took her above Addeville.  She then turned back west bound and the occupants of the Frigot farm on the north side of the road just west of the A13 overpass heard it go over their house before she crashed a few fields over.  There was a AA battery on the high ground just north of Chateau Bel Enault [Château Bellenau], which was pumping rounds at the plane as it turned west, losing altitude all the while, one of the troopers [Pvt. Fred J. DiPietro, 15354752?] that jumped was KIA shortly after landing between Baupte and Raffoville, when he knocked on the door of a French farmhouse and a German answered, probably with a pistol in his hand.  From Mark Bando…

These two air photos show the Frigot Farm, which lies at the intersection of D913 and Rue du Bel Esnault, bounded by rows of trees adjacent to each road.  Based on photos at TAPA Talk, the aircraft crashed adjacent to one of the two northwest-southeast oriented rows of trees subdividing the property: the long row in the very center of the image, or, the diminutive row in the farm’s southwest corner. 

This photo, at a smaller scale, shows the setting of the Frigot Farm relative to Château Bellenau, which is just southwest of La Basse Addeville.  

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Words and maps can only convey so much.  The photo below, also from Gardner’s book (as is the caption), shows the burnt-out wreckage of Captain Malakoff’s C-47 a few days after D-Day.  Little is left of the aircraft except for the fin, an outer portion of one wing, and fragments of bent and burned aluminum.  

“Pvt. Walter Hendrix from E Company 506th stands beside the burnt-out remains of 75th Troop Carrier Squadron C-47 “Butchski II”, which crashed near Frigot Farm on D-Day.  The plane was carrying men from H Company 501st, who all jumped to safety before it crashed.  Unfortunately its crew were not so fortunate and Capt. Seymour Malakoff (pilot), 2 Lt. Thomas Tucker (co-pilot), 1st Lt. Eugene Gaul (navigator), Sgt. Paul Jacoway (flight engineer) and S/Sgt. Robert Walsh (radio operator) all perished in the inferno.  (Forrest Guth picture, Carnetan Historical Center)”

I do find it notable that whereas the Times gives the nickname of Captain Malakoff’s C-47 as “Butchski“, Missing Air Crew Report 8409 and other sources list the aircraft’s name as “Butchski II“.  Whether this reflects an error in the Times’ article, or, the fact that there was an original “Butchski (one)” replaced by a C-47 dubbed “Butchski II” … in the tradition of so many USAAF WW II aircraft … I’ve no idea.   

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Captain Malakoff’s crew on this mission – their first, last, and only mission – comprised:

Co-Pilot: 2 Lt. Thomas A. Tucker, 0-686291, Buffalo, N.Y. (Born 1918)
Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, N.Y.

Navigator: 1 Lt. Eugene Edward Gaul, 0-807185, Newark, N.J. (Born 7/4/20)
Long Island National Cemetery, East Farmingdale, N.Y. – Plot H, Grave 7930

Flight Engineer: Sgt. Paul B. Jacoway, 39097783, Fort Smith, Ak. (Born 5/22/18)
Fort Smith National Cemetery, Fort Smith, Ar. – Section 4, Grave 2163

Radio Operator: S/Sgt. Robert Donald “Donny” Walsh, 37397005, Saint Louis, Mo. (Born 4/6/21)
Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Lemay, Mo. – Section OPS3, Grave 2307E

I’d suppose that his original crew, as listed in the Times, was broken up as a unit prior to D-Day, and distributed among other crews in the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron.  In any event, as mentioned above, all of Captain Malakoff’s original crewmen survived the war.  

Captain Malakoff is buried at Normandy American Cemetery, St. Laurent-sur-Mer, France, Plot F, Row 18, Grave 18.  Like Flight Officer Bush and Sergeant Lefkowitz, his name is absent from American Jews in World War II.  

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Perhaps inspired by the Times, on June 29 the Forvarts published the following news item about Lieutenant Malakoff.  Given the formal nature of the portrait, what with the fluffy white scarf and jauntily placed cap and headphones, this picture was probably taken during his pilot training in the United States – possibly upon his graduation from pilot training and commissioning as an officer – and before his assignment to the 435th Troop Carrier Group.  I suppose the picture was sent to his parents, who then provided the image to the Forvarts

Though I don’t know Yiddish, I think the approximate translation of the title is rather straightforward: Something to the effect of “Jewish Pilot Flies Airplane with Parachutists”.  The word “Butchski“, phoneticized in Yiddish, definitely appears in the article.  It’s in quotes in the third line from the bottom.   

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And now, submitted for your consideration:

The elephant in the living room.

…or…

The rhinoceros in the foyer.

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Getting back to the Times’ article.

Well, yeah. 

Captain Malakoff’s crew were most definitely “New Yorkers” by either residence or birth.  That’s explicitly stated in the Time’s article’s first paragraph.  That all but one of the airmen in the crew were Jews was, however, entirely left unmentioned.  Perhaps this “silence” about the coincidence of four Jewish airmen assigned to the same aircrew, in the European Theater of War, arose because it wasn’t even noticed to begin with.  (That, I seriously doubt.)  Perhaps it was deemed irrelevant.  (That is surely possible.)  Perhaps it was left unmentioned because the story’s anonymous author and editor adhered to and tacitly accepted the Times’ deeply animating ideology which has continued to negate an acceptance of Jewish peoplehood.  (Surely that’s possible too.) 

But still, in the cultural context of the forties and the next few decades (not so much any more),the phrase “New Yorker” was a verbal shorthand that not always, but not uncommonly had a certain Jewish connotation or “ring” to it – on occasion positive; sometimes ambivalent; perhaps neutral; sometimes negative – whether in politics, popular culture, or comedy.

Walter Winchell’s column, published three days after the Times’ story, made mention of David Lifschutz as a way of refuting Congressman John E. Rankin’s statements about American Jews.  But, even accounting for the fact that Winchell was a gossip columnist, something’s clearly “off” with with his article just as much as there is in the Times’ original story.  On a minor point, Butchski was a transport, not a bomber.  On a major point, obviously having combed the article for details, why did Winchell not deign to mention Seymour Malakoff, Saul Bush, and Lester Lefkowitz?  Given the length of his very long column – of which the above image is only a beginning snippet – why the silence about these three men?  Though my knowledge of Winchell’s life only comes from Wikipedia, what stands out from his biography is that despite – or perhaps as a consequence; perhaps as a cause – of his all-too-fleeting fame and social prominence (in a personal life characterized by turbulence and tragedy); despite his father having been a part-time cantor – his only real connection to Judaism and the Jewish people was in his ancestry. 

Plus, the Magen David on his Matzeva.  

Yet, there could be another explanation for the nature of the Times’ article: Perhaps there were aspects of the Times’ reporter’s conversation with the crew of Butchski – then unrecorded and now unknown – that never reached the printed page.  In this, I’m reminded of comments made to me by a Jewish WW II veteran who flew B-17s in the 8th Air Force, several of whose crew members were Jews, and whose brother (a ball turret gunner) and cousin (1st Lieutenant Morris Levesee also…) were killed in action while serving in the 15th and 8th Air Forces, respectively.

As he related in a late 1993 interview:

Me: Can you recall any other Jewish guys who were in your squadron, besides the guys in your crew?
Veteran: Oh yeah. Yeah. We had a…we had a guy; he was a navigator. A fellow by the name of Bill L.  And Bill L.…  Bill L.…  He had worked for the…he worked for the Daily… He had some kind of a job with the Daily News. …  The fact that he had worked for the newspaper, I guess, you know… He was… Let me see, how can I say it? You know, he wanted…he wanted in the worst way, to publicize…the fact… He hung onto my crew…because we had so many Jews.  And he wanted…he wanted to…you know, to throw out a lot of publicity about it and I turned him down, while we were overseas. And I said, “No, no, no. I don’t want to do that.”
The one thing that he did, and it was printed in the Brooklyn Daily Times, or Times Union…I forget what the hell the name of the paper was… He had a picture taken of Irving S. and myself…at the airplane, glancing at a…at a map, and he had written a small article. He and some other guy… I forget what the hell his name was. He was our…he was our PR man. He was also Jewish. And he was the squadron PR man.
And…and they…they had this little article, and they titled it as, “Brooklyn Flak Dodgers”, you know, and he was showing me how we could dodge the flak and all this other bullshit!, but… But it was never printed that way, in the paper. It was just printed…and I have a copy of it…it was printed just as, “Two… You know, as “Two Brooklynites on the Same Crew”. That’s all. Just some little article in the… And I have it someplace. I don’t know where.
And I have that picture, too. I have a copy of the picture.
Me: But he tended to want to socialize with your crew?
Veteran: No, no no no no. No, he didn’t… No, there was…there was no socializing at all. He…the only thing that he wanted to do… He wanted to, you know… I guess, he wanted…he wanted to write, about “this Jewish crew, that were doing ‘this’ and were doing ‘this’ and were doing, you know. And he wanted to…he wanted some sort of notoriety about it, and I didn’t want…I didn’t want it. I said, “No, I don’t care for it.”
I came in…I…I had…I had my brakes shot out on one mission. I had the hydraulic system that was just… My whole hydraulic system went bad, you know, just the…the fluid leaked out. It was shot up? And, I made, what they called…referred to as a…”Stars and Stripes Landing”, using a parachute to…you know, to…to slow me down so that I could…
Me: Out the waist windows or something like that?
Veteran: No no, out the tail. And we used that parachute out the tail, and he wanted to make a big tzimmis [Yiddish for fuss] about it, and I said, “No, I don’t want it Bill.” I said, “I’ll tell you what you do. Write a nice article about my tail gunner, who’s”…what the hell is his name?…P., Henry P.… I said, “Write an article about Henry P.; that P. threw his parachute out the tail, to slow us down so that we didn’t run off the runway.” And that was…that was it.
I didn’t want… I was kind of… You know, I was…superstitious about it, you know.
Me: About the Jewish angle being played up.
Veteran: Well, about any angle… I was superstitious about any kind of, really, publicity. You know, trying to make a…trying to make a hero out of us, you know?
Me: That it would be tempting fate?
Veteran: I think so, yes. That was my feeling.         

