Westport artist Stevan Dohanos’ “Honor Roll.” Showing our original Town Hall (now Massi Co restaurant), it was a Saturday Evening Post cover on December 4, 1943.
The Honor Roll today, on Veterans Green across from the Myrtle Avenue Town Hall. (Illustration and photo/Amy Schneider)
A color guard, speakers — including Vietnam veteran Jay Direnberger and 2 Staples High School seniors — along with recognition of veterans highlight today’s Veterans Day ceremony.
The event is in the Town Hall auditorium at — appropriately — 11 a.m.
The public is invited afterward to a free Veterans Day luncheon and open bar at VFW Post 399 (465 Riverside Avenue).
Clayton Chalfant — one of Westport’s last World War II veterans, who landed at Omaha Beach, helped establish our town’s sister city relationship with Marigny-le-Lezon, served as grand marshal of our Memorial Day parade, and 2 years ago received the Legion of Honor, France’s highest honorary distinction — died Tuesday. He was 102.
Friends and family will meet at St. Luke Church at 10 a.m. this Friday (October 23). A funeral Mass will follow at 11.
In February of 2024, when Clayton turned 100, “06880” honored him with this story.
In mid-20th century Westport, the name Clayton Chalfant was a familiar one.
A heavy machine gunner who landed at Omaha Beach shortly after D-Day, he helped establish our town’s sister city relationship with Marigny-le-Lezon, a Normandy town he had passed through.
Nearly 80 years later, the two towns’ ties remain strong.
So does Chalfant. Today, he celebrates his 100th birthday.
Two views of Clayton Chalfant.
He’s not a Westport native — but he comes close. Soon after his February 21, 1924 birth in Killingly, Connecticut, his family moved to Westport.
They lived on Compo Road and in an apartment on Main Street (possibly above the original Klein’s store) before settling in a home on Kings Highway.
Chalfant attended Westport schools. He spent his youth playing sports, and hanging out at the Gault sandpit on Imperial Avenue, the YMCA, Compo Beach and Nash’s Pond.
The family survived the Great Depression. His father Russ held multiple jobs to keep the family fed and sheltered. It was not easy.
As a teen Chalfant worked in a Main Street bakery, making doughnuts. Their sweet smell still lingers in his memory.
When World War II broke out, his older brother Jim served as a medic. But Clayton was too young for the draft.
Heavy machine gunner Clayton Chalfant.
He and a few of his Westport pals, including Bob Saxonmeyer, went to the Navy recruitment office. Chalfant was turned away, but his patriotism, sense of honor and duty to serve the nation never waned.
He joined the Army in January, 1943, and headed to basic training at Fort Devens, Massachusetts.
Assigned to the 486th Anti-aircraft Battalion, his unit landed on Omaha Beach on June 21, 1944. He was a heavy machine gunner on a half-track mobile unit, protecting aircraft.
The amount of precision and detail communicated among forces is astonishing, considering the limited technology available.
Chalfant served in 5 battle campaigns: Normandy, northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe.
He has not been forgotten. The consulate general recently invited him to be France’s guest at the 80th celebration of D-Day this June, in honor of his service to their nation.
Twice in Europe — once at the beginning of his tour, then toward the end — Chalfant had a reunion with his brother. The meetings buoyed their spirits, and strengthened their resolve.
In 2004, as parade grand marshal, Clayton Chalfant proudly delivered Westport’s Memorial Day address. (Photo courtesy of WestportNow.com)
Chalfant enjoyed creative writing. During the war a battalion committee created a yearbook about their experiences. He contributed a futuristic view of the men after the war.
His creative flair later evolved into a long love of painting, sculpting and sketching.
Chalfant attended his first Catholic Mass during the war. He converted to the faith upon his discharge, and received all of his sacraments at Assumption Church.
He is now a parishioner at St. Luke. He considers faith to be paramount in living a joyful and generous life.
Clayton and Mary Chalfant, with then-1st Selectman Jim Marpe.
