Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
3:46 | Irving Margulies was a Jewish kid in the infantry who had no idea that just miles from places he'd been in Germany, terrible war crimes were occurring. He had developed a liking for the civilians he'd met there. Did they know about it?
Keywords : Irving Margulies Jewish Holocaust propaganda German Yiddish Lorraine France
He was a bright Jewish kid from Detroit and, when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, Irving Margulies felt the same outrage felt by so many Americans. After he was drafted in 1943, he was selected for the Army Specialized Training Program, which sent bright kids to basic training, then to college.
The Army Specialized Training Program did not last very long. The Army decided they needed infantry replacements more than they needed smart guys studying at college, so they called them all in. Irving Margulies wound up in the 71st Infantry Regiment, which was a New York National Guard outfit of some note.
It was a couple of months after the invasion when Irving Margulies got to Normandy. He had to wait around for weeks until his unit got transportation to the front. The first combat was seen pushing into Strasbourg, where they had to stand aside for the Free French.
His Yiddish made him the logical choice to communicate with the German speaking civilians in Lorraine. Irving Margulies came to realize one thing. He really liked those people. There was serious work to be done, though, like patrols behind enemy lines.
The wet weather took a toll on the GI's in the Fall of 1944. The boots would not dry out and trench foot was creating a lot of casualties. Irving Margulies describes how you could avoid it and how it was fighting the other enemy, the one that shot at you.
It was a very hard day. After a twenty mile march to a new position, Irving Margulies was, by chance, back at headquarters when his entire platoon was devastated by a German attack.
Two desperate Germans appeared to be surrendering, then they whipped out automatic weapons and began firing. Irving Margulies hit the ground and wished he had a grenade. The war was ending and he was soon in Austria, where it was the German girls surrendering to him.
it was very different at home, no longer with your outfit and not doing anything that remotely resembled the combat that you saw. Irving Margulies wasted no time adjusting. For him, it was straight back to the university.
He never had problems being Jewish in the Army except for one run in with a towering hillbilly. In fact, to Irving Margulies, his years in service were the best years of his life. You held that rifle, you ruled the world.