__________

_______________________

As mentioned above, the only casualty among Captain Malakoff’s original crewmen would eventually be his radio operator, S/Sgt. David Lifschutz.  Here’s his photo, from the Long Island Star Journal of June 14, 1945.

Remaining in the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron, S/Sgt. Lifschutz was a crew member aboard C-47A 43-48718 (the un-nicknamed CK * A) when, during the re-supply mission to American troops in Bastogne, Belgium on mid-afternoon of December 26, 1944, his plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire.  Coincidentally; ironically, S/Sgt. Lifschutz’s pilot this day was Captain Paul Warren Dahl, whose eyewitness account (see above) of the loss of Butchski II on D-Day figures so prominently in the Missing Air Crew Report for Captain Malakoff.  

This photo of the Dahl crew, dated June 17, 1944, is from Captain Paul Dahl, 75th TCS, 435th TCG, at Honouring IX Troop Carrier Command

Unfortunately, the only person actually identified in the photo is the Captain himself, at center rear.  This photo of Captain Dahl, from his biography at FindAGrave, was taken while he was a flying cadet.

Even if names can’t be correlated to faces, I think it’s possible to attach names to faces based on information in the relevant Missing Air Crew Report, number 11322. 

Along with Captain Dahl and S/Sgt. Lifschutz on the December mission were the following men:

Co-Pilot: 2 Lt. William L. Murtaugh, 0-809998
Navigator: 1 Lt. Zeno Hardy Rose, Jr., 0-807314
Flight Engineer: T/Sgt. George T. Gazarian, 31125533
Passenger: Sgt. John J. Walsh, 36321092, member of 3rd Air Cargo Resupply Squadron

Missing Air Crew Report 11322, covering the loss of this aircraft, includes accounts by three crewmen of a nearby C-47, as well as detailed reports by Captain Dahl and Lt. Murtaugh.  The latter two men, along with Lt. Rose and Sgt. Walsh, landed by parachute in no-man’s-land between German and American forces, but were immediately saved from death or capture by soldiers from the 318th Infantry Regiment of the 80th Infantry Division.  It turned out that Captain Dahl, Lt. Murtaugh, and Sergeant Walsh were wounded either when their plane was struck by anti-aircraft fire, or, injured when they landed by parachute, all having bailing out from an extremely low altitude.  Murtaugh was most seriously hurt, but Navigator Zeno Rose was much more fortunate, emerging from the ordeal unwounded.  

This report about the men’s rescue was filed by the Adjutant of the 435th Troop Carrier Group on January 2, 1945, when the status of the plane’s two other crewmen – S/Sgt. Lifschitz and T/Sgt. Gazarian – was still “Missing in Action”:

2 January 1945.

1st Lt Zeno H Rose, 0807314, 75th Troop Carrier Squadron, this organization, reported “Missing in Action” on “Missing Air Crew Report”, this headquarters, dared 28 December 1944, has returned to this organization.

The following is extracted from interrogation of Lt Rose and is submitted as supplemental to “Missing Air Crew Report”.

“We took off from Station 474 about 1211 BST, 26 December 1944, and flew as the lead ship of the right element of the 75th TC Squadron in the 435th formation.  About two end one half minutes before we reached the DZ at Bastogne, Belgium, we were subjected to enemy fire from both light machine gun and light flak.  Both types of fire were effectively hitting our airplane knocking out the instrument panel on the right side, and at that time, the co-pilot, Lt Murtaugh, was hit by both MG and AA fire that broke his right shoulder or collar bone.  This caused profuse bleeding and severe pain, however, Lt Murtaugh remained at his position and carried on his duties.  At this scene time, the flak burst hit me, although the injury was slight.

Our bundles both in the pararacks and the cabin were ejected over the DZ about 1525 BST.  We made a sharp right turn and were in formation on the ran out when about 2-1/2 minutes from the DZ light flak burst in the cockpit, most probably severing the fuel lines, knocking out the instruments, wounding Captain Dahl and starting fires in the forward part of the airplane.  Captain Dahl rolled the trim tab back checked the power which was already on full, and gave the order and signal for balling out.

I quickly proceeded to the cabin door and saw that the enlisted men had net yet jumped; they seemed to be hesitant possibly because of our altitude.  There was no hesitancy on my part so without further thought, I jumped and was followed by the enlisted men.  (I later learned that the enlisted men were followed by Lt Murtaugh and then Captain Dahl.)  It seemed that we were about three hundred and fifty feet above the ground at that time and my parachute opened instantly.  During my descent to the ground I could hear enemy bullets whizzing past.  I landed near some woods southwest of Bastogne and north of Assenois at approximately P325545, which at that time was between our lines and these of the enemy.  There was a great deal of fire coming toward me so I feinted dead until I could become oriented.

Captain Dahl, Lt Murtaugh and Sgt Walsh landed at a position about 100 yards southeast of my landing near or in the woods and they were picked up by the same organization that joined me.  Captain Dahl had a broken arm, some wounds and lacerations from flak and burns about the nape of his neck; Lt Murtaugh had the broken shoulder, several flak wounds about the face and a sprained ankle, and Sgt Walsh had a broken leg.  All three as well as myself were given medical aid at the Aid Station, then sent to a clearance station, then to a field hospital and then to the 103rd Hospital about forty miles south of Bastogne.

Before departing from the area in which we landed, we were told that the parachute of one of the men had not opened and that in the case of the sixth man, that he had landed closer to the enemy lines and that he had been taken prisoner or had been killed by the enemy.”

Lt Rose interrogated by Captain Clement A. Erb, Intelligence Officer, 75th Troop Carrier squadron, this organization.

The members of this air crew were flying in aircraft C-47A, No. 43-48713, organizations and present status indicated; crew position indicated:

Dahl, Paul W., Captain, 0 401 356, Pilot, 75th TC Sq “SWA”
Murtaugh, William L., 2d Lt., 0 809 998, Co-Pilot, 75th 7C Sq “SWA”
Rose, Zeno H., 1st Lt., 0 807 314, Navigat., 75th TC Sq “RTD”
Gazarian, George T., S/Sgt., 31 125 533, Aer Eng, 75th TC Sq “MIA”
Lifschutz, David., T/Sgt., 12 147 259, Rad Opr., 75th TC Sq “MIA“

Sgt John J. Walsh, 3rd Air Cargo Re-Supply Squadron, was flying on subject aircraft, and was reported as battle casualty by his organization.

MACR 11322 includes the following map, indicating that the C-47 crashed just west of what is today highway N4, north of Remonfosse and east of Assenois.  

This Apple air photo shows Assenois at lower left center, Remonfosse to the east, and Bastogne to the north.  The blue circle indicates the approximate area where the crew landed by parachute – as suggested by the MACR – while the black circle indicates the (again) approximate crash location of C-47A 43-48718.  

The status of Sergeants Lifschutz and Gazarian, like Captain Dahl on their 9th mission, was uncertain at least through March of 1945.  However, the fate of both Sergeants was established by the war’s end, as revealed in the Individual Casualty Questionnaires as completed by Lt. Rose and incorporated into MACR 11322.  (Rose’s are the only such Questionnaires in the MACR.)  

