It is may 29, 2014, in wellington, florida. What is your name . My name is harold berkman. I was born on february 26, 1926 in brooklyn new york. Ive been a resident of florida since 1975. Im 88 years old and in order to accurately trace my military odyssey, ive drawn from four sources one, my memory, two, my discharge papers, three, letters i sent to my parents when i was in europe, and, fortunately, my mother had saved my letters, and number four, regimental and battalion history of the 317th regiment at second battalion that had been declassified. A neighbor of mine who was an expert in terms of accessing the internet did the research for me. Lets back up for a minute. You said you are from brooklyn, new york . Did you were you raised and grew up in brooklyn . The first 11 years of my life, i spent in brooklyn. Then my father retired and we spent time in a town called monticello. That is where you went to school . That is where i went to junior high and high school. It is in my notes as i go along here. Do you have any brothers or sisters . One brother who is deceased. I came from a small town called monticello at the foothill of the catskill mountains. Monticello was approximately 90 miles from new york city. I was inducted in the army in 1944, shortly after graduating high school. I was 18 years old. Other inductees and i traveled by bus to fort dix, new jersey, where we were processed. When the processing was complete, we were put on a train and we were sent to camp crop, south carolina, outside of spartanburg. Lets back up for a minute. Do you remember growing up during the depression . During the depression, my father was in the nonferrous scrap metal business. He always made a good living for his family. My wifes father also, she was brought up in the depression. She was born in 1929, actually, and the family made a living. Both she and i are first generation americans. Her mother and father came from kiev, russia. My mother and father came from it varied as the borders shifted. One day it was russia, one day it was poland, and now on the map, it is belarus. That is where they came from. They came to this country, could not read or write english. Learned how to read and write english. Both my wifes father went into business and became an entrepreneur. My father went into business and also became an entrepreneur. So, we love america, ok . America, the United States has been very good to me and very good to my wifes family as well. Do you remember on december 7, 1941, where you were and how did you find out about the attack on pearl harbor . No. I have no recollection. At that time, i was in high school. Probably, as you had indicated previously, probably heard about it over the radio. Thats about it. Directly, was not affected because in my age category, no one, obviously, was being inducted and no one was volunteering. We were all too young at that point. Later on, of course, we knew what was going on as people from our town were inducted. I came from a very small town. In the winter time, there were 2500 people, and in the summer time, it jumped to half a million. It was a resort area. So everyone knew everyone elses business. If someone went into the army or into the navy, immediately, everybody knew about it. You couldnt hide it. Conversely, if you did not go, then everybody knew about that, too. So there was a stigma attached to that. Were you drafted . I was drafted. I completed 16 weeks of basic training. I was assigned to company b, 36th infantry training battalion. One sergeant was a phenomenal drill sergeant, a little guy probably no more than about four foot 4, 4 foot five, but he had a voice like a fog horn. The other sergeant had recently returned from the pacific. I was in excellent shape when i was drafted. I only weighed 145 pounds. I had played varsity soccer, varsity baseball, and i ran track. The training, as you are well aware, consisted of a lot of close order drill, calisthenics, how to throw a grenade, bayonet obstacle course, how to put on a gas mask, exposed to live ammunition with a machine gun, and the rifle range, which is something everyone looked forward to. We were all issued and m1 durand, eight clip rifle which weighed nine and a half pounds. After completing the requisite target practice on the rifle range, the usual results was what we called the m1 i and and m1 funk. The m1 i came about because you were taught to put this thumb under your eye when you are holding the rifle. The recoil from the rifle, you wound up with a black eye. The clip that went into the rifle, if you did not pull your thumb out quickly enough, you wound up with a thumb that was black and blue. That is something you never forget, by the way. I completed the 16 weeks of basic training and then went back to fort dix for embarkation to europe. The allies had suffered severe casualties during the battle of the bulge and replacements were being rushed overseas as quickly as possible. So i had a one week furlough and then, boom, i was on the queen elizabeth, which was a big cruise ship, if you will recall. A big ocean lighter. That big ocean liner. The ship was loaded with 22,000 men. In order to get that many people on the ship, one night, you