Also back in Westport, Chalfant started a discussion group of World War II servicemembers.
When Staples French Department chair Charlotte MacLear wanted to form a sister city relationship, it was Chalfant (and gun sergeant Bob Loomis) — both of whom had passed through Marigny, just 25 miles from Utah Beach — who made the connection with that town.
For more than a decade, Westporters sent holiday gifts, clothes and food to Marigny residents.
In return, they created a Westport School Canteen, and named their largest square “Place Westport.”
In June 1994 — as part of the 50th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy — Marigny officials invited 3 Westport middle school students and 2 Westport veterans to stay in the homes of residents. They visited “Westport Gift Shop” and “Pharmacie Westport.”
Nearly half a century earlier, through his brother’s wife Florence, Chalftant had met the love of his life, Mary Speer. On April 10, they’ll celebrate their 76th anniversary. They have 5 children, 10 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren (so far).
And today, Chalfant celebrates his century birthday today with many of those family members. They are proud to call him husband, dad, grandpa and Pop Pop.
And “06880” is proud to wish “Happy 100th Birthday” to Clayton Chalfant: war hero, longtime Westporter, and — today — our newest centenarian.
(For a story on the Town Hall ceremony for Clayton Chalfant’s Legion of Honor award from France’s consul general, click here.)
Clayton Chalfant has done a lot in his 100 years of life.
The Westport native joined the Army in January, 1943, and headed to basic training at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. He was just 18.
Heavy machine gunner Clayton Chalfant.
Assigned to an anti-aircraft Battalion, his unit landed on Omaha Beach less than 3 weeks after D-Day. A heavy machine gunner on a half-track mobile unit, he helped liberate several towns in northern France — including St. Lô, the “capital of ruins.”
Chalfant then served in battle campaigns in Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe — including the infamous Battle of the Bulge.
After the war he helped establish Westport’s sister city relationship with Marigny, a Normandy town he had traveled through. The association continues today, nearly 80 years later.
Chalfant and Mary, his wife of 76 years, have lived together in Westport all that time. They have 5 children, 10 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.
But until yesterday, Clayton Chalfant had not been a Knight in the National Order of France’s Legion of Honor.
That recognition was bestowed, in an emotional ceremony. A large crowd — including officials from Westport and France, and Chalfant’s family from across the US — gathered, for the presentation by the New York consul general of France.
1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker called Chalfant “a soldier, and a gentleman.” She asked attendees to reflect on two things: “what true sacrifice is all about,” and the long friendship between the United States and France.
After the presentation of colors, and rousing renditions of “La Marseillaise” and “The Start-Spangled Banner,” Consul General Cedric Fouriscot spoke.
“You fought thousands of miles away from your country, to help liberate ours,” he told Chalfant.
“You are a leading symbol of the alliance between France and America. It goes back more than 250 years, to our support of the Revolutionary War.”
French Consul General Cedric Fouriscot, thanking Clayton Chalfant. 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker looks on.
As the consul general pinned the medal on Chalfant, the crowd rose in a standing ovation.
The honoree then stepped to the podium.
Clayton Chalfant: Knight in the National Order of France’s Legion of Honor.
In a firm voice he said, “I was just one little American, among so many great men.” He acknowledged the sacrifice of so many, and thanked the French officials who had traveled to Westport for the ceremony.
One — Lieutenant Colonel Patrick du Tertre of the French Airborne — made an emotional, impromptu speech.
He described his tears when he learned that President Kennedy had been killed.
He had grown up idolizing Americans, he said. They were the ones who liberated his grandfather, a leader of the French Resistance who was tortured by Nazis.
It was Americans too who gave his father — a sheep farmer — the gift of a tractor.
Today, du Tertre said, the US is still part of his life. He lives in Bethel, with his American wife and 2 “Franco-American” children.
Chalfant’s daughter Kate Carroll noted that her father accepted the French honor “on behalf of every soldier he fought alongside.”
