100-year-old Veteran Kept Jewish Prayer Book Over His Heart as He Confronted the Holocaust

This Reflection was written by Jesse Schraub, who turns 101 this month, with the help of his three daughters, Alice Kinsler, Ellen Gang, and Laura Siegel.

In 1943, I was drafted into the military at age 18, having never before been away from Brooklyn, New York. When asked which branch of service I preferred to join, I chose the Army; I wasn’t a swimmer, and I figured the Navy or Marines would surely mean drowning.

In the 1940s, there were concentration camps in Europe and overt anti-Semitism in the United States. I had heard on the news that innocent people were being slaughtered in Europe just because they were Jews. Despite my anger and horror, I knew I had to control my feelings if I was going to be effective in fighting the Nazis.

Though an observant Orthodox Jew, I decided not to bring my tallis (prayer shawl) when I entered the Army. I was worried that sacred items could be intentionally desecrated or accidentally damaged in warfare. The pocket-sized prayerbook provided to Jews in the Armed Forces stayed in my breast pocket, over my heart.

I was to be stationed overseas for nine months, arriving after the Allies liberated France on June 6, 1944. On October 18, a week after leaving Boston Harbor, my ship docked in Liverpool, England, then we traveled by train all day to rainy Southampton.

I was resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to follow a kosher diet during my tour, but couldn’t bring myself to eat pork sausage. So I bought two cans of sardines, all that the ship’s PX had. I ate one, and the other I saved “for a rainy day,” which fortunately never came. (To this day, I love sardines.)

https://thewarhorse.org/jewish-veteran-experience-wwii/