A WORLD WAR II VETERAN WHO WAS A MEMBER OF MY DIVISION, THE 42D RAINBOW,WAS CAPTURED BY THE GERMANS DURING WORLD WAR II,AND RELATED

HIS MEMORIES TO ME.

I ARRIVED IN MARSEILLES, FRANCE IN DECEMBER 1944, AS A MEMBER OF ONE OF THE THREE RAINBOW INFANTRY REGIMENTS. WE WENT INTO COMBAT IN FRANCE

IN DEFENSE OF THE STRASBOURG AREA..

ON JANUARY 9,, 1945, I WAS WOUNDED TWICE AND THEN CAPTURED BY THE NAZIS.

I WAS TAKEN TO A NEARBY FARMHOUSE TO BE INTERROGATED. A GROUP OF FIVE OR SIX GERMAN OFFICERS SAT BEHIND A LONG TABLE. I REFUSED TO ANSWER

ANYTHING EXCEPT MY NAME, RANK, AND SERIAL NUMBER–”DAVID R. WILLETTS, SERGEANT, 33560297. THE INTEROGATING OFFICER BECAME VERYP IRRITATED

WITH ME. HE SPOKE GOOD ENGLISH.

HE CONTINUED IN A HIGH VOICE–”YOU ARE JEWISH! THIS WASN’T A QUESTION. IT WAS A STATEMENT, AND HE WAITED FOR A REACTION FROM ME. MY HAIR WAS

LONGER THAN USUAL:I HAD A SHORT BEARD  AS PROTECTION FROM THE COLD: I HAD A DARK COMPLEXION AND A NAME LIKE “DAVID” THESE FEATURES MUST

HAVE INFLUENCED HIS DIAGNOSIS.

“NO SIR, I AM NOT A JEW”, I REPLIED. “I AM AN AMERICAN”! I REALIZED THAT THE PURPOSE OF THIS INTERROGATION HAD SUDDENLY CHANGED. THE OTHER

MEMBERS OF HIS PANEL AT THIS TIME BEGAN TO TAKE NOTES AND SHOW INCREASED INTEREST. THEN BEGAN A BARRAGE OF QUESTIONS:WHAT IS YOUR MOTHER’S NAME? WHERE WERE YOU BORN? DO YOU HAVE A FAMILY. THESE QUESTIONS WERE ASKED IN RAPID SUCCESSION. I THOUGHT IT WAS NECESSARY TO REPLY.

APPARENTLY NOT SATISFIED YET, THE OFFICER CONTINUED HIS INTERROGATION. WHAT IS YOUR FATHER’S NAME? WHERE WAS HE BORN? THE INTERROGATION

CONTINUED FOR AT LEAST 15 MORE MINUTES, WITH THE SAME ALSO NEW QUESTIONS BEING ASKED OVER AND OVER. HAD I NOT BEEN TELLING THE TRUTH, I WOULD’HAVE BEEN IN VERY BIG TROUBLE. A WHISPERED CONVERSATION AMONG THE PANEL OFFICERS THEN TOOK PLACE. I HAD A TERRIBLE FEELING THAT

SOMETHING MORE OMINOUS WAS BREWING AND WAS ABOUT TO HAPPEN.

AT A NOD FROM THE SUPERIOR GERMAN OFFICER, THE GUARD OPENED A DOOR TO ADMIT A GERMAN PRIVATE, WHO LOOKED LIKE HE HAD JUST RETURNED

FROM THE BATTLEFIELD. HE WAS BANDAGED ACROSS THE BUTTOCKS.AS HE LOOKED AT ME, HE SUDDENLY POINTED HIS FINGER AND SHOUTED, “DAS

IST ER! HE’S THE ONE. APPARENTLY HE HAD BEEN TOLD TO IDENTIFY ME.IT APPEARED THAT I WAS TO BE BLACKMAILED OR COERCED INTO A CONFESSION.

THAT THEY WANTED. DIDN’T YOU BAYONET HIM IN THE BUTTOCKS? THIS WAS BAD, REALLY BAD. THEY WERE AFTER MY LIFE, I REALIZED,BUT THEY WANTED

IT TO APPEAR MILITARILY JUSTIFIED. I WAS AWARE OF WHAT HITLER WAS DOING TO ALL JEWS,AND THE APPROACH OF THE INTERROGATION REALLY SHOOK ME

UP. THE PRIVATE AGAIN POINTED AT ME AND REPEATED, “ER HAT ES GEMACHT! HE DID IT.!

AFTER A BRIEF CONSULTATION WITH THE OTHER MEMBERS OF HIS TEAM, THE INTERROGATING OFFICER THEN SAID TO ME-”IF THE AMERICAN ARMY ALLOWS

YOU TO COMMIT THIS ATROCITY, WE CAN RETALIATE.