His grandson Jonathan Van Sant concluded with a reading of the poem “It is the Soldier,” by Charles Province, that has become a Westport Memorial Day tradition.
In 2004, Clayton Chalfant was grand marshal of that parade.
Two decades later, he earned another honor, from another nation.
“06880” proudly joins our French friends in saying: “Thank you for your service.”
(To read more about Clayton Chalfant’s life, click here.)
Clayton Chalfant, his great-granddaughter Cecilia and daughter Kate Carroll.
French war veterans at Town Hall (from left): Patrick du Tertre, Alain Dupuis, Henri du Valle. (All photos/Dan Woog)
Four months ago, family members and friends celebrated Clayton Chalfant, as turned 100.
On July 7 the centenarian and war hero will be feted again, in a big way.
This time, the Consul General of France does the honors.
In a private ceremony at Town Hall, Chalfant will receive France’s Legion of Honor.
Born in Connecticut on February 21, 1924, Chalfant enlisted in the US Army
when he was 18 years old.
Heavy machine gunner Clayton Chalfant.
He was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division’s 486th Armored Anti-Aircraft Battalion. They protected Allied forces from aerial attacks, while providing fire support against enemy infantry, vehicles and fortifications.
He saw action in the Normandy, northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe campaigns.
His battalion encountered every type of German weapon and endured numerous hardships, notably at the Battle of the Bulge.
After returning to Westport, Chalfant married Mary Speer. They recently celebrated their 76th anniversary.
Chalfant and other Westporters helped establish a sister city relationship with Marigny, France. In 1994, officials invited him to visit the historic Normandy town.
The Legion of Honor is the French Republic’s highest honorary distinction. It was created by Emperor Napoleon to recognize men and women who have accomplished exceptional deeds for France and its people.
Two view of Clayton Chalfant.é
In 2004 — the 60th anniversary of D-Day — French President Jacques Chirac decided his country would bestow the award upon all American WWII veterans who fought on its soil
“We feel it is our duty to thank the heroes who helped liberate our nation during
WWII, while we still can. We owe them our freedom, democracy, and way of life,” says Damien Laban, acting consul general of France in New York.
(Click here for a full story on Clayton Chalfant’s 100th birthday, and his century of life.)
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On Monday, Staples High School holds its 137th graduation ceremony.
Over 415 young men and women will receive diplomas, leave the Class of 2024 behind, and head out to a dangerous, unpredictable world.
More than 80 years ago, the world was even more dangerous and unpredictable.
In the 1942-43 school year, the school paper Inklings reported, wartime shortages made “the candy table supply look quite pathetic.” Mounds, Hershey Bars, O. Henry, Baby Ruth all disappeared.
Students with last period study hall were allowed to leave school early. Some worked for local industries manufacturing items needed for the war effort.
Others harvested crops on local farms, replacing older men who had been called up to serve.
The Junior Red Cross organized a scrap and tin drive. Art classes made booklets for men in Army hospitals, and contributed posters to local bond drives.
William Torno’s shop classes built 4 wood rifle racks, each holding 32 guns, for the Westport Defense Training Unit. He added an oxyacetylene course too, in the newly important skill of welding.
Bill Torno (left, in tie) supervises a 1940s Staples High School shop class.
Miss Ossi’s home economics classes made nearly 100 cotton hospital bags. The Navy came to Staples, and gave exams for the V-12 College Training program.
A Commando Course, combining gymnastics and swimming, was held every Tuesday from 1 to 3 p.m. at the downtown YMCA (now Anthropologie), not far from the Riverside Avenue school (now Saugatuck Elementary). Instruction included diving from the side of a burning ship, and swimming under water while oil burned on the surface.
On other days boys wrestled, boxed and marched. The Commando and intensive gym courses were mandatory for all high school boys.
In perhaps the most chilling reminder of the war’s effect, 10 of the 100 graduates of the Class of 1943 – exactly 10 percent – did not attend commencement ceremonies. The stars next to their names meant they had already left school, to serve in the armed forces. The Staples High School yearbook was dedicated to them.