Sergeant Gazarian (31125533) was killed, either in an unsuccessful parachute jump, or due to ground fire from German troops.  Given that witnesses reported seeing five, and not six, parachutes, the cause was most likely the former.  Born on January 3, 1907, the thirty-seven year old sergeant from Waterbury Ct., is buried at Old Pine Grove Cemetery, Waterbury, Ct.

S/Sgt. Lifschutz was immediately captured on landing, as revealed in Lt. Rose’s Questionnaire.  Given that he and Lt. Rose met one another on May 12, 1945, perhaps he returned to the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron after his liberation, while en route back to the United States. 

The very fact that Lt. Rose was able to record a full list of S/Sgt. Lifschutz’s missions, which were completely identical in date and number to those flown by T/Sgt. Gazarian and Captain Dahl, suggests that Lifschutz, Gazarian, Rose, and Dahl had been members of the same crew commencing with the Normandy invasion.  Thus – following that logic – with the exception of Lt. Murtaugh, for whom the flight of December 26 was his first (and only?) mission – these are the men who appear in the photo of the Dahl crew: Gazarian and Lifschutz in front.      

The POW camp in which S/Sgt. Lifschutz was interned is unknown, but that he was a POW is solidly verified by the standard Luftgaukommando Report form “Meldung über den Abschuss eines US-amerikanischen Flugzueges“(“Report About the Shooting Down of a US Airplane”), in report KU 1214A.  The Report also includes a crew list for C-47 43-48718, which includes Captain Dahl’s serial number.  Oddly, an English-language transcription of this document can be found in MACR 11322, but the original sheet is missing from the actual Luftgaukommando Report.    

(Digressing…  The “A” suffix seems to have been used in Luftgaukommando Reports covering aircraft which had multiple crewmen – as opposed to single-seat fighters – in situations for which some crewmen were known to have evaded capture, or were otherwise unaccounted for, at the time the report was initially filed.)

Here’s S/Sgt. Lifschutz’s dog-tag. 

Yes, it bears the letter “H”.

The Long Island Star Journal reported upon the Sergeant’s liberation and impending return in its issue of June 14, 1945, in a brief article which featured his portrait.

Bastogne Captive Awaits Return

Staff Sergeant David Lifchutz of Jackson Heights, who was captured Dec. 24 after he bailed out from his burning plane over Bastogne, was liberated April 29 and is in England awaiting shipment home.

A radio operator on a C-47 transport plane, the 23-yeard-old airman had flown over Holland, France and Germany in the year and a half he had been overseas.  He wears the Air Medal with one cluster.

A graduate of Public School 126, Jackson Heights, Long Island City High School and the Hebrew Technical Institute, which is now a part of New York University, Sergeant Lifchutz worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a shipfitter before entering the Army in 1943.

He is the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Ephraim Lifchutz of 32-17 77th Street.

OOOOOOOO

I don’t know anything at all about the subsequent course of David Lifschutz’s life, but I suppose that given the passage of time, following the way of all men, he has passed into history. 

But, it’s nice to remember a little bit longer.

Two Books.

Dublin, Louis I., and Kohs, Samuel C., American Jews in World War II – The Story of 550,000 Fighters for Freedom, The Dial Press, New York, N.Y., 1947

Gardner, Ian, and Day, Roger, Tonight We Die as Men: The Untold Story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Toccoa to D-Day, Osprey, Oxford, England, 2010 (see pages 153-155)

Digression Three…

In light of my post about Destination Tokyo, I’m contemplating a post about James Jones’ 1962 novel, The Thin Red Line, which was the basis of the 1964 film by Andrew Marton, and, the 1998 film by Terrence Malik.  I’ve not seen either film (!), but I’m particularly curious about the 1998 version in light of Malick – as touched upon in weirdly brief passing by Peter Biskind at Vanity Fair – having “…changed Stein [Captain Bugger Stein], a Jewish captain, to Staros, an officer of Greek extraction, thereby gutting Jones’s indictment of anti-Semitism in the military, which the novelist had observed close-up in his own company.”  This is in light of the many, many (did I say “many”?!) passages in the novel centered upon Captain Stein, by which Jones, a fantastic writer, with clear and obvious intent explored the officer’s experiences with tremendous perception, depth, and empathy.

So, in 1998, why was Captain Bugger Stein missing in action from The Thin Red Line?

A Controversy of Zion: Zionism and Its Foes, in The Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia) VI – January 15, 1943: The “Bogey” of Zionism, by Rabbi Simon Greenberg

A Controversy of Zion – VI

“Rabbi Schachtel claims that he does not know what Zionists mean
when they speak of the “historic homelessness of the Jews.”
Jewish tradition records that there were also some Israelites,
close to the ruling powers in Egypt,
who could not understand why Moses wanted to take them out of that land.
They were quite at home even in Egypt.”

***

“There is also in both articles the expressed or implied fear
that the existence of a Jewish homeland will encourage anti-Semites to persecute us
and force our expulsion from the countries in which we now live.
In that regard there is this simple historic fact to remember.
The absence of a Jewish homeland these 1800 years
never restricted the hands of our persecutors.”

***

“Why some Jews should be ready to join the enemies of their people
in open combat against the hope that has sustained their fathers through 1800 years of persecution
no one will ever be able to fully explain.
The phenomenon belong to those dark mysteries of the human soul
which under the cover of idealism and resounding phraseology
can turn a man to hate against himself, or the nearest of his kind.

The sixth and final of the Jewish Exponent’s series of articles about Zionism, and, Anti-Zionism, among American Rabbis in the early 1940s brings us to an essay by Rabbi Simon Greenberg, the President of the “Philadelphia Zionist Organization” (a local chapter of the Zionist Organization of America?), in response to Rabbi Hyman J. Schachtel’s essay in the Exponent’s prior issue. 

Rabbi Greenberg performs a thorough job of refuting Rabbi Schachtel’s arguments, touching upon issues such as the status of the remaining Jews of Europe subsequent to German’s surrender, and – I think this is important – the way Rabbi Schachtel in his denial of Jewish homelessness in the United States, England, Russia, and Poland (did the Jews of Poland genuinely feel so at home?; were they perceived as such by non-Jewish Poles?) completely and I think calculatedly glosses over the actual pre-WW II status of the Jews of Germany, the countries of Eastern Europe, and, Yemen.  

Then, Rabbi Greenberg discusses the concern, expressed or implied, that the reestablishment of a Jewish nation-state will engender antisemitism and cause the expulsion of Jews from countries in which they live.  His rejoinder is very astute: The absence of a Jewish homeland these 1800 years never restricted the hands of our persecutors. … The treatment we receive at the hands of our fellow citizens will and does depend exclusively upon the degree of humanity and democracy prevailing amongst them and not upon whether there is or is not a place to which they can send us.”

But, the central thrust of his essay addresses an issue touched upon by neither Rabbi Schachtel nor Exponent columnist Al Segal, an issue refreshingly unrelated to the idea the purpose for the re-establishment of a Jewish state would simply to be to provide a refuge for Jews suffering persecution. 

Rabbi Greenberg sees far beyond this, realizing that beyond political security lie aspects of human nature, whether individual or collective, that speak to facets of human experience that cannot be understood in a purely material sense.  Namely: “Hence, even though democracy were to be fully implemented all over the world, they [the Jewish people] would still want one spot where their own cultural and religious traditions would have an opportunity for normal development equal to that which all other spiritual and cultural traditions have in areas where they can claim the majority of the population.”

THE “BOGEY” OF ZIONISM

By RABBI SIMON GREENBERG

The Jewish Exponent
January 15, 1943

EDITOR’S NOTE: – The following article by the President of the Philadelphia Zionist Organization is in reply to an article by Rabbi Hyman J. Schachtel of New York, which appeared in last week’s issue of The Jewish Exponent.  Rabbi Schachtel is a member of the newly formed Council for American Judaism, who stated the position of his group in an article titled, “We Reject Zionism.”  Rabbi Greenberg’s article also contains an answer to last week’s “Plain Talk” column by Al Segal.

The recent activities of the handful of anti-Zionist rabbis and laymen have stirred the deepest passions and profoundest emotions.  It is not easy, therefore, to analyze their arguments of motives with a calm, intellectual objectivity.  But since they insist in pressing their views upon public attention, discussion with them, unfortunate as it may be in this tragic hour of Jewish history, cannot be avoided.

The Jewish Exponent and I presume many other Anglo-Jewish weeklies throughout the country, recently published two statements which attempted further to clarify the position of the anti-Zionist group.  One was written by Rabbi Hyman J. Schachtel, the other by a layman, Al Segal.

