Harold W. Berkman was born in Brooklyn, New York in February 1926. Florida has been his home since 1975. He has compiled his military service story through the use of four sources. He has depended on not only his memory, but his discharge papers and letters he sent to his mother during his time in Europe. Those correspondences have been saved through the years. The final basis for his story was the declassified military history of the 317th Regiment and its 2nd Battalion. Berkman lived in Brooklyn for his first 11 years and then moved to Monticello in Sullivan County [Annotator's Note: Monticello, New York]. Monticello is about 90 miles from New York City. He was educated there. He had a brother who is now deceased. Berkman was inducted into the Army at 18 years of age in 1944, shortly after his high school graduation. Berkman and other inductees were transferred by bus to Fort Dix where they were processed. After processing, he was sent to Camp Croft in South Carolina just outside of Spartanburg. Berkman's father worked during the Depression in the non-ferrous scrap metal business. He made a good living from that work. Berkman's parents, as well as his wife's parents, all came from Russia and taught themselves to speak and write English. The men became successful entrepreneurs. Their children were both first generation Americans. Berkman is very proud of his American citizenship. The United States has been very good to his family as well as his wife's family. Berkman was in high school during the Pearl Harbor attack. He probably heard of it on the radio but has no distinct remembrances of the event. His friends were too young to be inducted or join the service. His town was a resort area that only had 2,500 people in the winter. It grew to half a million in the summer. Everyone knew their neighbor's business. They knew if someone was going into the service, but they also knew if someone did not go into the military. A stigma would be attached to the latter. Berkman was drafted.

Harold Berkman had 16 weeks of basic training as a member of Company B, 36th Infantry Training Battalion [Annotator's Note: at Camp Croft in South Carolina]. Berkman was in excellent shape at 145 pounds. He was a trained athlete. He had a great drill sergeant who was small in stature but had a booming voice. The other sergeant was a Pacific veteran. Berkman's training included not only live fire exercises but many other sundry military requirements. The men always looked forward to the rifle range target practice. They had been issued the M1 Garand rifle which weighed nine and one half pounds. After time on the range, the men usually suffered from "M1 eye" and "M1 thumb." The former was a result of the instruction to place his thumb between his aiming eye and the sight on the rifle. The recoil of the weapon jammed the thumb into the rifleman's face, thereby resulting in a black eye. The latter happened when the insertion of a clip of ammunition into the rifle resulted in the bolt slamming shut prematurely against the rifleman's exposed thumb. The crushing action caused the thumb to be black and blue. A soldier never forgets that. After basic, Berkman went to Fort Dix for embarkation to Europe. Replacements were being rushed across the Atlantic after the heavy casualties that ensued from the Battle of the Bulge. After a one week furlough, he sailed on the Queen Elizabeth to Glasgow, Scotland. It took six to seven days to load the former cruise ship with 22,000 men. Men slept below deck and above on the glass enclosed promenade deck. It was cold above deck so Berkman found a space with duffel bags stored in it. He slept there for better comfort. The British food on the ship was terrible. It took three hours to get through the line to get a meal of mutton. It was unappetizing so he lived on chocolate bars. The ship was so speedy that no convoy was required for submarine protection. After arriving in Glasgow, Scotland, Berkman and his group were put on a train to Southampton. Upon arrival there, they were immediately loaded on another ship to cross the English Channel. The seas were very rough and men got seasick. The ship arrived in Le Havre, France. The troops were billeted in a huge tent city with six men to an unheated tent. After one day, the troops were transported in 40 and eights, box cars sized to carry either 40 men or eight horses. They arrived at a Replacement Depot which was nicknamed a "Reppel Depple." In making his way across this journey, he came in contact with veteran troops. Their best advice to him was for him to become a member of a mortar outfit. They were always behind the front lines and had cover from enemy fire. He was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 317th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division within the 3rd Army under General Patton [Annotator's Note: General George S. Patton]. He joined the outfit in Luxembourg. The first lieutenant called out for anyone who was a good mortar man. Berkman quickly raised his hand. The officer then told Berkman that he was a machine gunner. The life expectancy of a machine gunner was much shorter than a man firing a mortar.