The “new” Staples High School opened on Riverside Avenue in 1937. When the Class of 1943 graduated, it was just 7 years old.
The next year, the 88-member Class of 1944 included 7 more service members.
At an assembly 6 months earlier, principal Douglas Young set a minimum but difficult goal of $25,000 for the 4th nationwide War Bond Drive. Six months later, the results were announced: Staples students had raised a whopping $39,500. That made graduation night special.
So did the sudden appearance, in full uniform, of Airman Sebastian (Sebby) Lauterbach. He joined the class in time to march to the stage for the ceremony.
The memory became even more poignant a few months later, when he was one of two members of the class killed in combat.
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The Connecticut Air & Space Center in Stratford is a very cool place. It’s one of a very few museums of its type in the country located in an original World War II aircraft factory.
Which made it a very fitting destination for Jean Hunt Tucker the other day.
The 1941 Staples High School graduate — who turns 99 in November — traveled from Florida with her daughter and granddaughter to see the Corsair.
There was a good reason: Jean was one of the first female engineers to work at the plant during World War II. Among her projects: the F4U Corsair.
Joan Tucker with the museum’s Corsair.
After Staples she headed to college in Ohio. After Pearl Harbor — a few months later — she returned to this area. She enrolled at Bridgeport State Trade School, to learn drafting.
At 18 she joined the engineering department of Chance Vought Aircraft in Stratford. She was one of very few females; most of the others were secretaries and clerks.
Jane made drawings of parts for electrical installations — without ever seeing the actual equipment. She also worked on fuselages.
Chance Vought sent her to the Academy of Aeronautics, near La Guardia Airport, to train women entering the industry.
Part of the Connecticut Air & Space Center’s exhibit is dedicated to Joan Tucker.
In 1945 Joan entered Northeastern University, as one of its first class of women.
She married in 1949. When the company moved to Dallas, she stayed here. She earned a degree in industrial engineering, and taught math for 38 years in 3 states and 2 foreign countries.
Thank you, Joan, for your service. Many Westport men served — 20% of the Staples Class of 1943 missed their graduation ceremony, as they were already in the military — but we can’t forget the important contributions of Westport’s women either. (Hat tips: Frank Rosen and Len Roberto)
50 Years Ago This Week(September 22, 1973): Officials announced that a $14 million enlargement plan would be sought for Staples High Schoo.
The proposed additions included an array of new athletic facilities such as a skating rink, 2 new baseball fields, and one additional field for soccer and field hockey.
The additions were never built. The “modernization” of 1978-81 — which connected 9 separate buildings — did include new athletic facilities: a fieldhouse and pool. (Hat tip: Fred Cantor)
The “new” Staples, circa 1959. The auditorium (center left) and gym (largest building in the rear) are the only original structures that remain today.
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Nechama Tec — a longtime Westport resident and, the New York Times notes, “a Polish Jew who pretended to be Roman Catholic to survive the Holocaust and then became a Holocaust scholar, writing about Jews as heroic resisters and why certain people, even antisemites, became rescuers” — died August 3 in New York. She was 92.
“Defiance: The Bielski Partisans” — her best-known work, written in 1993 — was made into the movie “Defiance” 15 years later.
Her book “gave Dr. Tec a platform to show that Jews saved other Jews during the war and were more active in resisting the Nazis than some have commonly believed,” the Times said.
In “When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland,” Dr. Tec offered “a portrait of Christians who hid Jews, despite the likelihood of being imprisoned or killed for providing such aid. They were, she concluded, outsiders who were marginal in their communities; had a history of performing good deeds; did not view their actions as heroic; and did not agonize over being helpful.”
After World War II, her family moved from Poland to Berlin. In 1949 she immigrated to Israel, where she met her future husband Leon Tec, a Polish-born doctor who became a noted child psychiatrist. They moved to the US in 1952, and to Westport in 1960.