The original contribution to the discussion made by Rabbi Schachtel is summarized in the following paragraph:  “If Europe is emancipated, if Europe after the war has a new birth of freedom, there will be no need for artificial lands of refuge for forced migrants.  If Europe and the world are not so emancipated, then there is no refuge anywhere.”  Rabbi Schachtel thus apparently bases his opposition to a Jewish commonwealth on the proposition that no matter what happens the Jews of Europe will or should remain in Europe after the war.  If the Nazis win, Jews have “no refuge anywhere”.  If the Nazis lose “Europe will be emancipated” and there will be no need for Jews to leave it.  Since I cannot imagine a Nazi victory there is no point in discussing the first alternative.  But what will be the situation when the inevitable Nazi defeat occurs?  Zionists, like all democrats, of course, expect the Jews of Europe to have their full citizenship rights restored.  Moreover, Zionists have no desire to see Europe of any other part of the world become “Judenrein”; free of Jews.  If after the war there will be no Jews who will want to leave Europe, and no Jews anywhere else who will want or need to go to Palestine, then the whole problem will of itself be solved.  Certainly no Jewish commonwealth can be established in Palestine, if there are no Jews who want to go to live there.  And surely no Zionist will tolerate the thought that Jews should in any way be forced to migrate to any place.  Zionists were the first to denounce publicly the position taken by the Polish government in the pre-war days that Poland had a “surplus” of one million Jews.  But just as vigorously as we reject a policy of “forced migration”, would we also reject a policy of “forced fixation”.  Is Rabbi Schachtel’s thought that with Europe emancipated no Jew and no European should be permitted to migrate anywhere outside of Europe?  Or is his opinion that with political liberty restored to Europe no European will need or want to leave his native land?  Obviously neither of the two positions can be maintained.  The defeat of the Nazis should mean a world more widely open that ever before for the free flow of men and goods.  And obviously there will be a great outpouring of Europeans who will need and desire the opportunity to find physical and spiritual renewal in other parts of the globe.

In these matters the Zionists, the so-called “romantic dreamers”, attempt to be realists.  They heed the warnings of the best authoritative observers.  There seems to be practical unanimity of opinion that after the war a large percentage of the Jews remaining in Europe will for sociological, psychological, or economic reasons want to and have to find new homes for themselves.  As a matter of fact, many non-Zionist Jewish bodies are engaged even now in looking about for possible countries of immigration for the Jews of post-war Europe.

Rabbi Schachtel claims that he does not know what Zionists mean when they speak of the “historic homelessness of the Jews.”  Jewish tradition records that there were also some Israelites, close to the ruling powers in Egypt, who could not understand why Moses wanted to take them out of that land.  They were quite at home even in Egypt.  “American Jews,” the rabbi says, “are not homeless”.  Every American Zionist will heartily agree with him.  The same is true of the British Jews.  But I wonder whether Dr. Schachtel is on equally safe ground when he speaks of Polish Jews?  Even with minority rights granted them at the end of the last war, and with further constitutional guarantees provided for the Jews of other central and eastern European countries, there was never a year in which there were not four and five times as many Jews from these countries asking for admission to Palestine as were granted the much-sought-for vise!  Homelessness, the rabbi writes, is not “a mystical concept”… derived from an abstract philosophy but from the realty of persecution.  Quite right.  Ask the Jews of Yemen today, or of Poland and Roumania and Germany of yesterday.

We were quite aware in 1918 that a new era of human brotherhood has dawned.  We were sadly disappointed.  I pray fervently and daily that we may not be disappointed this time.  But while my religion teaches me to expect miracles it warns me against depending upon them, or even against expecting them when other avenues of help are available.  Hence through the restoration of equal political rights to the Jews of post-war Europe is the least we expect from the defeat of the Nazis.  I do not feel that we have the right to depend entirely upon that, and to neglect any other possibility which may be available for further securing the future of all or many of these, our grief-stricken brethren.

There is also in both articles the expressed or implied fear that the existence of a Jewish homeland will encourage anti-Semites to persecute us and force our expulsion from the countries in which we now live.  In that regard there is this simple historic fact to remember.  The absence of a Jewish homeland these 1800 years never restricted the hands of our persecutors.  It did not restrain Torquemada in 1492, nor the Czaristic government in the 19th century.  Nor the Nazis in the 20th.  Certainly then the argument that the existence of a Jewish commonwealth will increase Jewish persecution gets no corroboration from Jewish history.  Nor would my self-respect permit me to remain at ease even in America if for a moment I felt that the only reason I am permitted to live here is because my fellow citizens have no place to which to eject me.  Such a thought, I feel, is not merely a deep wound in my own dignity, but a grievous insult to my fellow citizens.  The treatment we receive at the hands of our fellow citizens will and does depend exclusively upon the degree of humanity and democracy prevailing amongst them and not upon whether there is or is not a place to which they can send us.

But there is a kind of “homelessness” which a rabbi in particular should be able to understand, even though he is not physically molested.  Physical and political and even economic security are not the whole sum and substance of life, important as these are.  Henry James and a goodly number of other 19th century American intellectuals did not feel at home in America in the 19th century.  Now, strange as it may appear to Rabbi Schachtel and others, there are some Jews, particularly among the much-harassed Jews of central and eastern Europe, who do not find in political and physical security all that they want in life.  They would, for example, like to speak Hebrew, and to have Hebrew as one of the world’s modern languages.  They want it to be a medium for the expression of a full cultural and spiritual life in every possible way.  There are Jews who would like to have one spot in the world where the Sabbath would have the same status that Sunday has in America, and where Passover, and Rosh Hashanna, and Hanukah fit as normally into the pattern of their lives as Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving day fit into the normal pattern of our lives here.  There are many Jews who are as deeply concerned for the preservation and the further development of the Hebrew culture and the pattern of life developed in the Torah and in later Rabbinic literature, as they are for the preservation of the physical existence of the Jewish people as such.  Hence, even though democracy were to be fully implemented all over the world, they would still want one spot where their own cultural and religious traditions would have an opportunity for normal development equal to that which all other spiritual and cultural traditions have in areas where they can claim the majority of the population.  Nor does that in any way reflect upon the appreciation of the peoples among whom they live as equal citizens of the state, nor upon their while-hearted loyalty to the democratic government under which they live.  A normal human being’s desire to build his own home after he marries, even though his parents may offer him a part of their spacious home, is not considered a reflection upon his love for or his loyalty to his parents.

From Mr. Segal’s article we gather that the one thing which stirs the darkest forebodings in the minds of the anti-Zionists is the concept “Jewish Commonwealth” or “Jewish State”.  They dread the possibility of being accused of a double allegiance, of being “lumped together” with another political entity in the minds of their fellow citizens.  Let us examine this bogey, “Jewish State” or “Jewish Commonwealth” for a moment.  Do the anti-Zionists have a clear notion of what the concepts imply in the light of the actual situation in Palestine, or the new world conditions which will come after the war?  If they do, I would like to know their opinions.  They would, I am sure, be very helpful.  Mr. Segal and others may be interested in knowing that among Zionists themselves there has never been any unanimity of opinion on the definition of “Jewish State” or “Jewish Commonwealth”.  They only things on which there is unanimity of opinion among Zionists are: (1) Political conditions with Palestine and within the framework of international relations should be established which would make it possible for as many Jews to enter Palestine as freely desire to do so, and as the economic possibilities of the country could maintain.  (2) No artificial obstacles should prevent the Jews from ever becoming the majority population in Palestine.  (3) The Jewish majority in Palestine should have the right to govern itself, it being clearly understood that nothing would ever be done in any way to impair the political, the economic, and the cultural rights of any of the other inhabitants of Palestine.

There are all kinds of plans being worked on for the future political relationship between the Jews and the Arabs of Palestine.  There are schemes for a bi-national State, and plans for an International Commission that might act as the impartial arbitrator to all matters of dispute between the two populations.  No one at present can envision all of the details of the practical implementation either of the Zionist Basle Program, or of the Balfour Declaration.  Much, of course, will depend upon the nature of the international organization which will emerge after the war.  But does it seem fair for Jews in America because of a fear which has no basis in the experiences either of our people or of any other people now to insist that until the end of time the Jews of Palestine, no matter what their number, may never exercise those political powers and rights which any other group in the world, religious or non-religious, has always considered a normal, and inalienable right and privilege?  Is this a dignified and courageous attitude?

