They
Remember
World War II veterans recall impact the bombing had on their military lives.
Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News
apan's attack on Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941,
so enraged Willie Stone that he,
like may other young Americans, wanted
to rush down Monday morning and enlist
in the Army.
But he was under age, with one more
year to finish at Detroit's Central High
School. Exactly a year later, Stone, 18,
enlisted and went off to basic training at
Michigan's Ft. Custer. He could "hardly
wait to fight to get back at those rotten
Japanese attackers."
Monte Korn calls the Pearl Harbor
attack "the biggest tragedy in the history
of the U.S. Navy." Enlisting in the Marines
so he could fight on land, he really wanted
to go to Europe to "kill the Germans for
what they did to the Jewish people," but he
was happy to be sent to the Pacific Theater
to "get back at those dirty Japanese'
The famous slogan "join the Navy
and see the world" applied differently to
Bernard Morof. In effect, he "joined the
Army to see the Navy:' zigzagging across
the Pacific Ocean four times as an Army
guard on Liberty ships taking supplies to
American troops battling the Japanese.
Rush To Fight
"Everyone was infuriated by the Pearl
Harbor attack, and all the young men
wanted to get into the service to fight
back," recalls Charles Finkelstein.
He had to wait a few years, but he
entered the Army, took jungle training
and commanded a tank through several
Pacific island battles.
All four Detroiters returned home
unscathed by the war, but they still have
strong feelings and memories about their
experiences and the sneak attack by Japan
that plunged the United States into World
War II, which already was under way in
Europe. This past Tuesday, Dec. 7, marked
the 69th anniversary of the date that
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said
would "live in infamy."
The bombing by 353 Japanese planes
killed 2,402, wounded 1,282, sank several
Charles Finkelstein worked in the auto parts business. He's shown at the World War
II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Above left: Bernard Moroff went on to work in the family paint store business
before becoming an executive with local nursing homes. Above right: Monte Korn
became an attorney, a real estate investor and a financial planner.
battleships, cruisers and destroyers, and
destroyed more than 150 planes at nearby
airfields. In a sense, it could be called the
"9-11" of the 1940s — an unexpected
attack in the morning. Although Hawaii
wasn't yet a state, it was considered the
same as an attack on American soil.
"We heard about the attack during basic
training," recalls Morof, "and everyone
said, 'What the heck is Pearl Harbor, and
where is it?' We found out fast, and we'll
always remember it. I just hope today's
young students learn about Pear Harbor
and remember."
Questions Remain
Korn debunked the theory that President
Roosevelt knew about the attack in
advance but let it happen so the U.S.
would enter the war.
"A lot of mistakes were made leading
up to the attack, but I'm sure FDR couldn't
have anticipated such a thing:' Korn
reasons. "After all, on that day, Japanese
envoys were in Washington, D.C., discuss-
ing 'peace'."
Another historic puzzle is why FDR
ordered the U.S. fleet to go to Pearl Harbor
from San Diego earlier in 1941."I think
it was the wrong move,' says Korn, "but
he apparently did it to try to dissuade the
Japanese from being so aggressive in Asia."
Korn, 91, of West Bloomfield, was a
machine gunner during the battle of
Midway that many agree was the turn-
ing point in the war. After Col. James
Doolittle's B-25s stunned Japan by bomb-
ing Tokyo from the USS Hornet aircraft
carrier in April, 1942, the Japanese com-
manders, under pressure from their angry
homeland, changed their strategy and
rushed to Midway with hopes of advanc-
ing more rapidly to Hawaii.
"Midway is just a mile long and a mile
wide, but we lived underground and
fought them off before they really got
going," Korn recalls. "Fortunately, the
Midway operation was more of an air
battle, and our planes sank four of their
aircraft carriers."
Korn became a second lieutenant and
later suffered a non-combat injury, return-
ing home to become a lawyer, a real estate
investor in property around Wayne State
University in Detroit, and then a financial
planner. He and current Fox2 and WWJ
business broadcaster Murray Feldman of
Farmington Hills did the "Money Show"
on radio and television for several years.
MacArthur Returns
Finkelstein, 87, of West Bloomfield, was
drafted in 1943 and guided his tank
through monsoon rains and sludge at
Guadalcanal and Luzon, blowing up
pillboxes, isolating and starving out
the Japanese, helping Gen. Douglas
MacArthur make his famous return to the
Philippines.
"I didn't care too much for MacArthur's
tactics," Finkelstein admits. "He was too
much of a PR man, like Gen. George
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December 9 2010
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