Harold Berkman fought in the Battle of the Bulge. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945. [Annotator's Note: Berkman reads statistical information he has gathered listing the number of men involved, casualties, and the numbers of tanks and aircraft lost on each side.] It was the largest American land battle in history. This was where Berkman experienced his first combat. The Battle of the Bulge is one of his three campaign decorations for combat. He also participated in the Rhineland and Central Europe. Berkman was in the weapons platoon in his company. There were also three rifle platoons in the company. Headquarters included supply, administration and mess. His weapons platoon had two squads of machine gunners and two squads of mortar men. The machine gun squad had first and second gunner and first and second ammo bearer. Berkman started at the bottom as the second ammo bearer. His first action was unforgettable. His introduction started with veterans not wanting anything to do with the new men. Largely because they were uncertain as to how long the replacements would last in combat. They avoided being friendly as a result. Only one million of the 16 million service people actually saw real combat. In the infantry, seven out of ten were killed. Berkman feels fortunate to have lasted the experience. There were about 60 million killed in World War Two. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton] and his 3rd Army, spearheaded by the 4th Armored Division, relieved Bastogne. Berkman is friends with an officer who was in that division. He learned much from that officer [Annotator's Note: Berkman subsequently names him as Lieutenant Colonel Alvin Ertzig]. The 80th Infantry used to mop up behind the 4th Armored. Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: then US Army General, later President, Dwight D. Eisenhower] asked Patton how long he would take to get to Bastogne. Patton responded that he could be there in 48 hours. He advanced around the clock and made the commitment. It was a remarkable accomplishment. The 3rd Army had 2,515 killed out of 15 divisions. The wounded numbered 14,977. The missing in action were 5559. Berkman arrived in the division after the 48 hour forced march to Bastogne. There were 23,051 total casualties. After Bastogne, the Americans pushed back. Berkman's first combat experience was a night river crossing between Germany and Luxembourg on the Sauer or Sure River, depending on whether using the German or Luxembourger name for the river. When the men boarded the truck in anticipation of the next action, they were each given two grenades, a fragmentation grenade and a phosphorus grenade. The men bent the pins and threw them off the truck to lighten their loads. When they arrived at the drop off point, they were promptly given two more grenades. That seemed to be the routine. Berkman was 145 pounds and carrying a heavy load with a winter coat and a carbine. He also carried two boxes of ammunition. As he neared the boat, someone slapped a paddle under his arm. As the men were paddling across the river, the Germans began sending up flares. The flares continued after they reached the bank. In basic training, the instructions are to stay absolutely still when flares are ignited. The experienced men were hitting the ground so Berkman decided to follow their lead. The Germans were firing their classic weapon, the 88s [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery guns], at them. The men learned from the sound of the incoming round what to do. If it made a "whoosh" then it was going past them. If they did not hear the round, they had a problem. With the explosion of the shell, the odor of cordite was emitted. That smell stays with an individual long after his time in combat. The German troops were very well disciplined. In some cases, their equipment was superior to that of the Americans. In an American rifle squad, most men carry M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber semi-automatic M1 rifle, also known as the M1 Garand] rifles with a supporting BAR [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle]. In a comparable German unit, there were more automatic weapons dispersed. They were called burp guns because of the sound they made when firing. The German machine gun was a faster firing weapon than the comparable American .30 caliber light machine gun. As the automatic fire continued, the barrel increasingly heated up. As the heat built up, the downrange accuracy diminished. At a certain point, the barrel had to be changed for a fresh one. The replacement of the German overheated barrel was faster and easier than the American counterpart. That improved the weapons capability. The added American difficulty was that disassembly and reassembly of their machine gun was tricky. The bolt had to be placed in precisely the correct direction for it to fire. Berkman remembers that correct detail decades after the need to reassemble a machine gun. As the Americans crossed the river, they found a barn and took shelter. The second platoon had already preceded them. The sergeant called over Berkman and the other ammunition bearer named Donald Broshes [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling]. The non-com [Annotator's Note: non-commissioned officer] told them to borrow a litter from the medic and carry injured PFC Perez back to the river bank to be ferried back across. Perez was 39 years old and due for rotation so the sergeant decided to send him back. The two men carried Perez back and then returned to the barn. When they awoke the next day, Berkman noticed a German sign outside that said "Achtung-Minen" [Annotator's Note: German for "Attention-Mines"]. Berkman and the other ammunition bearer had walked through a mine field three times. Fortunately, they were not injured. The sergeant grabbed Berkman and told him that they were going to go scrounging for some rations. As they proceeded along the river, they could see half submerged dead American soldiers. They were bloated and disfigured. That was Berkman's first observation of dead Americans. When they returned to their unit, the 2nd platoon's first lieutenant was arguing with Berkman's sergeant. The officer's name was Isidore Beckerman [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling]. He came from Brooklyn. He wanted the machine gun section to go outside and provide supporting fire for his men to advance up a very steep slope. They were going to attack the Germans who were dug in on the crest of the hill. Berkman's sergeant had been wounded at St. Lo in France and was cautious and even risk adverse as a result. If their non-com did not go, those under him would not go [Annotator's Note: Berkman chuckles]. The 2nd platoon went ahead. About one third of the way up, the sergeant stepped on a mine which blew off his legs and threw him onto another mine. The second explosion severed the man's head. That was the first time Berkman saw anyone get killed. Shortly afterward, the advancing platoon withdrew and returned to the barn and stayed there for the night.