spent in the cabin and the canvas bunks were stacked about four high. Then one night, you had to go up on the promenade deck. The promenade deck was enclosed with glass, but it was cold. I found a storage closet with duffel bags and instead of going up on the promenade deck, i spent the odd nights on top of my duffel bags in a closet. The food, by the way, on this ship, was terrible. You had to line up, you got two meals a day, and it took three hours until you finally got a meal. And it was an english ship, so they were serving mutton. Mutton has an odor its something that one never forgets. I lived on chocolate bars and cocacola during the voyage that we had across the atlantic. As an aside, there was no convoy because the ship was so fast that submarines could never get this ship. So we did a transatlantic crossing without a convoy. We went from new york harbor, we went to glasgow, scotland. We spent one night in glasgow, scotland and then, the following morning, we were put on a train and we were sent to southampton, where we were loaded that night onto another ship and we crossed the english channel. Which, by the way, was extremely rough because it was january. A lot of guys got seasick. We landed in le havre, france and they put us into an enormous tent city. There were probably about six guys in a tent. No heat. So we were scrounging to find wood to heat the stove in the tent. We stayed there for one day and then they put us with what the french called the boxcar held either 40 men or eight horses. We moved up toward the front, and as we moved up toward the front, we went through what was called replacement depots. The nickname was rebel double. You are also coming into contact with veterans who had been wounded and they were going back to their original outfits. The advice you get from these guys is that if you are going to go into the infantry, and that is where i was headed to go, the best job was to be a mortar man. So, because mortar men always stayed behind and were below a berm, so the enemy couldnt see them. So we got up to my division, my particular company what division were you in . I was assigned to company f, second battalion, 317th infantry regiment, 80th Infantry Division, third army. That, of course, you know is general patton. I joined my outfit in luxembourg. First lieutenant came out and he immediately said do we have any good mortar men here . Quick as a bunny, i raise my hand. He said you are now a machine gunner. So, at any rate not what you wanted . Not what i wanted. Im sure you know machine gunners after a while have to be exposed. Once you are exposed, the average longevity is about 35 seconds. Mortar men seemed to have a better longevity. The bulge lasted from december 16, 1944 to january 25, 1945, who were involved . There were a million men involved in this action. 600,000 americans, 55,000 british, and half a million germans. Casualties the americans had 81,000 casualties. Of the 81, 000, 19,000 were killed. The british had 1400 casualties and out of the 1400, 200 were killed. The germans, they had 101,000 who were killed, wounded, or missing in action. As far as the equipment is concerned, each side, the germans and the americans, they each lost a thousand tanks. The germans also lost a thousand aircrafts that had been shot down. Its the largest land battle that ever took place in terms of American History. Now, as you this was my first exposure, so to speak, to the guys i was going to be with. Your first combat experience was in the battle of the bulge . This was the battle of the bulge. My decorations include three campaigns, battle of the bulge, rhineland, and central europe. At any rate, im sure you know, but an Infantry Company consists of three rifle platoon and one weapons platoon. I was assigned to the weapons platoon. They have a headquarters, headquarters includes supply, administration and mess. The weapons platoon has two squads of machine gunners and two squads of mortar men. Originally, as a first gunner, second gunner, first ammo bearer, second ammo bearer. I was the second ammo bearer. You cant get any lower than that. The first action that you go into is something you never forget. The veterans who had been up there before, they dont want anything to do with you. Because they dont know how long you are going to last. So they dont want to become friendly with you. Im sure you undoubtedly know that as far as the world war ii veterans are concerned, there are only 200,000 of us alive today. 8000 of us die a day. Out of 16 Million People that served in the armed forces, approximately only a million actually saw combat, real, real combat. The infantrymen, seven out of 10 were killed. As im sitting here with you, im very fortunate to be here. I think the total dead in world war ii was Something Like 60 million. Pattons army, its in the history books, you know that. The third army was led by the fourth Armored Division. Im very friendly with a gentleman who was a Lieutenant Colonel and who retired as a general who was in the fourth Armored Division, so im privy to a lot of stuff that went on. He wrote three books and i read all three books. The 80th infantry vision used to follow the fourth Armored Division. Fourth Armored Division was a spearhead. 