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When Phil Schwartz served in the military during World War II, he quickly learned that "If you've ever heard the story you've never seen an atheist in a gourbi – it's true. "
The 98-year-old Coleman resident House was drafted in 1942 at the age of 21 and released in 1945. The youngest of the four brothers who grew up in New Jersey, he and his older brother were drafted. But Schwartz was the only member of his family to witness combat.
"The Second World War was a war we had to win," he said. At the time, he thought it was highly likely that he would not go home.
"I knew that I was going into the fight, [but] I did not know what to expect, "Schwartz said." It's scary when you know they're going to start shooting you. "
Deeply in love with his girlfriend – who would become his wife and best friend for 71 years – he and Miriam "Mim" Schwartz decided to run away before he was sent abroad .
In such a short time, the Jewish couple could only find a Baptist minister to celebrate the ceremony. When his father-in-law, president of a synagogue, learned, they were remarried by a rabbi three days later.
"I hated leaving my wife [but] I knew I had to go, "said Schwartz on learning that he was sent to basic training.
Trained at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he learned how to shoot with a howitzer of 105. Although there was a version on a tank of In the badault, he used one that was to be pulled by a truck and placed in a "firing well".
"We [his battalion] fired nearly 1 million rounds of ammunition during the war, "said Schwartz, who served in Battery A, 125 Field Artillery Battalion, 34th Division, 5th Army in Italy.
Although his weapon is powerful and he never wears hearing protection, Schwartz said his hearing was still good.
Soon, he learned that he had sent to Europe. With the Atlantic Ocean being filled with German submarines, the army sent them abroad a safer way via South America, he said.
Amount aboard a "Liberty Ship" that could hold 450 people and supplies, Schwartz recalled: "I've been seasick for nearly 28 days" and slept on the deck.
On their way to the Mediterranean, their ship was attacked by 15 German bombers, he said. The Americans had three Spitfire fighter planes protecting the convoy of ships, which shot down some of the Nazi planes. After the scary experience and more trips, they finally arrived in Italy and joined the 34th Division near Salerno.
When asked when he decided to keep the letter "H" on his dog tags (for "Hebrew"), he said that he was not nervous about having the letter to identify his religion, even in the middle of the Nazi campaign to exterminate the Jews.
Schwartz praised the Nisei (US-Japan) unit of his division who fought with them at Monte Cbadino. He added that many troops had never heard of Japanese internment camps in the United States.
"They [the Nisei troops] saved our back seats at that time, "he said. Schwartz said members of the Nisei unit had captured the Germans who were conducting bombing of the troops behind the US lines.
While he was serving abroad, Mim and he remained in touch by "V-mail" (Victory Mail). He wrote a letter on a form, the army took a picture and put it on a spool to save space on a ship. People close to writing in the United States could send regular letters.
"I was so lucky because I had a mother who was an angel and a woman who was an angel," he says, recalling his wife sent him boxes of candy and his mother sent some honey cakes, he had to share with other soldiers.
After Monte Cbadino, Schwartz said he was sent to Anzio.
"Sometimes we were very scared, sometimes not," he said.
He remembered that he and his fellow soldiers sometimes bathed in a nearby stream, but would have to run to the tirailleurs and shelter – sometimes in the bad – if the Germans spotted them.
Soon they were sent to Rome, where they found no opposition.
The day they took Rome was the same day as the invasion of Normandy (June 6, 1944).
When it was learned that the war in Europe was finally over on September 2, 1945, Schwartz stated that he was in Biella, Italy.
"More than half of the men in my outfit have never done it," he said. Fortunately, he was not shot during his stay in the army.
Three months later, he was sent to Genoa where he sailed for five days on a liner. After arriving at Fort Dix, he found his wife, two of his brothers and his mother.
As a civilian, he was a businessman who lived in New Jersey. He finally moved to Newton 15 years ago to get close to one of his two sons. He also has six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren and meets regularly with other veterans at Post 440 on California Street.
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