Mr. Segal is very explicit in expressing his fear that if there will be a “Jewish State,” the Jews of America will “be counted in, or counted out, as a people who are somehow of another nation and another country”.  Strange that no Irishman in the United States seems to worry because Eire has now practically become independent.  No American Pole fighting for Polish independence, or Czech, or Frenchman has that fear.  Mr. Segal has the same fear that the German Jew once had about being “lumped together” with “Ost Juden,” East European Jews.  What logical basis does Mr. Segal have for his fear that if there will be a self-governing Jewish group in Palestine, American – Jewish loyalty to America will then be under greater suspicion than the loyalty of the Englishman, or Frenchman, or Pole to America?

Moreover, Mr. Segal does not object to Jews building colonies or planting forests in Palestine.  He dreads only the thought that the Jews in Palestine may have the political power necessary to enlarge and develop and protect these forests and colonies.  Mr. Segal seems to imply that if the Jews of Palestine as a community do not have any of the rights and powers usually associated with a state or a commonwealth, they will have the good will and friendship of their neighbors.  Otherwise they will be ever beset by “hostile and resentful elements”.  Does Jewish or general human history bear out the assumption that the friendship of one’s neighbors increases in proportion to one’s weakness and defenseless?

Finally, may I say that what Zionists resent most deeply, and consider nothing less than a vicious traitorous libel, is the implication, as well as the explicit statement made by anti-Zionists, which question the sincerity and the wholeheartedness of a Zionist’s American patriotism.  Such a statement as the following, made by Mr. Segal, is what we have in mind.  He (Mr. Segal) “simply cannot think of any other national allegiance but American.  He is not of Palestine at all.”  With men like the late Justice Louis D. Brandeis, and the present Justice Felix Frankfurter, and Judge Julian W. Mack, and a vast host of other outstanding leaders in American civic and political life, having been so intimately and definitely identified with the Zionist movement, can Mr. Segal and his like still continue to talk even in the vaguest terms of the American Zionist as one who has “other national allegiance but American?”  It might be of interest to know that of all of the charges brought against Mr. Brandeis by his many enemies, when his career was so punctiliously scrutinized before his appointment to the Supreme Court was ratified by the Senate, no one thought of accusing him of a double allegiance because of his Zionism  That form of attack on Zionism, we repeat again, belongs to the meanest and lowest type of libel.
Zionists can very well agree with Rabbi Schachtel, when he says that, “what we want for the Jews after this war is what we want for all the people.  We want a world in which Jews, wherever they may be, are free citizens entitled to the same privileges and subject to the same responsibilities of all other free citizens.  Now one of the rights and privileges enjoyed by free citizens everywhere is to establish their own governments and to govern their own cultural, social and political life.  We want that right for the Jewish community of Palestine, just as surely as the American Czechs want it for the Czechs in Czecho-Slovakia, and the Poles want it for the Poles in Poland.

The governments of the world through the Balfour Declaration and the Palestine Mandate have recognized that by virtue of historic associations and present needs, the Jews have an inherent right to enjoy the privileges of self-government in Palestine.  Why some Jews should be ready to join the enemies of their people in open combat against the hope that has sustained their fathers through 1800 years of persecution no one will ever be able to fully explain.  The phenomenon belong to those dark mysteries of the human soul which under the cover of idealism and resounding phraseology can turn a man to hate against himself, or the nearest of his kind.  Where else are we to look for an explanation of the action of spiritual and lay leaders of a people who in the hour of its direst need seek to crush its fondest hope, and help to close the gates to the one spot on earth which can and does offer immediate refuge to their bruised and beaten bodies.

Life, and Fate, and Life Again – A Biography from the East: Karel BORSKÝ (“Kurt BIHELLER”) of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, 1921-2001

My prior post, presenting the diary of Sergeant Alfred Elsner of the 1st Czechoslovak Brigade, 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, who died of wounds during the The Second Battle of Kiev in early November of 1943, makes mention of and includes comments by two other Jewish soldiers who served in the same unit.  These men are Dr. Michal Stemmer (Stepanek), who served in a mortar company in the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Brigade, and Karel Borský, a career soldier in the Czech military who changed his name to “Kurt Biheller” after January, 1946, and eventually attained the rank of colonel.

By way of explanation, here’s a passage and photo from that post which touches upon Borský’s service in the Brigade:

“Borsky, in 1943 a Sergeant and deputy commander of the anti-tank company of the 1st field battalion, 1st Brigade, due to his skill in amateur photography – and under the suggestion of Sgt. Jaroslav Procházka – became a photographer for the brigade newspaper Naše vojsko v SSSR (Our Army in the USSR) because until then the Czech unit was dependent for battle photographs on Soviet photojournalists.  The photo below, from Rota Nazdar (“Hello Company”), shows him standing before a T-34 tank (early version, with 76mm gun and “mickey-mouse” appearing turret hatches) prior to the battle for Kiev. 

The caption: “Sergeant Karel Biheller-Borský (May 13, 1921–August 9, 2001), photographer 1. Czechoslovak brigade in the USSR before the attack on Kiev. On November 5, 1943, he was advancing directly in the first line of infantry of the 2nd Field Battalion and while taking documentary pictures of the battles, he was severely wounded by fragments of an artillery shell.  His camera disappeared, so no photograph is known directly from the brigade’s battles near Kiev.”  (Četař Karel Biheller-Borský (13. 5. 1921–9. 8. 2001), fotograf 1. čs. brigády v SSSR před útokem na Kyjev. Dne 5. 11. 1943 postupoval přímo v prvním sledu pěchoty 2. polního praporu a při pořizování dokumentárních snímků z bojů, byl těžce raněn střepinami dělostřeleckého granátu. Jeho fotoaparát zmizel a tak přímo z bojů brigády u Kyjeva není známa žádná fotografie.)”

But, there’s much more to Borský’s story.  This can be found in the 2005 publication Vojenské osobnosti československého odboje. 1939–1945 (Military Personalities of the Czechoslovak Resistance. 1939–1945), which was compiled as a cooperative effort of the Prague and Bratislava Military Historical Institutes, under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic – Military Information and Services Agency.  (Well, I think that’s the organizational hierarchy!)  Available in PDF, the near-350-page book is comprised of biographies of soldiers who served in Czechoslovakian military units – ground and air – in service of the Soviet Union and Western Allies during the Second World War, some of whom survived, and others – like Squadron Leader Otto Smik – who did not.  I haven’t counted the number of biographies in the book (!), but suffice to say that given there are 1 to 2 per page, there are very many. 

As a work of historical scholarship the book is superb.  Most of the biographies are accompanied by a photo of the pertinent soldier, and, all include bibliographical references.  The biography is enormous, and, the book also includes an appendix featuring Czech military acronyms and abbreviations.  (Which really helps, if you don’t speak Czech.)

It’s a fascinating book.  Download it.

Here’s the cover…

 

Karel Borsky / Kurt Biheller’s biography can be found on page 25 of Vojenské osobnosti československého odboje. 1939–1945.  To provide a greater understanding of his military service in the context of the Second Battle of Kiev, as well as the daunting challenges and subsequent successes of his postwar life, I’ve translated the text via Oogle Translate.  This follows below, accompanied by the original Czech text.  

But first (!)…

…here’s a 1984 interview of Borsky / Biheller at Moderni Dějiny (Modern History), entitled “CZ 1939 04 Nisko Karel Borsky”, I believe conducted by or under the supervision of the USC Shoah Foundation.  Though it’s in Czech and absent of translation, I believe it pertains to Czechoslovakian Jewry in April of 1939.  

Borsky / Biheller wrote a book of fiction based on his wartime experiences, entitled Zítra začne obyčejný den (Tomorrow Starts An Ordinary Day).  Published in 1984, it’s available through Antikvariát Avion.  

____________________

So, on to his biography. 

First, the English translation.

Then, the Czech original.

____________________

English

BIHELLER Kurt, BORSKÝ Karel – second lieutenant of infantry in reserve (retired brigadier general), commander of the 2nd infantry company of the 4th infantry battalion of the 3rd Czechoslovak Army separate brigade in the USSR, commander of the command battery of the 5th Corps Artillery Regiment.

* 13/5/1921 Fryštát, today Karviná
† 9/8/2001 Prague

Kurt Biheller (he applied for a name change in January 1946) grew up in the Silesian Free State.  Between 1933 and 1937 he graduated from a four-year grammar school in Ostrava and then two years at a business academy.

The German occupation hit Borský’s family immediately in the first days, when his father Josef, a Russian legionnaire who later died in a concentration camp, was arrested by the Gestapo.  Because of his origin, the 18-year-old Karel was also imprisoned in a concentration camp near the Polish city of Nisko, from where he managed to escape in October 1939, then cross the border and get to Lviv, then occupied by the Soviets.  In this city, he worked as a window-dresser for a chain of several large restaurants until, like many other refugees, he was detained by the NKVD authorities in the spring of 1940 and transported to a labor camp in Parsov (Ivanovsk region).