80th Infantry Division in the 26 division used to follow them and they used to mop up. Eisenhower asked patton how long is it going to take you to get up to up to baston . Patton was in Southern France and said 48 hours. They looked at him and they said you are crazy. You are never going to get up there. Remember, this is the wintertime. In mud, sleet, rain, ice, whatever, he gets up there in 48 hours. Now, he didnt tell them he was going to go 24 hours and 24 hours because they were moving at night, they were moving us at night as well. Its in the history books. This was a remarkable feat. The third army, the casualties for the third army, 2515 were killed out of 15 divisions. 14,977 were wounded and 5559 were missing in action for a total of 23,050 one people. Were you part of that march . No, i came in afterwards. Fortunately, i was not part of that march. I have heard a lot about it from general alvin or take who was a Lieutenant Colonel and had a tank battalion. He was one of pattons favorite tank battalion commanders. A fabulous guy. After baston was relieved, we started the big push and we started to push back. You never forget your first combat experience as i had indicated. Its like your first car, your first girlfriend, your first job, etc. So my first combat experience was a night crossing of a river. It was the border between luxembourg and germany. The river on one side, in luxembourg, is called suyi river, on the german side, its called the sauer river. Trucks took us to the drop off point and for you get on the truck, you are handed two grenades a fragmentary grenade and you get a phosphorous grenade. As soon a trucks start to move, the experienced guys take their grenade and bend the pins back and throw them off the side of the truck. The minute you get off the truck at the drop off point, the supply sergeant is there and he hands you two more grenades, so it was like routine. They know you are going to throw the grenades away, so they are going to give you two more grenades. Picture that on 145 pounds. Ive got a blanket, a shelter half over my pack, im wearing a winter overcoat, im carrying a carbine over one shoulder, and they hand me two boxes of machine gun ammunition. But nobody told me i was going to have to carry these two boxes of ammunition and nobody told me look for some cord, look for some straps, tie the two cans together, swing them over your shoulder like a dutch girl carrying two buckets of milk. So im carrying these two cans of ammunition and im thinking my arms are going to get ripped out of my shoulders. As we get close to the waters edge, somebody slaps a paddle under my arm. Now we get into the pontoon boat, a little pontoon boat and start paddling across. As we are paddling across, the germans are shooting up flares. They were shooting up flares while we were approaching the bank as well. In basic training, you are taught if a flare goes off, stand absolutely still. However, the experienced guys are hitting the ground. So i learned very quickly, you follow their lead. You also learn with the artillery shells, the germans had the adh, which was a classic weapon. The adh, you learn when you hear the whistle or wu a woosh, you know you are alright. Whoosh its when you dont hear it you know youve got a problem. When the shells land, there is an order an odor that comes from cordite, which is another thing you never forget, the odor of cordite. What did you think of the fighting ability of the german soldiers . Very well disciplined. Extremely well disciplined. In some instances, their equipment was better than our equipment. As an example, if you take a normal rifle platoon, and the rifle platoon, you have a squad and most of the guys in the squad have m1s. One of the guys has a browning automatic. So it not highly automatic. With the germans, its the reverse. Most of them have automatic weapons. They have a weapon called the burke gun. It has a magazine about yay hi and it was an automatic weapon and it did have, by the way, a particular sound that sounded like a burp. The other things the germans had that was better than ours was the machine gun. Our machine gun, when the barrels get hot after you fire the gun with so many rounds of ammunition, you can actually see the bullets because every fifth or sixth bullet is a tracer and you can see the tracers coming out and they are wobbling. When you want to change the barrel, you have to take the gun apart. So there is a downtime with that. The germans, their barrel, they had a clip, boom, boom, boom unhinge the clip, the barrel comes out, screw another barrel in. So there weapon was much better than ours. Either way, thats another thing you never forget. In the machine gun, and i was not trained as a machine gun, i was trained as a rifleman. In the machine gun, when you take the gun apart, there is a bolt about two and a half inches long and about two inches high. The bolt can go in two ways and you learn, double beveled edge up and toward the front. If you dont put it in that way, the gun wont fire. Thats another thing thats 70 years and it is indelibly impressed on my mind. At any rate, the engineers were attempting to put a pontoon