Nechama Tec (Photo courtesy of Tec family, via New York Times)
Nechama earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Columbia University. She taught sociology there, then at Rutgers University, Trinity College and — for 36 years — the University of Connecticut’s Stamford branch.
She received a Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia in 1965. Her honors include a Pulitzer Prize nomination.
Dr. Tec is survived by her son Roland, daughter Leora, 2 grandsons, 1 great-grandson, and a half-sister, Catharina Knoll. She was pre-deceased by her husband and sister, Giza Agmon.
A celebration of her life will be held October 1 (3 p.m., Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, New York City). Click here for the New York Times’ full obituary.
Westport has long been proud of World War II veterans like Leonard Everett Fisher and Joe Schachter, and the late Ted Diamond and Howard Munce.
We honor them on Memorial Day. We listen to and read recollections of their service. We thank them often (though probably not enough).
We’ve done none of that for Ben Pepper.
He was a paratrooper. He earned a Purple Heart at the Battle of the Bulge. He’s lived in Westport since 1958.
Yet we’ve never seen him on Memorial Day. Most of us have never heard his name.
That’s his decision. He has chosen never to march or ride in the May parade. He still has his medals, his dog tag, his photos — and his Army jacket — but he has always been low-key about them.
Ben Pepper, yesterday. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Perhaps this Memorial Day — less than 2 months before his 100th birthday — that will change.
Westport would be honored to honor him. He lives in his longtime home — alone, after his wife Frances died — and has nearly a century of stories to tell.
Yesterday — sitting in his son David and daughter-in-law Gail’s Wilton Road house — he told some of them.
Pepper’s parents came from Austria-Hungary. His father had a window cleaning route.
Pepper was born on July 5, 1923 in the Bronx. He grew up near the Grand Concourse.
Ben Pepper, on his bar mitzvah day.
After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School, he headed to aeronautical school at La Guardia Airport.
But World War II was underway. He was soon drafted, and ordered to report to Grand Central Terminal on New Year’s Day, 1943.
(His younger brother Armand enlisted — without his parents’ permission. His mother brought him home. When he was old enough he joined the Army Air Forces, and served in the South Pacific. He is 97, and lives in Naples, Florida.)
Pepper was sent first to Fort Dix, then to a new tank training center at Camp Hood in Texas. He felt unsuited to tank operations, and asked for a transfer.
He got one: to paratrooper school at Fort Benning, Georgia.
“I was 19. I didn’t know what I was getting into,” Pepper says.
Ben Pepper: in the Army.
After stops in North Carolina and Maryland, his 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment was sent to Northern Ireland, then Sherwood Forest in England.
Pepper would have been part of D-Day. But he had broken his back on an earlier jump, and was in a near-full body cast.
Many of his fellow paratroopers never made it home that June day.
He recuperated in time for another important, gruesome battle: The Bulge. But on Christmas Day 1944, his flight to France crashed on takeoff. Everyone survived.
Instead he was driven to the Ardennes forest, between Belgium and Luxembourg.
“There was a lot of shooting,” he remembers.
A German shell hit the edge of his foxhole, but did not explode. Ten minutes later, a fellow soldier stood up in the same foxhole. A bullet killed him instantly.
Pepper got frostbite in the brutal cold — his rifle was frozen too — and earned a Purple Heart for it.
Ben Pepper’s Purple Heart, dog tag and other mementoes. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Soon, he was assigned to guard a former German schnapps factory. “We were 20-year-old kids, with all the booze you’d want,” he laughs.
After Pepper’s discharge in October 1945, he answered an ad to be a photographer. “Why not?” he figured.
That started a long career. In 1953 he opened his own studio — Allyn — on Atlantic Street in Stamford. By then he’d met and married Frances; their son David was 5.
Ben Pepper (center left) and fellow members of his photography school class.
Pepper also opened liquor stores, in Stamford and Norwalk. Frances started her own Kitty Closet shops on Westport Avenue in Norwalk.