Here, Russian, Polish, but also Czechoslovak prisoners were so-called building socialism – the Volga-Don Canal – under harsh, even brutal, and often humiliating conditions.  Paradoxically, like several others, Borský and his friend from the Free State, Boris Fingar, were saved from the cruel environment of the camp by the amnesty announced for Polish citizens based on the convention between the Polish foreign government in London and the government of the USSR.  They managed to convince the camp commander that their birthplace, like the whole of Chisinau, now belonged to Poland and therefore they are Polish citizens.  The gate of the camp was therefore opened and the former prisoners were given, in addition to relative freedom, the opportunity to work in Makhachkala, the capital of the Dagestan ASSR, located on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

In Makhachkala, Borský, who was employed in a leather processing factory, learned from a Moscow radio broadcast about the formation of a Czechoslovak military unit in the USSR.  It was January 1942, after a series of administrative procedures, he received the necessary documents and a ticket to Buzuluk.  He left Makhachkala on May 11, 1942.

On June 29, he arrived in Buzuluk in the Urals for conscription.  In the currently forming 1st Czechoslovak separate field battalion was soldier Karel Borský (registration number 866) assigned to the 2nd platoon of the 3rd company.  The platoon was commanded by Captain Oldřich Kvapil and the company Lt. Vladimir Janko.  Understandably, he went through the demanding training of an ordinary soldier and, in addition, as an observer of his platoon, also a gas course.

In March 1943, he took part in the first performance of the Czech Republic soldiers on the Soviet-German front near Kharkiv.  In the battle for Sokolovo, he performed his task as a liaison officer with exemplary courage and in heavy fire penetrated forward positions several times with an important message, for which he received his first award – the Czechoslovak medal for bravery in the face of the enemy.

When in Novochopersk in May 1943, the 1st Czechoslovak Army independent brigade was formed, an officers’ school was set up at the unit, of which Private Borský also became a student, who completed the school with good grades and had so far been promoted to the rank of corporal, as the appointment of all graduates as second lieutenants was negotiated with the Ministers of National Defense in London at length.

Although Borský was now assigned the rank of sergeant as deputy commander of the anti-tank company of the 1st field battalion, armed with anti-tank rifles, his further fate was decided more or less by chance.  In his spare time, he devoted himself to amateur photography and also took several pictures of the life of Czechoslovak soldiers, which caught the attention of the head of the education department of the 1st Brigade, Sgt. Jaroslav Procházka.  He urgently needed a photographer for the brigade newspaper “Our Army in the USSR”, because until then the Czechoslovak unit was dependent on the shots of Soviet photojournalists.  Thanks to Borský, there are images from the training of the artillery section, the first armored vehicles of the tank battalion and especially a very successful photo report from the ceremonial handing over of the battle flag to the 1st Brigade on 12 September and from the parade before the departure of the brigade to the front on 30 September.

When on November 5, 1943, the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, was jointly attacked with the divisions of the 51st Rifle Corps and the 1st Czechoslovak Army independent brigade, he was advancing directly in the first line of infantry of the 2nd Field Battalion, while taking documentary pictures directly from the battles [and] was seriously injured in the back by shrapnel from an exploding artillery shell.  After the operation at the brigade infirmary, which was carried out by the chief physician of the unit, Lt. MD František Engel, he was evacuated to a sanatorium in Kazan (Tatar ASSR), where he recovered from his injuries until January 1944.  At that time, he ended treatment at his own request.  After the battle for Kiev, he was promoted to the rank of company officer and awarded the first Czechslovak 1939 War Cross 1939 (March 13, 1944).

Junior non-commissioed officer Borský did not return to the 1st Czechoslovak brigade, as he was appointed commander of the PT company of the accompanying weapons battalion of the replacement regiment of the Czechoslovak Republic then considered the germ of the 3rd Czechoslovak separate brigades in the USSR.  When the 3rd brigade was actually established in Sadagura, on 5/28 Karel Borský received the rank of Second Lieutenant of Infantry and shortly after he became the commander of the 2nd Company of the 4th Infantry Battalion.  The soldiers of the company mostly came from the ranks of the Volyn Czechs and were almost without exception complete novices.  The next three months were therefore devoted to their training.

In August 1944 in the Polish village of Wjackowice Lt. Borský met Anna Branková, after her mother Češka, whom he married at the beginning of September.  Anna joined the ranks of the 1st Czechoslovak Army army corps and served first with the corps liaison battalion.

On August 8 the Carpathian-Dukel operation began, in the beginning of which both infantry brigades suffered heavy losses, especially in the infantry.  The 2nd company was also not spared, and on September 10 its commander was wounded in the side by a fragment of an artillery shell or a mine, in the area behind Machnówka.

With his injury still unhealed, after three weeks at the turn of September and October, he took command of his company and took part in the advance through the Dukelský pass to Nižné Komarník.  On Czechoslovak territory on October 6 Lt. Borský was hit by three [fragments of] shrapnel from an anti-personnel mine and was again hospitalized in the field hospital in Poljanka, where he also received treatment for his injuries from September.  At Dukla, Karel Borský was nominated for his second Czechoslovak title, the 1939 War Cross.

After his recovery, he was appointed commander of the command battery of the 5th Corps Artillery Regiment, which was just being formed.  He completed the rest of his war journey with the regiment, the unit’s first major action having been the largest combat deployment of the Czech Republic artillerymen in history – a breakthrough in the German defense near the Polish city of Jaslo.  After that, the regiment advanced within the entire 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps through the Váh valley and supported the infantry in heavy battles near Liptovský Mikuláš.  Here, at the beginning of March, he commanded the successful defense of the settlement of Jamník, where the regimental staff was located and where a stronger German detachment penetrated across the front.  It happened in April that the 5th regiment was actively involved in the liberation of Ružomberok, Vrůtek, Strečno and advanced to Žilina and Považská Bystrica, where part of the command battery was seriously threatened by an enemy artillery ambush and Lt. Borský narrowly escaped death.  On May 8 the regiment crossed the Moravian border in the area of Němčice, where its members also celebrated the victorious end of the war.

On May 14 he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant of infantry in reserve.  During a short visit to his birthplace, he found out that his mother and younger brother were taken to a concentration camp in 1942, so he was the only one of the family to survive the war.

Even the post-war years of 1945-1948 were not peaceful, although Karel Borský was gradually promoted to the rank of Senior Captain.  In 1946, from February to July, he attended a school for educational officers in Prague and graduated with a very good grade.  Educational activities of the clerk, focused especially on the presentation of the fates of the 1st Czechoslovak army corps to soldiers and the public, were then performed in the 2nd military area in Tábor.

At the end of 1948, he was transferred to the 1st military district in Prague and not long afterwards to the Ministers of National Defense.  For another period, as a major, he held the position of military and air attaché in Budapest.  In the spring of 1951, Minister of Defense Doctor of LawAlexejem Čepička dismissed him from his position and fired him from the army.  He only managed to get a job in construction.

In November 1951, he was arrested and imprisoned for several months in pre-trial detention in Prague-Ruzyn and in a temporary military prison in the barracks on Malostranské náměstí.  Although he was not officially informed of any charges, it was clear from the investigators’ questions that they were trying to connect his work in the diplomatic services with the ongoing trial of the “Rudolf Slánský anti-state conspiracy center” and with a similar trial involving László Rajko in Hungary, which took place a little earlier.

In April 1952, Karel Borský was released without any explanation.  He continued to work in the construction industry until October 1, 1956, when, by a decision of the Minister of National Defense Army General Bohumír Lomský, he was again called to active duty.  Lt. Col. Karel Borský then worked several times in the combat training department of the 30th fighter-bomber “Ostrava-Téšín” division in Čáslav.

In 1965 and 1966, thanks to his life experiences, diplomatic tact and language skills, he worked as a member of the Czechoslovak Republic [as an] attaché and later ambassador to the Neutral States Monitoring Commission at the UN in Korea.  He also worked in the foreign relations department at the General Staff.  He retired with the rank of colonel.

Even in the last years of his life, his work pace did not decrease, he continued to work in the Czech Union of Freedom Fighters and Czechoslovak Legionary Community; in both organizations he was elected vice-chairman; he participated substantially in the publication of several commemorative materials on the Czechoslovak Republic. foreign soldiers – e.g. Medallions of the brave, he himself became the author of the autobiographical books “Tomorrow Begins an Ordinary Day” and “Dawn Into Darkness”.

When the rank of brigadier general was restored in the Czech Army, he became one of the first to be awarded with it.