bridge across the river. When we got across the river, we found the barn and we got into the barn and took shelter. The second platoon was already there. They had crossed earlier. After getting settled in the barn, sergeant calls me over and calls over the other ammo bearer, his name was donald. He said borrow a litter from the medic and he said psc perez hurt his ankle. Carry him back to the rivers bank and they will take him back across. Why was he so nice about this . Pfc. Perez was 39 years old and he was due for rotation. The sergeant figured send them back. So he went back. So we carried him back, then walked back to the barn. The next morning, we get up, it is light and we look outside and theres a big sign in german that says we had walked through a minefield three times. Fortunately, we didnt get hurt. That morning, the platoon sergeant grabs a hold of me because im on the bottom of the totem pole and he says come on, we are going to go scrounge for some rations. We start moving up the bank and as we are moving up the bank, we see dead american soldiers. Half submerged in the water and half on the land, bloated, white, and that was obviously the first time i saw dead americans. We get back to the barn and the First Lieutenant of the second platoon was having an argument with my sergeant another thing you never forget his name was Isadore Beckerman and he came from brooklyn. He was having an argument with the sergeant. He wanted the machine gun section to come outside and give his men cover as they were going to go up this very steep slope and attack the germans who were dug in on the top of the slope, on the crest of the slope. My sergeant refused to go. He had been wounded in france, so he was extremely cautious. Lets say risk aversive. He didnt go, we didnt go. At any rate, the second platoon starts to go up and they get about one third of the way up and the platoon sergeant set steps on mine. And it must have been a big one. It blew off his legs. Shot up into the air, came back down again and his head hit another mine and it severed his head. That was the first time i had ever seen anybody get killed. They got about a third of the way up and the germans unloaded. Pushed them back into the barn. They stayed there until that night, and that night, the rest of company f nate across the river and we moved into a night attack. One thing you learn when you go into a night attack as you never fall out. Ive seen guys urinate in their pants, defecate in their pants, dont fall out. You fall out, you get lost, you are never going to find your outfit. Another thing that is scary at night, sound travels a lot at night and you can hear the tank tracks. Thats the scariest sound in the world when you hear tanks moving around. We kept moving forward pattons philosophy is the only way you can win a war is to attack. And then you attack again and then you attack some more and then you keep attacking. And thats what we did from the end of january into february, we were constantly engaged with the end. Ny. You move forward, you dig a hole, you engage with the enemy. You get up, you walk again, you dig another hole. And this is what you constantly dominate you constantly moving forward. February 10 was a date that i remember. February 10 we crossed at the junction of the hour and sour rivers. And we breached the the sigfried line is a series of pill boxes. 40 pill boxes per thousand yards. In a defensive belt, 20 miles indepths with three belts stretching from the border of holland to switzerland. And in front of the pill boxes are whats called dragon teeth. And the germans call that [speaking in foreign language], and these concrete posts are embeded in the ground to impede the progress of tanks. And the 80th Infantry Division had the distinction of penetrating the lines at two different locations. Ill describe to you an engagement that took place that i still dont understand. They called the regimentals, some of the officers and some of the battalion officers came up and we were attacking a pill box they laid in artillery on the pill box. And then we laid in machinegun fire. And then two platoons of rifle men got up and charged the pill box. But fortunately, they were knocked out in terms of the people the germans and nobody was hurt. But this is something that you would see in a movie. But in a medieval movie where they get up and theyre charging. I still dont understand why they did that. Its unbelievable. Now, i have some dates over here and if you like, you stop me and ill be happy to stop. August, september, october, november, december. Im in camp cross south carolina. And i then depart at the beginning of january, the 45 and i arrive in europe in towards the middle of january, the 17th. January, im in luxen burg. February 3, i cross the river. And on march 3, an interesting thing happened. You know a lot of the guys that were in the boats did not have good equipments. Some of them just had summer clothes. They never had Winter Clothes they brought up a new kind boot that we were supposed to get. And the bottom of the boot was rubber and the top of the boot was leather. I didnt get one because they didnt have one to fit me. So i was wearing oldfashioned