In 1958 they bought property on what was then Blue Ribbon Farm, on North Avenue just past Cross Highway. They built a home on what is now Blue Ribbon Lane. He’s lived there ever since.
Ben Pepper, back in the day.
In 1960 the Peppers helped build Temple Israel on Coleytown Road. They spent the rest of their married life raising David (a Staples Class of 1966 graduate), traveling (including China before it opened to the West, the USSR, Africa and Asia), and working.
David and Gail have 2 children, both Staples graduates. They’ve given Pepper 3 great-grandchildren.
All would be proud to see “Private Benjamin” Pepper be honored at Westport’s Memorial Day parade.
He’s not so sure.
“My jacket wouldn’t fit,” he protests.
It would. Pepper is in great shape.
And Westporters of all ages would be inspired to salute him in it.
Kerstin Rao retired in 2021, after 2 decades as a teacher in Bedford Middle School’s gifted program.
Among her many wonderful experiences was the chance to meet World War II Army Air Corps combat navigator Ted Diamond. He died on Tuesday, at 105.
The longtime Westporter — who (among many other accomplishments) served 3 terms as 2nd Selectman — made quite a mark on Kerstin’s students.
And on her. She writes:
When I read on “06880” that Ted Diamond had passed, I found my heart filled with gratitude for the brief times I got to know him during his Veterans Day visits, when I taught at Bedford Middle School.
For at least 2 decades, possibly longer, Bedford’s 8th grade social studies teachers have organized visits by local veterans each November. The impact of these visits is often profound. Students would come into my classes the rest of the week bringing up points the veterans had talked about, wondering what they would have done if they were in the same situation, and curious about ways to serve the country.
Kerstin Rao and Ted Diamond.
My classroom was usually the gathering place as veterans arrived. The PTA would put together a breakfast, and the vets used that morning time to catch up with longtime friends. There was plenty of talk of grandchildren, ailments, and some razzing between the branches of service. However, I also observed how the older vets were genuinely curious to hear from the younger service members about their experiences.
Whenever I could, I brought my sketch journal. I quietly sat in the back of different classrooms as the vets shared their stories. Some years I made drawings of the men and women as they spoke, jotting down the insights that moved my heart. I’m glad I captured a sketch of Ted and some of his thoughts in my journal.
In 2016, Ted told how some men in his unit held deep racial biases. But when they were pinned down and the Tuskegee Airmen saved their lives, those biases were obliterated.
Kerstin Rao’s 2016 journal includes a sketch of Ted Diamond, and some of the important ideas he shared with Bedford Middle School 8th graders.
In 2017, he brought a photo of his unit. He pointed to a few faces, saying this one was from Michigan, this one was from Colorado. He said he could have brought photos of his wing shot off, or the engine of the plane across the way on fire, but to him, this was the single most important picture. He wanted the students to understand that no matter where we are from, we are one country, working together.
A photo Ted Diamond (top row, 2nd from right) shared with the students.
Ted Diamond stood out to me because every year, without fail, his stories focused on our shared humanity. He had a graciousness and gentle humor that made his listeners lean in. He took us into the moment during pivotal times of his World War II battle experiences. He always left us with the message that we have far more in common than we realize, and this is where the true promise of our country resides.
In my lifetime, I’ve never witnessed such bitter division in America as we have lived through these past few years. Nationally and locally, I am troubled to notice a greater willingness to violate the rights of others, speak in inflamed rhetoric without a willingness to listen, and openly expressed innuendo that violence could be inevitable.
Violence is not inevitable.
Discord is not inevitable.
When we pause a moment, we realize that we dishonor the legacy of our veterans if we allow our country to erode from within. I heard this expressed by several veterans over the years. If Ted has left us a call to action, it is this: Each of us has a choice. We could pull further apart, or we could strengthen our country by working together. We can choose integrity, understanding, and connection which becomes a service to our country.
For this message which guides my own path forward, I am truly grateful. Thank you, Ted.
As Memorial Day approaches, longtime Westporter Tom Feeley writes:
It was 1945. The war in Germany was almost over. But SFC Mike Brody and the POWs did not know it.
