Jewish War Veterans of the San Fernando Valley.

Tarzana, CA.
Mr. Baer (b. 12/9/1922) NY, NY
Graduated Stuyvesant High School
Enlisted in the Army Air Force, 1942.

Developed and flew in legendary P-61, “Black Widow”, the first operational U.S. military aircraft designed specifically for night interception of aircraft, and the first aircraft specifically designed to use radar.

Wife: Cecile Rubenstein Baer (b. 6/5/1927)

Mr. Baer and his wife were residents of Ft. Lee, NJ until August 2010 and now reside in Tarzana, CA.

Paul Cohen/ Woodland Hills, CA/ April 28, 2010

One of the characteristics of the men and women who fought in WWII was their general inclination to privacy after they returned from the battles.

Last week, Dr. Gerald Fecht of the Museum of the San Fernando Valley interviewed my 89-year-old Uncle, Paul Cohen, about his experiences in the Army. Paul fought on Leyte Island, Mindanao and Okinawa. He earned a Bronze Star and other medals and returned to Chicago to join his wife, Frances and raise a family. Later on, he brought his family out to California and settled in the West Valley. Today, Commander Paul heads Post #603 of the JWV of the VFW.

In 1941, he worked, scooping ice cream at Chicago’s old Goldblatt’s Department Store, when the war began. He was drafted and trained at Ft. Sheridan and later in Oregon. Some of his stories involved the building of a baseball field in the jungles of Mindoro, making ice cream for the soldiers, and constructing make shift showers out of oil barrels and rope. His tongue, burning with history, recounted sitting on a hill and watching the firefight of the battle of Midway. Moments in time: chilling, funny, touching, heroic, and sometimes infuriating.

Not easily does Uncle Paul speak of that painful epoch of bloodshed, loss, sacrifice and brutality. He did so, in the hope that his generation’s actions on behalf of democracy will be remembered forever.

I am in the midst of a project now, to collect stories, take photographs, and record video of the Jewish War Veterans of the San Fernando Valley, who were part of the many men and women of all races, religions and creeds who battled Fascism and preserved the world’s freedom for our generation. These old soldiers are in the last months and years of their lives and it is critical, I believe, to try to beat the clock to preserve their stories, faces and memories.

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Jack Pathman/Calabasas, CA/ August 23, 2010/ photo by Andy Hurvitz

“I’ve been all over the world, Alaska, Japan, Israel…you name it.”

Jack was born April 12, 1922 in Havana, Cuba, where his parents, immigrants from Kiev, waited to enter the United States.

The family settled on the West Side of Chicago, and Jack distinguished himself as a gregarious and outgoing sportsman, top student, social club leader, and VP of his Senior Class at Crane Tech.

With his technical skills and intelligence, Jack was assigned by the Army Air Force to teach war workers how to use defense plant machinery as the US furiously scrambled to assemble weapons during WWII.

At Truax Field in Madison, WI, Jack trained bombing crews and instructed pilots in the use of radio equipment. He worked with B-17, B-24 and B-29 planes.

In 1945-46, he lived at Chanute Field in Champaign, IL where he was a radio announcer and worked in Special Services producing USO shows. He was one of the originators of “The Blind Date”, a radio show where unseen men wooed an unseen woman. It later became TV’s “The Dating Game”.

Jack’s family had moved to Miami during the war, and he followed, eventually enrolling at the University of Miami. He majored in Business and earned a degree in Teaching.

He taught at Miami Beach High School and then, in 1950, he and his father and brother opened a liquor/cocktail lounge in Surfside, FL. The venture became highly successful, outgrowing its location and expanding into a brand new building that also included real estate and insurance brokering.

Jack has been married three times.

Despite his background in the liquor business, he doesn’t like the taste of booze, and does not drink.

In the early 1970s, he moved his family to Tarzana, CA and opened a liquor store in the San Fernando Valley.

He has three children and grandchildren.

A staunch and proud Republican, Sarah Palin is a favorite of his. He also said, “California’s problem…it’s too liberal”. He dislikes Jimmy Carter, calling him “America’s worst President” and said that our current Chief Executive “is the closest thing to a Communist”. He worries that Americans are not “patriotic” enough and he always stops to talk to young soldiers to voice his appreciation for their service.

He flies Old Glory on his spotless Lincoln Town Car Sedan and is still blue-eyed, handsome and sharp-as-a-tack in his mind and conversation.