combat boots with galoshes with the clips on the side. The problem with these new boots is that they didnt breathe. So guys that were wearing these boots, moisture built up in the boot and a lot of them wound up with trench foot. I never had trench foot. So i was pretty lucky. Now on march 9, on march 6, rather, they took us week in rear echelon and they took us back. Enormous tent that was heated. You walked in on one side. You stripped. The only thing you kept on was your shoes. And you took a shower. You took a shave. And you got fresh clothes as you exited the tent. You took a shower with your shoes on . You took the shoes off. Ok. I had not shaved or showered in 55 days. Ok. So we were all pretty tacky. But, you know, youre outside. Its cold. So you dont smell that badly, you know . Now on march 9, another interesting anecdote. Were going into attack and were below a bedroom berm, and between the berm and where we have to reach is approximately 50 yards to the outskirts of a forest. The first segment sergeant and the sergeant had his. 45 out and two guys are getting up and theyre running towards the outskirts of the forest. The implication being you dont get up and run, im going to knock you off with my. 45. And im carrying the machine gun. At that time, i had moved up. I was promoted. I was moved to the first gunner. It only took three weeks. So i was and i was able to move up quickly because guys got hurt and guys were on rotation. Now, the machine gun is split into two parts. You have the gun and you have the tripod. First and second gunner switch off. Sometimes you carry the gun, sometimes you carry the tripod. Unfortunately it was my turn to carry the gun. And so as im running to the edge of the forest, theres a riflemen running next to me and off to one side is a german tank and this guy is getting up to run, hes shooting hes shooting at us with machine gun. The both of us hit the ground next to the forest and the guy next to me says i think im hit. I feel something running down my leg. And i take a look. A bullet went through his canteen. Water had leaked out and it had dripped and it was running down his leg. So he thought it was blood. I said what where do you come from . Monticello and i said where do you come from . Brooklyn. And he said when he was a kid, i used to work at monticello and he starts to tell me the hotel where is he used to work. So this is how i first met paul rothfeld. And even though he was in a rifle platoon, we became friends. I wrote to his mother and father and vice versa. They visited together. He made it through and i will give you an anecdote about him at the very end. So at any rate, he and i make it into the forest and i survive. On march 22, we start to move into towns. And we built it in german houses. And on march 25, we get into one german house and were now sleeping in beds. So theres feather mattresses, feather quilts, etc. And what happens . We all wind up with lice and scabeys. So on the 26, 27, they line us up in the streets on the whole Company Split in half. Half on one side of the street, half on the other side of the street. And they spray us with d. D. T. Now, this is a ridiculous thing too. They give us a shirt on. Now, can you imagine what the germans must have thought . Heres these americans. Theyre dropping their pants in middle of the street and some guy is walking along looking at them and inspecting them, you know . I dont think we have anything to be afraid of, you know . So, at any rate, that, i never forget either. Theres a nonfratization policy. Heres a bunch of g. I. s. Weve been out in the field for Something Like two months and now were coming into towns and theres german women. Theres no thats another thing the german women used to say or ill translate it. Six years, no men. And six years no chocolate. And the americans were very happy to provide both. Ok . At any rate on march 28 we crossed the rhine river in daylight. Youre the first one to cross the rhine river, right . Well, one of the first ones we crossed the rhine river and the way that its described, they call it the confluence of the rhine river and the main rivers. It was a daylight crossing and we were in large boats that are similar to the oldfashioned lifeboats with a motor on the boat. Of course the germans were shooting shells, artillery at us. At any rate, we make it across the river. And at this point, were also moving very rapidly. And were approaching the city of kassel. And as we approach kassel, were moving in two columns. And suddenly, a german fighter plane swoops in on top of us. But this was a very unusual fighter plane. It didnt have any propellers. Didnt have any propeller. And this was the first german jet that we see. They were way ahead of us, you know . This was a german jet, and fortunately for us, the pilot must have been out of ammunition because he didnt fire. He didnt fire. So then, you know, somebody will say well, you know, we saw a john wayne movie. John wayne picked up the machine gun and he shot down a plane. I can tell you john wayne couldnt pick up a machine gun and shoot down a plane. You pick up a machine gun, you start to fire it, that gun is all over the place. Youre lucky you dont kill