a guy who s seen it all. that s 73 years ago. ft. benning, georgia. i was in the second army division. matt came to miami in 1985 from new york s low ee eer east by way of the battle of normandy. i came here because i was wounded and the warm weather was much better for me. but there was a lot of g.i.s during the war here, right? they saw a world that they didn t believe. during world war ii, miami saw a massive influx of military personnel. hotels, which had seen a sharp drop in business, made a deal with the government to house troops at the pty resorts. they told their parents about it. their parents came down, son came down, they opened their businesses here, and they were basically jewish at the time and that s how it started. by the fall of 1942, more than 78,000 troops were living in 300 hotels in miami and miami beach. how long have you been