Stories tagged "Wartime": 229
Stories
The Bataan Death March
“Our rings and watches and any gold that we had was taken by [the Japanese]. We were lined in columns of four and started marching up the one little narrow paved trail toward San Fernando. We didn’t know where we were going, but every time we met a…
The Battle of Bataan
“Beginning Christmas Day, 1941, we were put on a boat and taken across the bay to Bataan. We advanced as far up the peninsula as possible, marching until we met the Japanese, 75 or 80 miles up the Bataan Peninsula. That is where we drew a line…
Voice of America
“We listened to the ‘Voice of America’ from the time the war started until we surrendered on April 8, 1942. Each night we had a fifteen-minute news broadcast through the ‘Voice of America’ which was broadcast out of San Francisco or Los Angles. We…
Fort McKinley
“It was one of those Philippine scout training camps. We were stationed there until we were given a permanent assignment. Of course, that assignment never came, but our quarters were there on the post at McKinley.”
Starting Over in Brooklyn
"And they came to America in July of 1939. And my father wanted to go back to Europe to fight the Nazis. He wasn’t a citizen yet, so he had to apply for citizenry, and he got the necessary paperwork done, and he enrolled in the Army. And I have a…
Sojourn in the Midwest
"And then they went off to Illinois to see Uncle Julius as well. And they lived there for a while.
They were living in this small town in Illinois. And they were just so excited to be with family again. Uncle Julius was a wonderful man, and his…
Arrival in the United States
"Then [Ruth and Hildegard] went through Vermont, and they got all the stamps-- they had all of the immigration papers. Then they eventually went to New York where my Aunt Edie was living temporarily, because she had met my Uncle Ruby who was a…
Immigration
"Well, when they [Ruth and Hildegard] graduated from school, they were assigned to becoming apprentices in various businesses, and Harrogate was a very popular location for tourists. They had spas and very fancy salons there. So my aunt became very…
Journey's End
"I believe they [Carl, Selma, and Ilse Simon] only were there [at Westerbork] a night or two before they were sent to Poland, to Sobibor concentration camp. And on the 21st of May, they were asphyxiated. And my mother and her sisters did not find…
Arrested
"Well, as it turns out, the Nazis were eradicating Jews at that point in all their occupied countries, as well as in Germany. And in 1943--I believe it was May 18-- they [Selma, Karl, and Ilse Simon] were arrested, and they were sent to Westerbork,…