yourself, ok . So once again, were moving. And now, on the 12th and 13th of april, we hit were approaching vymar. And outside of vymar, we hit a concentration camp. And this is the first time that americans had ever seen a concentration camp. We were one of the first g. I. s. I was one of the first g. I. s in buchenwald. When my company walked into buchenwald, the oven was still warm. The inmates were 70 pounds, 75 pounds, undernourished. I saw bones where the furnaces were stacked high. And thats another thing you never forget. Now, patton saw this. And patton notified eisenhower immediately because they had never seen a concentration camp before. And patton and eisenhower walk through they walk through the concentration camp. Now, the statistics, there were six million jews who were killed. Two million nonjewish poles who were killed. There were four million soviet prisoners who were killed in the concentration camps. There were jehovahs witnesses, gypsies, handicap people, homosexuals, political prisoners, etc. Now, patton ordered the men to assemble some citizens and they marched them through buchenwald. They said he didnt know they didnt know what was going on at buchenwald. If you remember, there was black smoke belching from the chimneys 24 hours a day. The stink was terrible and he claims he didnt know what was going on. The following day after the burg meister saw after he went through buchenwald, he and his wife committed suicide. On april 14, we got word that president roosevelt had passed away. And the germans that we spoke to did not understand our system of government. And they were wondering whats going to happen to the United States now . Theres no president roosevelt. April, were moving very rapidly. And on between the 23 rd the 28th, we come into nuremberg. The entire old city of nuremberg had been destroyed one night. The allies flew bombers over and just destroyed the entire city. The amazing thing is the following day, the germans came out of the bunkers. They came out of the under ground shelters and many of them did survive. In nuremberg, i saw the sports plaques where hitler used to do a lot of his speeches. On may 8, the war ends and were in the austrian alps and were in the mountains. How did you all find out that hitler had killed himself . You did not know that . Didnt. Did not know that want we did not know that. We wind up in a german city and they surrendered to the 80th Infantry Division. Heres an interesting anecdote that took place. The german general whose name was general balck requested a meeting with the general of the 80th Infantry Division and the reason he wanted the meeting, he wanted to be assured that his who were on one side of the river would be able to get across the river to the american zone. As you well know, churchill, stalin and roosevelt divided europe up, which was probably a big mistake. And the russian zone ended at the river. So Horace Mcbride told the german general as long as you can get your men over here by midnight, may 9, theyre safe. But anybody after that, you cannot cross the river anymore. And the german general was only concerned about his men and he had a Ukrainian Division and he had a division of ss hungarians and he didnt much care about them one way or the other. So what happened at that point from may 14 to may 17, i we pulled guard duty with the russians. We were on one side of the ends river and they were on the other side of the ends river. Their uniforms are little different than ours. On their left arm, they had wound stripes in red. We had overseas bars, gold bars. I had three. I was overseas for 18 1 2 months. And each red bar signified a wound. I never saw a russian who didnt have four, five wound stripes on his arm. They hated the germans, detested them. And they were told that this is the hour of revenge. And they were told that and they kept a revenge score. Every russian regimen kept a revenge score. They looted, they raped thousands of german women but keep in mind, that the russians lost two Million People in stalin grad alone. So, you know, they had this tremendous hate for the russians and of course, anything that wasnt nailed down, they shipped back to russia, including the railroads. And the railroad the gauge didnt fit the Russian Railroad cars but they sent it back anyhow. And the russians loved wristwatches. They loved wrist wrooch watches. Wrist watches. They tell the story of an american g. I. Who took two leather straps, glued it on to an alarm clock and sold it to a russian for 200. And particularly, they loved mickey mouse watches. You could get 200, 300 for a mickey mouse watch from a russian. Now, on may 20, we start to be concerned about whats happening in the pacific. And were still in austria. And on may 24, we move from austria to another part of town. And they put us back into training. And of course, were all nervous because we figure were going to go to the pacific. Now, of course, this is another stupid thing. You have experienced combat veterans and we are doing close order drill. That wasnt received very well, by the way. On june 2 of 1945, we get our original barracks back that we had brought over to the states and we get clean clothes. And then