Harold Berkman and Company F [Annotator's Note: Company F, 2nd Battalion, 317th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division] made it across the river [Annotator's Note: the Sauer or Sure River, between Germany and Luxembourg] during a night attack. He learned that he should never fall out during a night operation. If they fell out and got lost, they would never find their way back to the unit. Additionally, sound travels at night. Tanks moving at night are very frightening. Patton's [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton] attitude was the only way to win a war was to attack and then keep on attacking. From the end of January to February [Annotator's Note: 1945], Berkman's unit was constantly engaged with the enemy. There was a repetitive process of advancing, digging a hole and engaging the enemy followed by repeating that process over and over. It was a constant movement forward. On 10 February, the Siegfried Line was breached when the 80th Infantry crossed the Sauer or Sure River and approached the multiple fortified German positions along with their dragon teeth. The dragon teeth were concrete obstacles intended to hinder tanks. The 80th penetrated the Siegfried Line at two different locations. Berkman witnessed an antiquated approach to taking a pillbox. It included use of mortar and machine gun suppressive fire prior to a frontal attack by infantry. Luckily, the emplacement was knocked out, but the tactics seemed out of place for a modern battlefield. [Annotator's Note: Beckman next recounts his locations on the basis of dates he has recorded.] From August through December [Annotator's Note: 1944], he was at Camp Croft in South Carolina. Early January 1945, he was deployed to Europe. He arrived on 17 January and was sent to Luxembourg. The Sure River crossing was 3 February. Berkman did not receive the new style winter boots with rubber soles and leather uppers that were issued on 3 March. They did not have his size. Instead, he continued to wear his leather combat boots covered with galoshes with snapping clips. The new style rubber boots were intended to improve the conditions for men suffering from insufficient winter protection. Many of the men in the Battle of the Bulge did not have winter gear. The result from the new boot style was not acceptable. The boot did not breathe well. Moisture collected inside the boot and caused problems. Many of the men issued the new boots had trench foot. On 6 March, the unit was taken back to the rear. They went into a heated tent and stripped and showered. They were issued new uniforms for the first time in 55 days. On 9 March, they were back on the attack. They were moving from a berm into a forested area. The sergeant was intimidating his men with his .45 to move forward or face the consequences of his wrath. At this time, Berkman had moved into the position of machine gunner [Annotator's Note: he had started from the entry position of ammunition bearer for the gun]. As the gunner, he had to alternatively carry either the gun or the tripod. It was his turn to carry the gun and he took off for the woods. A German tank fired on the men moving across the open space. A rifleman was with Berkman. When they reached cover, the rifleman told Berkman that he thought he was hit. He felt something wet on his leg. It turned out to be water from his canteen that had been hit by the enemy fire. The two men began to chat with each other and found other that they were from the same area of New York, Brooklyn and Monticello. That was the first meeting for Berkman and his future good friend, Paul Rothfeld [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling]. Even though his friend was in a rifle platoon, they became close. Both men wrote to their parents about their friendship. Their parents visited one another. It was a wonderful friendship that lasted throughout the war and after. Both men made it into the forest and survived. On 22 March, the troops began being billeted in German houses. They had feathered mattresses and quilts on their beds. They ended up with lice and scabies. The soldiers were made to line up on both sides of the streets. They were stripped and treated with DDT [Annotator's Note: DDT is an extremely potent but harsh insecticide]. They were given invasive inspections. It all probably looked ridiculous. There was a non-fraternization order for the troops to avoid German women. The women had six years without men or chocolate. The Americans were very happy to provide both. On 28 March, the Rhine was crossed at Mainz in daylight. The 80th was one of the first divisions to cross the river. They were in large boats similar to lifeboats. The Germans were shooting at them so they moved rapidly. As they approached the city of Kassel, they were in two columns. A German fighter swooped in on them. It was a strange aircraft without any propellers. The plane was far advanced of anything he had seen before. The pilot must have been out of ammunition because he did not fire on the Americans. Although Berkman carried a machine gun, there was no way that he could accurately fire on the incoming aircraft. No matter what is presented in any of the John Wayne movies, the accuracy of firing a hand-held machine gun is very limited. The rounds go all over the place but not necessarily where intended. The gunner would be lucky not to kill himself. The 80th continued to advance toward Erfurt. By 12 and 13 April, they reached Weimar.

