Leon Hirsch was born in July 1927 in the Bronx in New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York]. He had one brother and one sister. His parents owned a small retail store selling women's ware. His father immigrated from Lodz, Poland. His mother was born in the Bronx. His father was sure the United States would win the war. Hirsch's older brother was in the Navy during the war. There was little family discussion about the war. Hirsch attended school in the Bronx. He lived in a poor neighborhood of mixed ethnicity. He gained admittance to the Bronx High School of Science through convincing an administrator, Dr. M.M. Meister, that he should be accepted despite not passing the entrance examinations. He did well in biology but poorly in Latin. Following graduation, Hirsch volunteered for the Air Corps. Most of his friends went to college but he went into the service. Dr. Meister never accepted the fact that Hirsch became a success but did not go to college. [Annotator's Note: Hirsch laughs.] Meister was a mentor for Hirsch. The latter learned that determination was helpful along the path to success. Hirsch scored a 100 percent on a regional biology examination when no one had ever achieved perfection prior to him. Hirsch had another mentor in high school while he was in the CAP, the Civil Air Patrol. Reverend Langstaff [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling and no given name provided] gave good advice on the basics of right and wrong and why the country was in the war. It brought many of Hirsch's colleagues to tears. Hirsch enjoyed fishing, nature and the outdoors as a teenager. He hitchhiked to the country and taught himself to fly fish. He still loves nature. He has an innate ability to spot a prospect and make an opportunity of it as an entrepreneur. Recognizing Dr. Meister's advice, a college education does help pave the way to opportunity today. Restrictions and bureaucracy make getting ahead tougher today.

Leon Hirsch enlisted in the Army Air Forces before high school graduation. He was inducted into service in August 1945. He chose the Air Forces because of his CAP, or Civil Air Patrol, training in high school. His basic training was at Keesler Field [Annotator's Note: now Keesler Air Force Base] in Biloxi, Mississippi. He enjoyed virtually all aspects of the experience. The squadron was shipped overseas where they landed in Le Havre, France. Incorrectly sent to Belgium, they spent time in a convent with some nice nuns. Their sergeant told the men to just relax. They had nothing to do. Ultimately, they were sent to Germany in cattle cars. There was really nothing to do there. The war with Japan was still on so orders were constantly coming in to transfer units to fight the Japanese. A major called for anyone with experience with road shows and Hirsch saw an opportunity. He made up a story for the officer about his supposed background with that experience. The next day, thousands of troops were ordered to the Far East while Hirsch and another man were selected to go to Wiesbaden, Germany for the opportunity with road shows.

Leon Hirsch reported to an inhospitable major general in Wiesbaden, Germany on orders to assist in developing road shows to entertain the military. The crew with him was a combination of civilian and military personnel who wrote and produced shows for the military in occupied Europe. There were USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations] shows but little other than that for entertainment. The traveling road shows would add to the available shows for the troops. Future famous individuals participated in the traveling company. Twelve groups were usually simultaneously on the road. Hirsch had to coordinate the support for each of those groups. The major general sat back and let Corporal Hirsch take the reins unless there was a visit by some dignitary that he would handle personally. The popular shows of the day were taken on the road for the troops to enjoy. The actors and actresses worked very hard to do a good job. The actresses were civilian actress technicians, referred to as CATs. They lived together in a CAT house on the Rhine River about half an hour from Wiesbaden [Annotator's Note: Wiesbaden, Germany]. Hirsch visited the area years after his discharge. It has changed dramatically. Hirsch maintained contact with only one of his colleagues of those occupation days. A friend from Iowa named Birney Adams was a fellow he was close to who had never had bagels. Hirsch sent him some from the Bronx [Annotator's Note: Bronx, New York, New York]. Hirsch stayed in a nice room at the Wiesbaden Opera house. He was on call 24 hours a day. He was a problem solver who had to take care of emerging issues with property, vehicles or personnel. His job was very diverse. He even handled advertisement for the shows. He was in the job for about a year and a half. A captain was finally named as Hirsch's boss but he left him alone. There was limited contact with German civilians in the Opera house. Hirsch did play with the German girls. He enjoyed his work and cried when he was sent home. That experience in Germany made him want to make money and be someone of importance. He left the Army with 5,000 dollars which was a good sum of money. After he was discharged, he was asked to be an advance man. He officially got the civilian job that he had been assigned to do in Europe. [Annotator's Note: Hirsch laughs.]

Leon Hirsch enjoyed doing advance theater work for a while but found it not lucrative enough so he took a job as a storm door salesman. Then he changed and sold other products. He became a very good door to door salesman. He did very well in food plan sales. He also worked with dry-cleaning. In 1963, at the height of the Iron Curtain tensions, Hirsch became involved with a Russian surgical stapler which was just introduced in the United States. After investigating the findings of a surgeon in Baltimore [Annotator's Note: Baltimore, Maryland] named Professor Ravage [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling and no given name provided], Hirsch bought into the concept of promoting it within the country. He developed a more efficient method of operation. Hirsch innovated a cartridge loading technique which vastly improved the set-up time. That initiated Hirsch's company, US Surgical [Annotator's Note: United States Surgical Corporation based in Norwalk, Connecticut], in 1963.

Leon Hirsch initiated his company, US Surgical [Annotator's Note: United States Surgical Corporation based in Norwalk, Connecticut], in his basement in 1963. He pulled together enough money to buy out the national patent on a Russian surgical stapler. He next had to deal with the Russians. That was a laborious effort from traveling there to negotiating with Soviet officials. Hirsch was subsequently asked by Johns Hopkins University [Annotator's Note: in Baltimore, Maryland] to give a lecture on the development of the surgical stapler. They had chosen the date for his address on the anniversary of Hirsch's initial meeting with Professor Ravage [Annotator's Note: see clip titled "Postwar Career"; unsure of spelling and no given name provided]. Hirsch wanted to talk with someone who had been to Russia when he went to see Professor Ravage. It turned into an entrepreneur opportunity for him. He took an advertising course after the service that taught him presentation skills that have helped him. He learned that a benefit better have a good rationale behind it. After arriving in Moscow [Annotator's Note: Moscow, Russia], Hirsch had a nice suite at a beautiful hotel. He had trouble adjusting to the time difference initially. He met with officials in the Kremlin. It is a beautiful place. Working through an American contract format was difficult. Eventually, the contract was totally reviewed and Hirsch was asked to return in a couple months. He returned and the contract was signed with a stipulation of payment to them of 30,000 dollars per year. It was the first commercial contract signed between an American company and Russia. It was 1964 and US Surgical was started.

Leon Hirsch saw his service as a great learning experience. He was given responsibilities greater than any he had before. He had to coordinate, improvise, and innovate. He learned he could solve problems without possessing a background in the area at issue. He does not feel that college could have taught him as much that helped him in the business world. The best ways to teach young people about the history of the war is to do it through heroes and aggrandizing situations that happened during the course of the conflict. The war changed the economies of the world. Germany is a vibrant economy and an ally. The unification of Germany and then Europe were very important changes, particularly when confronted with the radical Muslim world. Democracy has to work to prevent wars. Putin [Annotator's Note: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; president of Russia] in Russia has helped keep the peace that Gorbachev started [Annotator's Note: Mikhail Gorbachev; former president of Russia]. Leaders stopped conflict that could have been totally devastating. A major conflict was negotiated away. If The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] performs more classroom outreach, it might make students more interested in the war and lessons learned.