Brigadier General Karel Borský died on August 9, 2001 at the age of 80 after a long illness, with which he bravely fought until his last days.

Honors:

Czechoslovak Medal for Bravery in the Face of the Enemy (13/4/1943), twice Czechoslovak 1939 War Cross (13/3/1944, 1946), Czechoslovak Military Commemorative Medal with USSR label (7/3/1944), Czechoslovak Military Medal for Merit II Grade (1945), medal for victory over Germany, Krzyz Walecznych (1948), Medal of the Czech Republic Commander’s Order of Jan Žižka from Trocnov, Sokol Memorial Medal, Duke Memorial Medal, Memorial Medal for the 20th anniversary of the liberation of the Czechoslovakia.

Works: Tomorrow Begins an Ordinary Day; Dawn Into Darkness.  Co-author of the publication Medallions of the Brave.

Sources: Military Central Archive – Military Historical Archive, Qualification Sheet

Milan Kopecký

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Czech

BIHELLER Kurt, BORSKÝ Karel – podporučík pěchoty v záloze (brigádní generál v.v.), velitel 2. pěší roty 4. pěšího praporu 3. čs. samostatné brigády v SSSR, velitel velitelské baterie sborového dělostřeleckého pluku 5

* 13.5.1921 Fryštát, dnes Karviná
† 9.8.2001 Praha

Kurt Biheller (o změnu jména zažádal v lednu 1946) vyrůstal ve slezském Fryštátu.  V letech 1933 až 1937 absolvoval čtyřleté gymnázium v Ostravě a poté dva ročníky obchodní akademie.

Německá okupace zasáhla Borského rodinu ihned v prvních dnech, kdy byl gestapem zatčen jeho otec Josef, ruský legionář, který později zahynul v koncentračním táboře.  Osmnáctiletého Karla pro jeho původ také uvěznili v koncentračním táboře u polského města Nisko, odkud se mu v říjnu 1939 podařilo uprchnout, následně překročit hranice a dostat se do Lvova, tehdy právě obsazeného Sověty.  V tomto městě pracoval jako aranžér pro síť několika velkých restaurací až do té doby, než byl na jaře 1940 podobně jako mnoho dalších uprchlíků zadržen orgány NKVD a odtransportován do pracovního tábora v Parsově (Ivanovská oblast).

Zde ruští, polští, ale i českoslovenští vězni za tvrdých až brutálních, mnohdy i pokořujících podmínek budovali tzv. stavbu socialismu – Volžsko-donský kanál.  Borského i jeho kamaráda z Fryštátu Borise Fingara z krutého prostředí tábora paradoxně, jako několik dalších, zachránila amnestie, vyhlášená pro polské občany na základě úmluvy mezi polskou zahraniční vládou v Londýně a vládou SSSR.  Podařilo se jim totiž přesvědčit velitele tábora, že jejich rodiště, podobně jako celé Těšínsko, nyní patří k Polsku a tudíž jsou polští občané.  Brána lágru se tedy otevřela a bývalí vězni dostali kromě relativní svobody i možnost pracovat v Machačkale, hlavním městě Dagestán-ské ASSR, ležícím na břehu Kaspického moře.

V Machačkale se Borský, který byl zaměstnán v továrně na zpracování kůže, z vysílání moskevského rozhlasu dověděl o formování československé vojenské jednotky v SSSR.  Byl leden 1942. Po řadě administrativních procedur obdržel potřebné doklady a jízdenku do Buzuluku.  Machačkalu opustil 11.5.1942.

29. 6. se dostavil v přiuralském v Buzuluku k odvodu.  V právě se formujícím 1. čs. [československý] samostatném polním praporu byl voj. Karel Borský (evidenční č. 866) zařazen do 2. čety 3. roty.  Četě velel rtm. [Rotmistr] Oldřich Kvapil a rotě npor. Vladimír Janko.  Prodělal pochopitelně náročný výcvik řadového vojáka a kromě toho jako pozorovatel své čety i plynový kurs.

V březnu 1943 ze zúčastnil prvního vystoupení čs. vojáků na sovětsko-německé frontě u Charkova.  V boji o Sokolovo jako spojka plnil svůj úkol s příkladnou odvahou a v husté palbě pronikl několikrát s důležitým hlášením do předsunutých postavení, za což získal své první vyznamenání – čs. medaili Za chrabrost před nepřítelem.

Když v Novochopersku v květnu 1943 vznikala 1. čs. [československý] samostatná brigáda, byla u jednotky zřízena důstojnická škola, jejímž posluchačem se stal i svobodník Borský, který školu dokončil s dobrým prospěchem a byl zatím povýšen do hodnosti desátníka, neboť o jmenování všech absolventů podporučíkem bylo zdlouhavě jednáno s MNO [Ministři národní obrany] v Londýně.

Ačkoli byl nyní Borský v hodnosti četaře zařazen jako zástupce velitele protitankové roty 1. polního praporu, vyzbrojené protitankovými puškami, rozhodla o jeho dalším osudu víceméně náhoda.  Ve volných chvílích se věnoval amatérské fotografii a pořídil i několik snímků ze života československých vojáků, které zaujaly vedoucího oddělení osvěty 1. brigády škpt. Jaroslava Procházku.  Ten naléhavě potřeboval fotografa pro brigádní noviny „Naše vojsko v SSSR”, protože do té doby byla čs. jednotka odkázána na záběry sovětských fotoreportérů.  Díky Borskému se tedy do dnešních dnů dochovaly snímky z výcviku dělostřeleckého oddílu, prvních obrněných vozidel tankového praporu a zejména velice zdařilá fotoreportáž ze slavnostního předání bojové zástavy 1. brigádě dne 12.9. a z přehlídky před odjezdem brigády na frontu 30.9.

Když 5.11.1943 zaútočila společné s divizemi 51. střeleckého sboru i 1. čs. samostatná brigáda na hlavní město Ukrajiny Kyjev, postupoval přímo v prvním sledu pěchoty 2. polního praporu, při pořizování dokumentárních snímků přímo z bojů jej těžce zranily do zad střepiny blízko vybuchnuvšího dělostřeleckého granátu.  Po operaci na brigádní ošetřovně, kterou provedl šéflékař jednotky npor. MUDr. František Engel, byl evakuován do sanatoria v Kazani (Tatarská ASSR), kde se ze zranění zotavoval do ledna 1944.  Tehdy na vlastní žádost léčení ukončil. Po bitvě o Kyjev byl povýšen do hodnosti rotného a vyznamenán prvním Čs. [československý] válečným křížem 1939 (13.3.1944).

K 1. čs. [československý] brigádě se rtn. [Rotný] Borský již nevrátil, neboť byl ustanoven velitelem PT roty u praporu doprovodných zbraní čs. [československý] náhradního pluku, tehdy považovaného za zárodek 3. čs. samostatné brigády v SSSR.  Když v Sadaguře 3. brigáda skutečně vznikla, obdržel 28. 5. Karel Borský hodnost ppor. pěch. [Podporuchik Pěchoty] v zál. a to krátce poté, co se stal velitelem 2. roty 4. pěšího praporu.  Vojáci roty pocházeli většinou z řad Volyňských Čechů a byli téměř bez výjimky úplnými nováčky.  Další tři měsíce byly proto věnovány jejich výcviku.

V srpnu 1944 poznal ppor. Borský v polské obci Wjackowice Annu Brankovou, po matce Češku, s níž se na počátku září oženil.  Anna vstoupila do řad 1. čs. armádního sboru a sloužila nejprve u sborového spojovacího praporu.

8.9. začala Karpatsko-dukelská operace, v jejímž úvodu utrpěly obě pěší brigády velké ztráty zejména na pěchotě.  Také 2. rota nebyla ušetřena, a její velitel byl 10. září v prostoru za Machnówkou raněn do boku střepinou dělostřeleckého granátu nebo miny.

S ještě nedoléčeným zraněním se ujal po třech týdnech na přelomu září a října velení nad svou rotou a zúčastnil se postupu přes Dukelský průsmyk do Nižného Komarníku.  Na československém území 6. 10. ppor. Borského zasáhla třemi střepinami protipěchotní mina a opět byl hospitalizován v polní nemocnic v Poljance, kde si doléčil i zranění ze září.  Na Dukle byl Karel Borský navržen na svůj druhý Čs. válečný kříž 1939.