Harold Berkman and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Company F, 2nd Battalion, 317th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division] discovered a concentration camp outside of Weimar, Germany. It was Buchenwald. That was the first camp encountered by the Americans. The ovens were still hot when the troops arrived. Bones were stacked high near the furnaces. Emaciated inmates were everywhere. Berkman will never forget those sights. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton] saw that and reported it to Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: US Army General, later Preident of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower]. Patton and Eisenhower walked through the concentration camp. [Annotator's Note: Berkman commences reading statistical information he has gathered.] Six million Jews were killed during the war. Two million non-Jewish Poles lost their lives during that period. Four million Soviet prisoners were killed in the camps along with a wide variety of other people. Patton ordered the burgermeister [Annotator's Note: town mayor] to view the camp. The German town leader said he knew nothing of the events in the camp. There was noxious smoke emitted by the camp during the preceding years. The stink was terrible. The following day, the burgermeister and his wife committed suicide. On 14 April [Annotator's Note: 1945], word came that President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin D. Roosevelt] had died. The Germans thought the United States was in great peril, but it was explained to them that the constitution considered such inevitabilities and the government was sound. Troops moved rapidly into Germany and made their way to Nuremburg. The city had been destroyed by Allied bombing. Many Germans had survived in underground shelters and bunkers. Berkman viewed the location where Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] had given a great many of his speeches. On 8 May, the war ended. Berkman was in the Austrian Alps. They did not know of Hitler's suicide. The German 6th Army surrendered to the 80th Infantry Division. The German General Panzertruppe Balck [Annotator's Note: German General der Panzertruppe Hermann Balck] requested a meeting with General Horace McBride of the 80th Infantry Division. The German officer wanted assurance that his remaining men on the opposite side of the Enz River could cross it in order to surrender to the Americans rather than the Soviets. McBride gave the German officer until midnight that night. There would be no assurance afterward. That worked for the German because he was only concerned with his German troops and not the Ukrainian or Hungarian Divisions under his command. He did not care about his non-German subordinates. From 14 to 17 May, Berkman pulled guard duty with the Russians on the opposite side of the river. The Russians had different uniforms and insignia compared to the Americans. The red stripes on their sleeves indicated each time they were wounded. There were always multiple wound indications on their uniforms. They hated the Germans. They had been told that the hour of revenge had come. Every regiment kept a revenge score. They looted and raped the hated Germans. This was partially in return for the two million people lost in Stalingrad alone. They shipped loot back to Russia, including ill-fitting rail equipment. The Russians particularly loved wristwatches. It was said that an American glued leather straps on an alarm clock and sold it to a Russian. A Mickey Mouse watch could command 200 or 300 dollars.

Harold Berkman was still in Austria on 20 May [Annotator's Note: 1945] when his outfit [Annotator's Note: Company F, 2nd Battalion, 317th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division] became concerned about what was going on in the Pacific. On 24 May, they moved from Linz to Admont, Austria where they begin training again. That made the men nervous about going to the Pacific. The experienced combat troops were forced to perform close order drill. It seemed stupid and was not very well received by the veterans. On 2 June 1945, the men received their original barracks bags and clean clothes. At that juncture, the unit moved into the army of occupation mode. On the 16 June, the unit was in Nesselwang and General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton] came to visit them. He arrived in a large German touring car with an open top. He wore his shiny helmet and was greeting everyone with a wave. On 29 June, they are repositioned in Fronton [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling], Bavaria. The location was adjacent to Hitler's private hunting preserve. The men were billeted in a jaeger’s house. A jaeger is a professional hunter. The owner was named Berkmann and thought he might have been a relative. Berkman disagreed because his relatives came from Russia. On 7 September, Berkman received a furlough to Paris. He did not particularly want to go. When the Germans surrendered to the 80th at Keirsdorf [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling], they were instructed to put all their arms on the ground. Officers were allowed to keep their side arms. Berkman took the pistols away from two German officers. One was a P38, similar to one given to President Roosevelt and placed in his museum. The second pistol was a luger [Annotator's Note: 9mm P08 Luger]. The officers resisted slightly, but Berkman took the guns anyway. At this point, Berkman and his friend Paul Rothfeld [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] were put on special duty in the German town where Rosenthal China is made. [Annotator's Note: Berkman speaks of several locations in Germany that could not be specifically determined.] When Berkman observed the Olympic symbol for the first time, he thought it was a