Fast forward to 1973. I moved from San Francisco to Westport. As a Vietnam veteran, I joined VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399 VFW. I walked in the Memorial Day parade, attended the solemn Veterans Day ceremony, and made a bunch of new WWII NCO friends with CIBs, even a Silver Star.
My left shoulder had the Third Infantry Division Patch from 1/15 INF CAN DO, so I was real good with the WWII guys. I also led Audie Murphy’s platoon.
Junior Bieling
Westport veteran and Silver Star awardee Junior Bieling usually wore a coat over his uniform to hide his medal, out of modesty. He owned JR’s Hot Dog Stand.
I busted his chops: “You should be very proud. If an enlisted man earns a Silver Star, he really earned it.”
“Not too many officers would say that,” he replied.
On Fridays if I went in for a dog, I left smashed on his vodka screwdrivers. “Tom, the booze is on the house, but ya gotta pay for the dogs!”
There was also a burly Tech SFC Mike Brody, with ribbons and a CIB. He was from Brooklyn. I’m from Queens, with Brooklyn friends, so we became buddies. We ran into each other at the beach occasionally, and chatted.
He was almost 6 feet tall, built like a tanker. He had a contagious smile and a very quick wit.
The three of us hung out in the VFW bar after ceremonies or meetings. Those guys knew everyone.
Fast forward again, to 2000. I owned a boutique real estate firm. I had sold a beautiful modern home in Weston to inventor genius Bob Soloff and his wife Carol, also from Brooklyn. They held a beautiful catered open house for friends after the sale.
To my surprise, SFC Mike Brody showed up. We were a few hours into drinking when I asked Carol, ”Where do you know this guy Mike from?“
“He’s my little Jewish buddy from Brooklyn!” she said.
“What? Mike? Brody is a Jewish name?!”
In Jackson Heights you were Irish Catholic, Italian or Jewish, with a sprinkling of Protestants. We busted the Jews’ yarmulkes on Saturday, and they busted our Sunday ties or knickers.
Mike turned to Carol. “You’ve asked me about the war many times. I’ve had enough to drink that I’ll finally share my story with you and Tom.”
He continued:
“We were laying field radio wire, got encircled, captured and put in a concentration camp. I was a platoon sergeant, so I had some freedom to move about and interact with guards. who randomly asked to see my dog tags.
World War II prisoner of war camp, in Germany.
“Months later a new slender guard showed up. He was quite different, because he didn’t walk his post bored. He was alert and interested in what was going on behind the fence.
“I saw him a lot, and tried to be nice. He asked me where I was from. When I said Brooklyn, his eyes lit up. He called me ‘Brooklyn!’ from then on.
“One day he was looking for me. He pointed to the far corner of the camp, for me to go there. With a corner post and a lamp pole, it was hidden from the guard towers. He put his index finger to his lips and in perfect English said, ‘Not a word! Give me your dog tags. Return here tomorrow after breakfast. Not a word!'”
“I figured with no tags, I was dead. The next day we met. He returned one tag on the long chain — missing the long chain. He said ‘tank treads,’ and disappeared.
Some dog tags identified soldiers as Jewish with an “H,” for “Hebrew.”
“The next day, everyone was lined up for dog tags. ‘Jews over here!’ The tag the guard had returned was badly scuffed and twisted, like it was run over by a tank. The ‘JUD’ in the lower right corner had been mangled off.
“All the Jews were separated, and never seen again.”
Mike later learned that the guard was an American college student. He had been visiting his grandparents when he was conscripted and placed in a concentration camp, where he could spy with his bilingual skills.
Mike freed the guard by telling rescuers that the kid was an American citizen, and that he had saved Mike’s life.
That’s just one out of countless stories that our veterans can tell. As they gather for tomorrow’s Memorial Day parade and ceremony — and meet at places like the VFW, to share memories, socialize and enjoy their lives — let’s not forget every man and woman who has served our country.
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