HE SNARLED TOME, “YOU WILL BE CALLED OUT LATER TONIGHT AND SHOT!” TAKE HIM AWAY, HE TOLD THE GUARD AT THE DOOR.

I WAS THEN PRODDED AND PUSHED OUTSIDE IN THE DARKNESS, AND LOCKED ALONE IN WHAT APPEARD TO BE AN OLD, EMPTY,TOOL SHED NEXT

TO THE BARN WHEERE MY BUDDIES WERE. A GUARD WAS STATIONED AT THE DOOR TO PREVENT MY ESCAPE. WOULD MY FAMILY EVER KNOW WHAT HAD

HAD HAPPENED TO ME.?

A COMMOTION SUDDENLY BROKE OUT IN THE FARMYARD, AND THERE WAS A LOT OF YELLING AND CONFUSION.  GUARDS HERDED DTHE OTHER PRISONERS

TOGETHER FOR A QUICK VACATING OF THE PREMISES, AND THERE WAS LOUD SHOUTING.

I KICKED THE DOOR OPEN AND MIXED WITH THE DEPARTING GROUP. SOON I WAS MARCHING AWAY WITH THE REST OF THE PRISONERS, GETTING FARTHER AND

FARTHER AWAY FROM THAT FARMYARD.WE MARCHED SEVERAL HOURS,REACHED A RAILROAD STATION AND LOADED INTO BOXCARDS,AND FINALLY ARRIVED AT STALAG 4-B,ONE OF THE LARGEST GERMAN CAMPS IN WORLD WAR II.

FINALLY I WAS LIBERATED BY THE RUSSIAN ARMY ON APRIL 23, 1945.

I THANKED GOD, REALIZING HOW CLOSE I CAME TO BEING SHOT—

BECAUSE MY FIRST NAME WAS DAVID!.

Today is October 1, 2012, the first day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The last time I celebrated this holiday,was when I had the opportunity to visit my family in Washington,D.C., was during the month of October 1943,when I was given a furlough (time off Army service,when I was stationed in Camp Gruber, Oklahoma as a soldier in the 542d Field Artillery Battalion,of the 42d Infantry Rainbow Division).

Sukkot known as the Feast of Booths,is a biblical holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei .It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals,on which Hebrews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem,and lasts seven days (eight in the diaspora).The Hebrew word sukkot is the plural of sukkah, booth or tabernacle which is a walled structure covered with skhakh (plant material such as leafy tree overgrown or palm leaves)

The sukkah is intended as a reminiscence of the type of fragile dwellings in which the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in

Egypt. (From Wikipedia)

When I visited my family in 1943, we lived at 713 4th Street,SW, where I grew up. What was different about our sukkah is that it was located next to our kitchen. Walls were not

needed.Our kitchen had a window on the left side of the sukkah when entering, so food could be handed directly into the sukkah from the kitchen.The right side of the structure was the

yard wall,and the direct front was also a brick structure of the house building. An entrance door had to be built, and then the top as most sukkahs had to be covered with skhakh.

I had another furlough in May of 1944,and that was the last time I saw my father. He passed away on August 19, 1944, when I was stationed in my permanent field artillery facility  known

as Ft. Sill Oklahoma, I was able to obtain an emergency furlough at that time,and with the help of a Warrant Officer, Charles L.Brown,obtained enough money to make the flight to

my Dad’s funeral.

The Sukkot holiday of October 1943 indeed is a Sukkot never to be forgotten.

Larry Rosen Blog www.LarryRosen.org

After being inducted into the Army in March 1943, at Ft. Myer, Virginia,traveling to Camp Lee Virginia,finally sent to Camp Wolters Texas,an Infantry training center,I received basic

training,with future cooks, truck drivers, auto mechanics,cooks, and clerks. Because the Army discovered that I had worked as a clerk-typist ,for a short period, for the U.S. Engineers,

around 1942, who were constructing,the largest office building in the world-the PENTAGON,I was enrolled in a Army clerks class,that taught the many duties of maintaining records

of army personnel. We entered many records into a service record,and also ,documented the veterans previous civilian experience on a card called Form 20.We typed military letters,and

orders,prepared info for payment of troops, and made copies of documents on a stencil machine,(No copy machines were available)

After being discharged on April 4, 1946,I once sent a request to the St. Louis Personnel Records section, requesting a copy of any of my military personnel records.This request was sent

in the mid seventies. I was informed that a fire that occurred on July 12, 1973, destroyed the center,burning up millions of records,and my records were included in the burned

military records.

An historical research on the wire on the Wikipedia encyclopedia on the internet ,documented that the entire facility lacked heat or smoke detectors to automatically detect fire

or a ;fire sprinkler system to automatically extinguish fire.