on the 11th of june, we leave for munich, germany. Munich is the capital of bavaria. And we go into the army of occupation mode. And on the 16th, we with not in munich. Were in a place where general patton comes and visits us and hes in this big german touring car, open german touring car, sitting in the back of the car, waving to everybody. You know, shiny helmet, the whole nine yards, you know . And on the 29th of june, we were repositioned in bavaria. And this is adjacent to hitlers private hunting preserve. And were billeted it in a jaegers house of a jaeger is a professional hunter. And he says to me, his name is berkman. But with two ns. And he says maybe were relatives . I said i dont think so. [laughter] i said my relatives came from russia. I dont think were relatives, you know . September 7, i get a furlough to paris. I didnt really want to go. But i went anyhow. I dont know if weve picked this up before but on september 7, i get a furlough to paris. Thats where we left off. Ok. And when the germans surrendered to us, they were instructed to put all their arms on the ground. However, officers were permitted to keep their side arms and the two pistols that i will show you later, i took away from two german officers. One was a p38. Roosevelt had received a gift of a p38 which was put into his museum. And i took the p38 away from two german officers who resisted slightly but then i took it away from them. We then, we then i was then put on special duty with paul. You take the [speaking in foreign language] to the highest mountain in bavaria. And they had the Winter Olympics there. And i had never seen this symbol for the olympics. I didnt know what the hell it was, you know . I thought it was some kind of nazi symbol. But anyhow, we were doing mp duty there which was very good. On the 18th, we return to our company. And we move to czechoslovakia. The division moves to czechoslovakia where they make the beer, the famous beer. And my Company Moves to a train station. And thats where the dividing line was between the russian zone and the american zone. As the trains came into this train station, three of us would get on three americans would get on the train and we would check the papers. People were very frightened because they were lucky to make it into the american zone and obviously, they didnt want to go back. They didnt want to go back the russians. So everybody feared going back to the russian zone. So it was a pretty good gig for a while. I have some pictures that ill show you. In december, 1945, the 80th Infantry Division was deactivated and they were shipped back to the United States. I didnt have enough points. Because my sergeant didnt put me in for a front bronze star that i was entitled to. Interestingly enough, i did get that bronze star later on. The only problem is, i didnt know his address and i didnt know where to find him because i would have written him a letter. I had a few choice words that i would have liked to have told him, you know . At any rate, we were transferred temporarily to batter d, 398 triplea automatic weapons battalion in nuremberg. And after walking all through europe, im transferred to a half track outfit and now im running. Im not walking anymore. I get promoted to a t5. I get additional 14 a month and i write to my parents. I got a raise at any rate in february, were transferred again and were transferred to the 571st a. A. A. And luckily, im transferred to a headquarters battery and thats in germany. And very quickly, i get promoted to sergeant, Staff Sergeant and then acting first sergeant. And this is really a great gig because the headquarters battery, you dont have anything to do with your men, basically you see them in the morning for revelry and you see them at night for retreat thats it. The rest of the time, the men are involved in intelligence, supply, motor pool, etc. And i have the life of riley. And im thinking very seriously about staying in the army. You know . They had sent in a Second Lieutenant who had never seen combat. And he was definitely afraid of me. So we got along wonderfully, you know . During the day, i would go across the mess hall and i would drink coffee with the mess sergeant and it was really it was really a considering everything ive gone through, it was like a vacation. A wonderful vacation. And then, and i kept taking myself off the list to go home. I was supposed to go home. But i took myself off the roster because i control the roster. Because i was the first sergeant, acting first sergeant. One day in july, i get a call from the colonel. And he says to me berkman, theres beer cans in back on the barracks. Go pick them up. That day, i made up my mind that no matter how good i had it in the army, there was somebody bigger than berkman. I put myself on the list to go home. And about a week later, i left i left and i went home. I get there and its like a tent city. I guess faith, i run across my friend, paul again. And i said paul, you should have gone home before me. What happened . And he said he had little difficulty with an officer. And he either pushed him or struck him or whatever and they threw him into the guard house. And for three months, he was carrying 50pound