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Jack Needle/Arleta, CA/ August 20, 2010/ photo by Andy Hurvitz

b. 2/2/1924
Rochester, NY
Joined the Navy/Seabees
Worked as a Machinist in the Philippine Islands, earned job after successfully dismantling and reassembling a Caterpillar Bulldozer by himself.
Post-war: Machinist
Married: 7/4/1948 to Reva
Moved to Arleta: 1952

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Julian Cohen/Arleta, CA/ August 13, 2010/photo by Andy Hurvitz

“I was 19 years old and I went to Nagasaki, Japan two months after they dropped the atomic bomb”.

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Julian Cohen (b. 2/28/1927) was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. He went to Midwood and Erasmus Hall High Schools.

In 1945, he enlisted in the Navy and was sent up to Samson, NY and later Shoemaker, CA for training.

In the spring of 1945, after his teeth were fixed, he sailed to Hawaii. From there he boarded a LST (Landing Ship Tanker) headed for the South Pacific.

His ship was assigned to blow up floating Japanese land mines.

Only 8 weeks after the atomic bomb was dropped, Julian went to Nagasaki, Japan and walked around the flattened city. He remembered that the pavement was still hot. He saw twisted steel and rubble.

Weeks later, at only 19, he developed eye problems and is now blind in one eye. He blames it on radiation exposure.

Discharged in 1946, he later married his beloved Loretta, and they moved to an $11,000 home in Arleta in 1951 and raised three kids.

Julian worked as a diamond setter and tried for many years to make the government pay (mostly without success) for his teen-aged war injury.

The Cohens now have eight grandchildren and have traveled all over the United States but never overseas. They love their country, love their home and love their family.

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Photo of Bill and Shirley Berg/ Arleta, CA/ July 30, 2010 by Andy Hurvitz

Bill was born 11/26/1929 and graduated from Chicago’s Marshall High School.

He was drafted into the Army, in 1950, during the Korean War and served as Assistant Chief of Staff in 311 Logistical Command in the Transportation Corps.

Married in 1954, he moved to Arleta in 1957 and raised two kids while working for US Growers Cold Storage.

He still resides with Shirley in the same home they bought 53 years ago.

Mort Schecter/Northridge, CA. July 20, 2010 photo by Andy Hurvitz

Mort Schecter Bio:

b. July 5, 1923

Enlisted in the USAAC, October 1941. Served as a Staff Sergeant. 2nd Air Div. 8th Air Force.  Military locations: Wendover, UT and Norwich, England. Participated in 38 missions as a tail gunner on B-24, Belle of the East.

Crash landed with six 1,000 lbs. bombs and walked away.

Awarded: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal w/4 OLC’s, five Bronze Stars on European Medal. Discharged 9/19/1945 as Staff Sergeant.

Worked as a Toy Salesman. Inducted into Western Toy Hall of Fame on 3/10/1996.

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Photo of Arthur Sherman by Andy Hurvitz/ May 26, 2010/Encino, CA.

Arthur Sherman
Encino, CA

b. 7/29/21
Occupation: furniture sales

Graduated Glendale High School, Cleveland, OH, 1939

After seeing the Cleveland Air Races, all through the 1930s, he wanted to be a pilot.

In January 1942, he volunteered for the Army Air Corps.  He was sworn in on April 14, 1942.

Attended pilot training school in Bonham, TX

“Washed out” for reckless flying after he flew with an instructor under a bridge in the Red River Valley.

Reclassified as a Bombardier Navigator.  Went to school in Big Spring, TX. Graduated June 1943.

Trained on B-25 Bombers in Florence, SC

Met his wife in Pocatello, ID

Married her in Topeka, KS on February 10, 1944

Went to Newport News, VA with the 464th Bombardment Group.

Shipped to Italy and trained with the 464th.

May 1944: in a flying mission over Graz, Austria, his plane was hit and a shell fragment pierced his steel helmet and skull.  He landed safely, back in Italy, but could not fly again.

He was reclassified and worked in military intelligence, assisting in planning the US invasion of Southern France.

Earned a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and other medals.

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Photo by Andy Hurvitz/July 16, 2010/ Woodland Hills, CA.

Paul Kahn was born on December 9, 1928 in Chicago, IL

A graduate of Loyola University, he served in the 101st Airborne Army Paratroopers during the Korean War.

With his 20/20 vision, he was able to hit a target 300 yards away with an M1 rifle.

He lived in NYC and moved to Los Angeles in 1963. Married, with three children and five grandchildren, he worked as a real estate broker.

This portrait is part of my series of Jewish War Veterans of the San Fernando Valley, Post #603.

Andy

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