Some veterans who served with me in the 542d Field Artillery Battalion, 42d Infantry Rainbow Divsion, who were injured while in the service, and filed for pensions, were notified

that since their records were burned, no evidence existed that their disabilities occurred while in the service.

After completing my clerical training in Texas, I was shipped to the 542d Field Artillery Battalion,personnel section, 42d Infantry Rainbow Division,and assigned as a Battery

Clerk,where I maintained all records, first for Battery B, and then Headquarters Battery.

Several years ago, while straightening out some of my old records, I discovered that I had made a duplicate copy of my service record.

Following are the most popular items that were recorded in my service record:

Place of Induction, records of immunization,chest x-rays,army specialty,date articles of war read,appointment of promotions -(Uwas first appointed to PFC, then Corporal, and finally

Tech Sergeant.furloughs, foreign service,(I departed from New York PE January 6, 1945,arrived Marseilles,France,January 18, 1945. Departed from Bremerhaven,for US March 21, 1946,

arrived New York, March 31, 1946, discharged April 4, 1946.Also records kept of Class E saving allotments,dates paid,.Section on Remarks-administrative kept records like Reported

for active duty Camp Lee, Virginia March 23, 1943-Fired carbine,completed infiltration course (crawling on ground with rifle wile live bullets from machine gun fired over our heads),

completed firing M1 rifle,completed going through gas chamber,completed live grenade course,gas mask glasses issued,satisfacgtory character and efficiency ratings entered by

commanding officer.person to be notified in case of emergency,other miscellaneous remarks.

A list of french, german, and austrian cities ,in which our personnel section served is recordeded on another Post.

*Excerpts taken from Washington Post Obituary notice November 6, 2004

Blog www.larryrosen.org   E-Lazer66@msn.com

Samuel  “Doc” /Eisenberg, 98, a Russian immigrant who founded Plain Old Pearson’s Wine & Liquor in Washington,D.C.,and who built it into one of the largest volume stores

in the area, died of pneumonia Oct 30, at Sibley Hospital. Mr. Eisenberg founded the store about 71 years ago, just as Prohibition ended, and became a successful merchant who offered discount prices, innovative merchandising and humorous, opinionated newspaper advertisements.

He did whatever would help sell beer, wine and spirits, including special appearances by a billy goat.He photographed 10 “mystery men”, in Lone Ranger-style masks, whose mission was to sneak looks at competitors’ prices all over town. A chalkboard “stock exchange” updated those prices three times a day, his ads screamed. Doc would advertise almost anything.

In 1958, Plain Old Pearson’s ran a sale to apologize for any offense given to any customer by any employee for any reason in the previous 25 years. On the 15th anniversary of the business, Doc ran a six-part series of ads to tell “the dramatic story of the rise from a $20-a-day business in the tiny corner of a drug store to $2,000,000 a year!

Born in the Ukranian town of Rovno in 1906, Mr. Eisenberg came to Washington with his family in 1918. As a teenager, he sold newspapers on the street for 2 cents, a penny less than the other newsboys, who promptly beat him up.

He graduated from Eastern High School and from George Washington University as a pharmacist. In 1933, he bough  tPearson’s Pharmacy at 2448 Wisconsin Avenue. According to the Prohibition-era laws, customers could buy liquor if they had a prescription, so Doc cleared a shelf for liquor.That prescription was soon outselling all others.Luckily,Prohibition was repealed at the end of the year.

He opened “Pearson’s  Annex,”,the liquor emporium, a few doors away from the pharmacy seven months later. He owned both businesses until the 1940′s,when he sold the pharmacy to concentrate on the renamed annex. He kept his pharmaceutical nickname,”Doc”. In 1956 his then 21–year-old son, Walter joined the business, ,and later Doc put his son in charge of the

wine section.Wine prices were starting to escalate, By 1961, Plain Old Pearson’s hit on a new retailing idea-a futures market on cases of wine. Its ads featured Walter boarding a TWA

jet to Europe, with a blank check in his hand,to buy up cases of the most promising vintages.

‘DOC EISENBERG’ was an outstanding MERCHANT.!!

I appreciate comments on my Posts. However,to those readers desiring to make comments, kindly REFRAIN from submitting your Business Web ADDRESSES. I am

not in the position to advertise businesses etc. THANKS,IF YOU RECALL THE OPERATION OF SMALL DRUG STORES,WITH SODA FOUNTAINS, I would like to hear from you.

DOC LARRY

www.LARRYROSEN.ORG

Today April 4, 2012 is the 44th anniversary of the DC 68 riot, triggered by the assassination of Doctor Martin Luther King, a man of peace, who I am

certain would never have wanted his death to cause riots throughout this nation.