Nazi insignia. He performed MP [Annotator's Note: military police] duty there. The 80th next went into Czechoslovakia near Pilsen where the famous beer is made. Berkman's company moved to Rokycany, which is a train station where the dividing line between the Russian and American zones of occupation is located. When the trains entered the American zone, Berkman and two other Americans would check the papers of the passengers. The refugees were clearly frightened because they did not want to return to the Russian zone. Berkman enjoyed the duty. In December 1945, the 80th Infantry Division was deactivated and shipped back to the United States. Berkman did not return because he did not have enough points. His sergeant did not put him in for the Bronze Star he earned. Eventually, Berkman did get the Bronze Star. He would have enjoyed reminding his old sergeant of his receipt of the decoration. With the end of the 80th, Berkman was temporarily transferred to Battery D, 398th AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion. It was a half-track outfit. He had walked all over Europe and only then got transferred to a riding unit. He even received a promotion to a T5 [Annotator's Note: Technician 5th Grade, the same pay grade as a corporal] and a 14 dollar a month pay raise. He informed his parents back home. Another transfer came along in February [Annotator's Note: February 1946] to the Headquarters Battery, 571st AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion in Karlsruhe, Germany. He was quickly promoted through the ranks to First Sergeant. It was great duty because of his limited exposure to the men. He only saw them early and late in the day. Otherwise, the troops were involved in other duties throughout the day. The life was so good that Berkman thought about making the Army a career. His fledgling second lieutenant had never seen combat and was intimidated by Berkman. Berkman had it easy. It seemed like a vacation. He repeatedly took his name off the roster to return home. He could do that because he was the acting First Sergeant. When the colonel called Berkman in July and told him to pick up beer cans behind the barracks, that was the end of the line. Berkman put himself on the list to go home immediately afterward. A week later, he left for Bremerhaven to go home. Bremerhaven was like a tent city when he arrived. He ran into his old friend Paul Rothfeld. Berkman asked his friend why he had not returned home. The response was that he had a run-in with an officer and ended up in the guardhouse which delayed his return home. Berkman returned home on a Liberty Ship. Berkman, like his father who had left Europe for the United States, exited via Bremerhaven.

Harold Berkman returned to the United States via New York harbor. He arrived at night with the Statue of Liberty and the city lit up. Berkman realized that he had actually made it back. When he returned home, he had a huge breakfast his first morning. He ate copious amounts of things that he had not had for many months. It was the best breakfast he ever had. During combat, eggs were worth their weight in gold. They were rarely available plus the Army eggs were terrible. Combat veterans seldom got hot food. They lived off K rations. For Berkman, the only flavorful selection in the packages was cheese. He traded his Spam and other items for cheese. His family always had white cheese in their home. They had no American cheese, but he learned to like it when compared to the other options in the K ration. Many men who traded off the cheese portion of their ration got diarrhea. Berkman never suffered that problem since he ate the cheese. Berkman was discharged in July 1946. It was too late to enter college in New York so he attended the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. He learned to sing Dixie and drink Coca Cola and smoke cigarettes for breakfast. It was a culture shock, even compared to Germany. He finished rapidly in a little over two years. When Berkman was discharged, he was a machine gunner 604 [Annotator's Note: the military occupational specialty, or MOS, number for light machine gunner at that time was 604]. He was inducted on 24 August 1944 and separated on 1 August 1946. He was deployed to Europe on 8 January and arrived on 17 January 1945. He departed for the States on 17 July and arrived on 26 July 1946. He served in the United States just over four months and was in Europe for more than 18 months. He was in combat for over 120 days and had 14 months of occupation duty. He was decorated with the Combat Infantryman Badge which he considers more valuable than any of his other recognitions. He also was awarded the Bronze Star for bravery in combat against an enemy. He received the African-European Medal [Annotator's Note: Europe-Africa-Middle East Theater Ribbon] with three bronze service stars for his campaigns in the Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe. He was also awarded the Victory Medal and the Occupation Medal with a Germany clasp, as well as, the Good Conduct Medal. The 80th Infantry Division and Berkman were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. The Republic of France also awarded him the Chevalier de Legion of Honour. Berkman was knighted by the Republic of France. He is active with the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge organization as a member of the board of directors. Additionally, he is vice-commander of the Combat Infantrymen's Association, Company B, 1st Battalion, 1st Regiment in Florida. His wife and he work with veteran services. They endowed a scholarship fund for annual awards to veterans. Berkman ranks them according to whether they served in combat, lost a limb or were wounded. Berkman is happy to have participated in the interview so that he can leave something for his grandson who is very interested in his service.