bags of cement. So he was delayed going home. I went home on a liberty ship and from interestingly enough, my father left to come on the United States when he left russia. Either way, thats United States when he left russia. Now, we pulled in into the new york harbor at 3 00 or 4 00 in the morning a. M. And and the statue of liberty was lit up. I could see the lights of new york city. I said to myself, wow, i made it, i made it. Went back to fort dix again to go through the discharge. I went home to my brothers house because my folks lived in monticello. The first morning, the first breakfast, i had a dozen eggs, a court of milk, half a loaf white bread with butter. And i got to tell you, it was the best breakfast i ever had in all my life. Eggs in europe during combat were worth their weight in gold, so you rarely had eggs. The army eggs were terrible. I really got hot food. I got k rations. I learned how to eat cheese. In my house, we had white cheese, cottage cheese. But we never had american cheese or anything like that. You had three meals with k rations. You had breakfast, and a little can had Something Like scrambled eggs which was terrible. The lunch k ration had a bar that was solid chocolate which was about that long and that high. It had a can of american cheese. The supper, the evening meal, had spam, which was terrible, ok . It got to the point i could not eat the spam. I could not eat breakfast. The only thing i could eat. Was the cheese. Nobody wanted the cheese, so i used to swap. It turned out a lot of the guys got diarrhea. I never got diarrhea because i was eating cheese. It was binding. I never got sick the whole time i was over there. Do you still like cheese . I do. My favorite cheese is really pimento cheese. I learned how to eat that when i went to school. Anyhow, i came out of the army in july of 1946. It was a little late to get into school, college in new york, so i wound up going to college at the university of georgia in athens, georgia. My brother went there. They managed to get me in there. I learned how to sing dixie. I learned how to smoke a cigarette and drink a coca cola for breakfast. It was a unique experience. In fact, being in athens, georgia, was probably more of a Culture Shock than being in germany. You know . I got out of there pretty rapidly. I finished a fouryear program into two and 3 4 years. My service overseas, here are some of my stats. I came out of the army. I was a machine gunner at 604. I was inducted on the 24th of exhausted august 1944. I was separated on the first of august, 1946. I left for europe on january 8, 1945. I arrived on january 17, 1945. Went back to the states on july 17, 1946. Arrived on july 26. My u. S. Service was four months in 19 days. My Foreign Service was one year, six months, and 19 days. I was in harms way over 120 days. And i was in the army of occupation for slightly over 14 months. My decorations included the combat infantry badge, and i value that more than any of my other decorations. The bronze star, the bronze star for bravery in combat against an armed enemy. The europeanafrican medlal with three little bronze stars, service stars, one for the bulge, one for rhineland, one for central europe. The army of occupation medal. Good conduct medal. President ial unit citation. And the chevalier legion of honor rewarded by the republic of france. I was knighted by the republic of france. My veterans organizations, im very much involved with the veterans of the battle of the bulge. I am on the board of directors. And also, i am the Vice Commander of the combat infantrymens association, company b, first regiment, florida. My wife and i are particularly ingested in veterans affairs. And just recently, the university of georgia established a Resource Center for veterans and we endowed a fund for scholarships that will be given each year, a 1000 scholarship will be given each year to a veteran. I have ranked them as to how it is to begin. Number one, a combat infantryman. Number two, anybody that has lost a limb. Number three, anybody wo unded. If they meet that criteria, they are eligible for the scholarship. Anyway, that is my story. I can show you my pistols and photos. My wife and i thank you for coming. You were coming from new orleans . I came from new orleans. I had two interviews. You and another gentleman this afternoon. We thank you for your visit. The greatest thing about this is the fact that i will have something to give to my daughter and something to give to my grandson, who is very interested in my experiences. My children were not interested, but he takes particular interest in my experiences. So i will definitely have something to give him. Dissenting at the Supreme Court is a lecture series hosted by the Supreme Court historical society. Next on American History tv, university of arkansas law professor mark killing back is introduced to us by stephen breyer, then discusses the dissenting opinions delivered in cases between 1810 and 1927. Good evening. I am chilton from atlanta. I am pleased to welcome you to the first lecture in this years series. We are examining dissents, not majority opinions, different aspects. You have been warned about your cell phones and