I have written many articles on my riot memories which can be located on my blog WWW.LARRYROSEN.ORG.

Today, I felt very happy, when Ray Flowers, a devoted former employee of my drug store Smith Pharmacy, called to mention some of his memories that

occured during the riot,and before and after,that night..

Ray Flowers,who happens to be an  Afro American U.S. citizen and I, have kept in touch for approximately 30 years when I located his address.

Ray, as was  the custom for over 40 years ago still calls me “DOC”, as was the custom to address some pharmacists, and some drug store proprietors.

Ray recalls coming from the South, where as is known there was extreme discrimination against Afro Americans, before the 60′s.

I hired Raymond around 1960 to work in my soda fountain -lunchenette department, where he performed in a dependable and excellent manner,

always working extra time, when my other soda fountain employees, could not show up.

About a year,before the riot, Ray secured employment in the Montgomery Country school system, as a maintenance employee, finally working his

way up to supervisor.

He lived in the Clifton Manor apartment house next to the drug store, and when I first got word of the commencement of the DC riot, I phoned Ray  to remove some important documents located in the drug store, which he accomplished. He kept me informed of the riot activity, first the looting on the evening of April 4, 1968, and again phoning me on the evening of April 5, 1968, exclaiming, “DOC, YOU ‘RE  GONE”, THE DRUG STORE IS BURNED   DOWN”.

I lost contact with Ray,for about 10 years or more,  after not reopening Smith Pharmacy, and fortunately encountered an old drug store employee who informed me of Ray’s whereabouts.We got together, and periodically have kept in touch occaionally meeting to recall the pharmacy days,remember that some regular customers, like Geraldthe Hawk, Jitterbug, Chuck, Charlie the Barber, Jolly and others that  have vanished.,and probably passed away.

Ray’s opinion was that many of the looters and burners were individuals who did not live in the immeadiate area, and arrived from many other locations.

He recalled that many of the former Columbia Heights residents, moved out of the neighborhood, because many of the large and small grocery stores,

as well as many service retail businesses, were destroyed and decided not to reopen.

Some time ago, my better half and I attended the funeral service of Ray’s wonderful wife Juanita in Maryland. I also remember Ray’s brother,Roy

who helped me on the fountain luncheonette, and who has passed away.

I was very happy when Ray, joined me, and my family and friends, to celebrate my 80th birthday, 8 years ago.

Again, I was very happy when Ray joined me and my family to celebrate the erection of a permanent historical sign by the DC Cultural Tourisim organization, of Smith Pharmacy, across the street from its former location,some time ago.. The DC Cultural tourism group  erects permanent  historical signs  throughout the DC’s different neighborhoods.The entire Columbia Heights neighborhood was redeveloped now featuring stores like BEST BUY, TARGET,and manother well known large businesses.o

After the sign ceremony, we all enjoyed a great dinner at Christfield’s well known restaurant.I hope to hear many more greetings from Raymond, with “HELLO DOC”, a former great employee and friend.!

Larry Rosen (called “DOC” from 1959 to 1968)

Email Lazer66@MSN.COM

‘s

Quite a while ago, some relative told me to check Fischel Lapin, my great grandfather (Mother’s side) in the Encyclopedia Judaica. I checked and sure enough, there was such an individual.

Born in Grodno (then Russiaqn Poland), Lapin  was a contractor for the building of the Grodno railway and thus became wealthy. In 1862 he settled with his family in Jerusalem, where he contributed to the foundation and maintenance of various health and educational institutions. Lapin was a founder of Kol Yisrael Haverim for land settlement in Eretz Israel and was

elected its vice-president, but resigned under pressure from Jewish community leaders. In 1872, he joined a group of Jerusalemites who sought to buy land for Jewish settlement in Jericho, but later purchased lands near Jaffa and Moza.

During World War I Lapin organized an aid campaign  for Jewish soldiers in the Turkish Army.

Maybe I should have become a contractor like my Great Zade for the building of a railway and become wealthy.

My mother’s brother, Uncle Label Lapin was engaged in another “profession”. Uncle Label traveled to different American cities, and collected charitable contributions for a

Yeshiva, (place of religious study) in Israel.He collected the funds by installing “PUSKAS” (metal containers with slots in their homes  where folks could leisurly drop their coins for their charitable donations, and Uncle Label would collect the funds and send the money to Israel.

I remember him staying at our home, when he visited Washington,D.C.. My brother would take some of his rolled coins to the bank,to exhange the cash for paper dollars.

Uncle Label was very religious, and his favorite dish was soft boiled eggs, with bread and butter which he himself churned.

Uncle Label, I recalled even traveled to Canadian cities–his profession was known and called   a “MISHULACH”.

Lately, I have not seen any “MISHULACHIM” around any Maryland neighborhoods, where I have lived.