REMINISCING:

The year was 1912,the place was Nuremberg,Germany. An old (1050 a.d.)town famous for its fine castle,infamous
as the birthplace of Nazism. November was the month of my birth as the son of a well to do Jewish merchant. I was
8 and 9 years younger than my siblings. An accident ? I had a wonderful,carefree youth. My best friend was Protestant
and I was invited at Christmases in their home.He and his brother were later killed on the German side in WW II.

I did well in school, spoke English perfectly,learned it playing bridge in my new friend's British mother's home.
In the year 1932,at twenty,I travelled to the United States,all by myself,on a visit. Two weeks later Hitler became
chancellor and a return home was not advisable. After a stay of two years in New York, I had to re-immigrate
from England and became a citizen. Brought my sister over and together we did the same for our aged parents.
My brother's whereabouts we did not know,but he was hidden by a farmer's widow and escaped harm.

Then came the time when I was able to repay my wonderful new country by serving in the American army for
three years. Drafted in New York, I was put on a troop train for four long days and it brought the newly appointed
soldiers to Union Station in Los Angeles. Then trucks ferried us to the beautiful city of Burbank where a camp
with barracks had been erected in a nice park. I was a puny lad,small of stature,not blessed with strong muscles.
But the army in it's wisdom saw fit to make a munitions carrier out of me,carrying 95 lb artillery shells about.
After one day, I did the unthinkable: I approached the almighty First Sergeant and told him that I could not lift
these pieces of heavy armament.He was a nice guy ( we got friendly later ) and told me to go the office and
see the lieutenant in charge. This man was about 10 years younger than I ( I was 33 and over age ) and he asked
me what I could do. I told him that I was good at typing and book- keeping. he greeted me like a long lost son
and told me that they were looking high and low for a "battery clerk" (they had never looked at my resume).
And that was then my job and I got promoted to corporal. Some time later I got a memo from higher headquarters
that anyone speaking German had to be reported to them. So, I put my name down and submitted the report to
my superiors. Ten minuted later the Colonel in charge of our outfit was on the phone and told me to take my name
off. he did not want o lose a good clerk. One of those events that can change an entire life !

Our outfit was was located near the Lockheed Aircraft factory and we were to protect it against Japanese
air attacks which, fortunately, never took place. After duty hours we allowed to work a shift in that factory
and were well paid for that. Everyone was good to the soldiers and we easily got a lift to the Hollywood
Canteen where I once danced with Deanna Durbin and passed Greta Garbo on the street. Which reminds
me that early on ,in New York, I met Albert Einstein at a lecture, shook his hand and have not washed mine since.

But,to make up for this easy life,after two years, we were changed over to the " First Rocket Artillery Battalion"
in the U.S. Army, destined to lead ahead of the infantry on the event of the invasion of Japan.
Though overage and not to be sent out of the U.S. most of us were quickly converted to "Regular Army",
loaded on a ship in Seattle and spent four weeks, all by ourselves, on a converted freighter on the wide ocean
exposed to U. Boats. We escaped harm and landed on Okinawa sunburned with 3000 soldiers,most of them
broke,having lost all their pay gambling. I, as battery clerk,had to send home the "loot" of a few card sharks
which amounted to thousands of dollars. Fortunately,the island had been secured by those wonderful Marines
and we set up tents and practiced for the invasion of Japan which was not far away.After surviving a mighty
typhoon which blew down all our tents and was awesome, fortunately the day came when we saw the plane
take off for the signing of the armistice on a nearby island. Having been promoted to Master Sergeant,I had to
stay a few months longer to take care of the mountains of paper work involved in sending the troops home,
I was finally able to leave the island and rejoin my family,having escaped harm.