Po vyléčení byl jmenován velitelem velitelské baterie právě se formujícího sborového dělostřeleckého pluku 5. S plukem absolvoval zbytek své válečné cesty, první velkou akcí jednotky bylo největší bojové nasazení čs. dělostřelců v dějinách – průlom německé obrany u polského města Jaslo.  Poté už pluk postupoval v rámci celého 1. čs. armádního sboru údolím Váhu a podporoval pěchotu v těžkých bojích u Liptovského Mikuláše.  Zde na začátku března velel úspěšné obraně osady Jamník, kde se nalézal štáb pluku a kam pronikl přes frontu silnější německý oddíl. V dubnu se děl. pluk 5 aktivně zapojil do osvobození Ružomberoku, Vrůtek, Strečna a potupoval na Žilinu a Povážskou Bystricu, kde byla část velitelská baterie vážné ohrožena nepřátelským dělostřeleckým přepadem a ppor. Borský o vlásek unikl smrti. 8.5. překročil pluk hranice Moravy v prostoru Němčic, kde jeho příslušníci oslavili i vítězný konec války.

14. 5. je povýšen do hodnosti por.pěch. v zál [podporučík pěchoty v záloze].  Při krátké návštěvě rodiště zjistil, že matka a mladší bratr byli v roce 1942 odvlečeni do koncentračního tábora a tak z celé rodiny přežil válku pouze on jediný.

Ani poválečná léta nebyla nijak klidná, byť byl Karel Borský v letech 1945-1948 postupně povyšován až do hodnosti škpt [Štábní kapitán].  V roce 1946 od února do července navštěvoval školu pro osvětové důstojníky v Praze a zakončil jí s velmi dobrým prospěchem.  Osvětovou činnost referenta, zaměřenou zejména na prezentaci osudů 1. čs. [československý] armádního sboru vojákům i veřejnosti pak vykonával ve 2. vojenské oblasti v Táboře.

Na konci roku 1948 byl přeložen k 1. VO [Vojenská oblasť] v Praze a za nedlouho potom na MNO [Ministři národní obrany].  Po další období již jako major zastával funkci vojenského a leteckého přidělence v Budapešti. N a jaře roku 1951 byl ministrem obrany JUDr. [juris utriusque doctor] Alexejem Čepičkou z funkce odvolán a vyhozen z armády.  Podařilo se mu získat pouze místo ve stavebnictví.

V listopadu 1951 následovalo zatčení a několik měsíců věznění ve vyšetřovací vazbě v Praze-Ruzyni a v provizorní vojenské věznici v kasárnách na Malostranském náměstí.  Přestože mu nebylo oficiálně sděleno žádné obvinění, bylo z otázek vyšetřovatelů zřejmé, že se snaží jeho působení v diplomatických službách spojit s probíhajícím procesem s „protistátním spikleneckým centrem Rudolfa Slánského” a s obdobným procesem okolo osoby László Rajka v Maďarsku, který proběhl o něco dříve.

V dubnu 1952 byl Karel Borský bez jakéhokoli vysvětlení propuštěn.  Pracoval nadále ve stavebnictví až do 1. října 1956, kdy byl z rozhodnutí ministra národní obrany arm.gen. [Armádní generál] Bohumíra Lomského opět povolán do činné služby. Pplk. Karel Borský pak několik pracoval na oddělení bojové přípravy 30. stíhací-bombardovací „Ostravsko-Téšínské” divize v Čáslavi.

V letech 1965 a 1966 působil díky svým životním zkušenostem, diplomatickému taktu a jazykovým schopnostem jako čs. přidělenec a později velvyslanec při Dozorčí komisi neutrálních států při OSN v Koreji. Pracoval i na oddělení zahraničních styků při generálním štábu.  Do důchodu odešel v plukovnické hodnosti.

Ani v posledních letech života se jeho pracovní tempo nesnížilo, pracoval nadále v ČSBS [Český svaz bojovníků za svobodu] a ČsOL [Československá obec legionářská], v obou organizacích byl zvolen místopředsedou, podílel se podstatnou měrou na vydání několika vzpomínkových materiálů na čs. zahraniční vojáky – např. Medailony statečných, sám se stal autorem autobiografických knih „Zítra začne obyčejný den” a „Svítání do tmy”.

Když byla v AČR obnovena hodnost brigádního generála, stal se jedním z prvních, jemuž byla udělena.

Brigádní generál Karel Borský zemřel 9. srpna 2001 ve věku 80 let po dlouhé nemoci, s níž statečně bojoval do posledních dní.

Vyznamenání:

Československá medaile Za chrabrost před nepřítelem (13.4.1943), 2 x Československý válečný křiž 1939 (13.3.1944,1946), Československá vojenská pamětní medaile se štítkem SSSR (7.3. 1944), Československá vojenská medaile Za zásluhy II. st. (1945), medal Za pobedu nad Germanijej, Krzyz Walecznych (1948), Medaile čs. velitelského řádu Jana Žižky z Trocnova, Sokolovská pamětní medaile, Dukelská pamětní medaile, Pamětní medaile k 20. výročí osvobození ČSSR.

Dílo: Zítra začne obyčejný den; Svítání do tmy.  Spoluautor publikace Medailony statečných.

Prameny:

Vojenský ústřední archiv – Vojenský historický archiv”, sb. Kvalifikační listina

Milan Kopecký

______________________________

Regaling You With References!

Websites

1st Czechoslovak Independent Brigade, at…

… CzechPatriots (via Archive.org (“Czechoslovak Military Units in the USSR (1942-1945)”)

1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, at…

… CzechPatriots (via Archive.org (“Czechoslovak Military Units in the USSR (1942-1945)”)

1st Czechoslovak Army Corps in the Soviet Union, at…

… Wikipedia

… ru.Wikipedia

Czechoslovak Independent Tank Brigade in the USSR [československá samostatná TANKOVÁ BRIGADA v SSSR], at…

… Model Forum

General Ludvik Svobda, at…

Karel Borský (Kurt Biheller), at…

… cs.wikipedia (“Karel Borský”)

… Valka.cz (“Biheller, Kurt (Borský, Karel)”)

… Rotanazdar.cz (“Četař Karel Biheller-Borský”)

Michal Štěpánek (Michal Stemmer), at…

… ArmedConflicts (“Stemmer (Štěpánek), Michal”)

… Yad Vashem (“Testimony of Michael Michal Stemmer-Stepanek, regarding his experiences in the Czechoslovakian regiment in the context of the Red Army in Bosoluk, Kiev, Czechoslovakia and Slovakia”)

Central Military Archive of the Czech Republic, at…

… Vuapraha.cz

The Second Battle of Kiev, at…

… Wikipedia

Jewish Soldiers in World War Two, at…

… Yad Vashem (Jewish Soldiers in the Allied Armies)

… Yad Vashem (Jews in the Red Army, 1941-1945)

Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Israel

Diary of Sergeant Alfred Elsner, Records Group O.59 / 204, File Number O.33 / 204

Expert’s Report Concerning “Factual Report and Documentation: Investigation of Jewish Soldiers in the Czechoslovak Army in the Soviet Union in the Years 1939 – 1945” – Author: Dr. Michal Stemmer – Stepanek; Arranged by: Erich Kulka
Deposited: Yad Vashem Archives, Act No. E / 10-2, 3030/267-e

Books

Kulka, Erich, Jews in Svoboda’s Army in the Soviet Union – Czechoslovak Jewry’s Fight Against the Nazis During World War II, University Press of America, Lanham, Md., 1987

[Vojenské osobnosti československého odboje. 1939–1945.  Vojenský historický ústav Praha.  Vojenský historický ústav Bratislava.  Praha, květen 2005 (Ministerstvo obrany České republiky – Agentura vojenských informací a služeb, 2005 ISBN 80-7278-233-9)]

Military Personalities of the Czechoslovak Resistance. 1939–1945.  Military Historical Institute Prague.  Military Historical Institute Bratislava.  Prague, May 2005 (Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic – Military Information and Services Agency, 2005 ISBN 80-7278-233-9)

Zide v boji a odboji trojjazycne – Rezistence československých Židů v letech druhé světové války [The Jews in Battle and in The Resistance – The Resistance Efforts of the Czechoslovak Jews during World War II], An exhibition initiated by the Jewish Community in Prague under the leadership of Ing. Tomáš Jelínek, Held by the Association of Jewish Soldiers and Resistance Fighters, Maiselova 18, 110 00 Prague 1; Poprvé byla tato výstava představena v roce 2005 v prostorách Poslanecké sněmovny České republiky [This exhibition was first presented in 2005 in the premises of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic]

A Journal Article

Binar, Aleš, Participation of Czechoslovaks in The Battle of Kyiv 1943, Military Historical Bulletin (СТОРІНКАМИ ДРУГОЇ СВІТОВОЇ ВІЙНИ), 110-130, V 41, N 3, 2021 (DOI: 10.33099/2707-1383-2021-41-3-110-131 / УДК: 94(477)(-25)(1943))