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World
War Story
Son's account
of dad's WWII
experience
blends fact and
fiction.
Veterans Day, Saturday, Nov. 11.
Up to now, Goldman, like the
majority of WWII veterans, has
been reluctant to describe his war
experiences because the horrors
are too painful to recall.
"He just never talks about it','
said Florence, his wife of 53 years.
But the vets are now dying
at a rate of about 1,000 a day
Bill Carroll
throughout the U.S., and different
Special to the Jewish. News circumstances are making them
more talkative about the events
lvin
of more than 60
Goldman
years ago.
quakes a bit
In Goldman's
when he hears thun-
case, it's a new
der. "It sounds like
book about his out-
the artillery during
fit in the war, called
the war," he says. And
The 9561 (Infinity
he cringed in his seat
Publishing;
when he saw Steven
$17.95) by his son,
Spielberg's World
Richard Goldman
War II movie, Saving
of Coral Springs,
Richard G oldman
Private Ryan. "It
Fla. Goldman, 46,
was just too realistic
who grew up in
about the war. It really bothered
Southfield, has been working on
me."
the book, on and off, since 1982.
Goldman, 81, of West
The first half of the 361-page
Bloomfield, a retired teacher,
book is "historic fact;' explains
principal and drug abuse expert,
Goldman, "but the rest of it,
was blown against walls and
starting on page 160, is pure fic-
knocked down staircases by the
tion. It's probably the first time
force of explosions at the age
anyone has ever written a real-
of 18 and also suffered from
story-turned-novel."
amoebic dysentery and frostbite
Alvin Goldman's "real story" is
as he ground his way
potent enough.
for three years through
"As a simple
T HE
some of the worst
private first class,
battles in Europe.
it was my duty to
He fought in the
retrieve the dead
fortress town of Metz,
bodies left by the
France, in the Battle of
retreating Nazis and
the Bulge in Belgium, at
pile them up for
the bridge of Remagen,
burial and disposal;'
and in many other
he recalls. "But I also
Richard S. Goldman
towns in northern
was an interpreter
Germany. He had
entered the U.S. Army
the day after gradu-
ating from Detroit's
Central High School in
1944.
He'll be thinking
again how "war is hell"
and remembering
his fallen comrades
and the other 400,000
World War II American
military dead on
Goldman's war medals.
for our interrogation of the cap-
tured Nazis because Yiddish is so
similar to the German language.
"The Jews in the military suf-
fered from anti-Semitism in dif-
ferent forms; but, in my case, it
was mainly in a kidding way, not
mean-spirited."
The modest Goldman declined
to be featured in his son's book
by name, even though he won
Silver and Bronze Stars for hero-
ism and a Purple Heart. Author
Goldman thus used a Detroit
Jew, 'Al Sklar," as a composite
hero to represent the average
men of Company H in the 377th
Regiment of the highly decorated
95m Infantry.
The men were rocked by what
Richard Goldman calls a "poten-
tial scandal" in a plan hatched
by their commanding general to
send them to the Pacific theater
to become either an invasion or
police force in Japan — instead
of being sent home after years of
drudgery fighting the Germans.
In a bit of an overstatement
— in view of events that have
taken place in wars since — the
author calls this "the single larg-
est scandal in American military
history."
"The men rebelled and took
their protest to the press, mainly
columnists Walter Winchell
and Drew Pearson:' he recalled.
"President Harry Truman ended
the scandal by sending the
men home with honorable dis-
charges."
Teasing readers, the younger
Goldman adds: "Or did he?"
That's where he picks up the
"historical fiction" part of the
book, telling "how the scandal
transcended the generations by
political intrigue, cover-ups and
the abuse of power by a select
few in Washington."
His research included remark-
able access to Presidents Ronald
Reagan, George H. W. Bush and
Bill Clinton or their Cabinet
members, such as Henry
Kissinger. Clinton promoted
Alvin Goldman to second lieu-
tenant when he accompanied
Richard on a research visit.
Alvin Goldman at 17, fresh out of Detroit Central High.
Alvin Goldman amid the war memorabilia
in his West Bloomfield home.
"I'm still amazed at how I was
able to get to talk to some of
these people, but I did;' Goldman
said. "However, I didn't learn
much from them. Reagan told
me that if I tried to obtain old
information about the scandal
involving the 95th, the Pentagon
probably would tell me all the
files were destroyed in a fire
— and, sure enough, that's what .
the Pentagon officials told me."
Goldman persevered with
painstaking research, some of
it through the memory of 95th
survivor Nathan Amchan of
Brooklyn, N.Y.
"Then I wrote the historical
fiction part in current real time
to make it more realistic:' he said.
"With the real-time effect, the
story ends in 1996.1 describe
direct conversations among army
personnel and especially between
a crusty Truman and his aides,
based on what I've researched
about him, his personality and
behavior.
"The emotional scars stayed
with the soldiers of the 95th for
the rest of their lives ... and it
remains the duty and obligation
of their sons and daughters to
carry on the stories of the war
and to make certain what they
saw and fought for will never be
forgotten."
The younger Goldman
graduated from Southfield
High School and the University
of Michigan, spent a year as
executive director of former
Congregation B'nai David and
now is a paralegal and mort-
gage compliance officer, having
moved to Florida in 1996. II
Richard Goldman will speak
at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5,
at the Jewish Community
of Center of Metropolitan
Detroit's 55th annual
Jewish Book Fair. He'll be
a part of the Local Author
Fair at the West Bloomfield
JCC.
November 2 • 2006
29