Murray Stein moved to Florida in 1981 after working for the US Postal Service for 37 and a half years. He was 18 when he knew he would be drafted. He had started school at Long Island University [Annotator's Note: Long Island, New York], but decided that he would go to work at the Rome Air Depot in Rome, New York where he repaired planes and replaced parts. In December 1943, Stein received his draft notice. After induction he was sent to Camp Croft, South Carolina where he took a series of exams, one of which was for the Army Specialized Training Program, or ASTP. He was set to go to the University of Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] to begin his ASTP college training when he learned that the program had been shut down. Instead of going to Chicago, he was sent to Camp Atterbury in Indianapolis, Indiana and was assigned to the 106th Infantry Division where he received training. He befriended a lot of guys and pursued boxing for a while. In Late October or early November 1944 Stein’s division shipped out of New York and steamed for Great Britain. He continued training at the Cheltenham Racetrack [Annotator's Note: Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham, United Kingdom]. Their barracks were the horse stalls at the racecourse. They were ordered to take PT Boats [Annotator's Note: patrol torpedo boats] into France then took trucks to the combat line to relieve the 2nd Division [Annotator's Note: 2nd Infantry Division]. On the morning of 16 December 1944, he was all of a sudden in the middle of combat. Shrapnel, bombs, shells, and sniper attacks were raining down on him. He was injured along with a couple of his friends. One of his friends, a guy by the name of "Sparky" [Annotator's Note: no other information provided] was saved from a bullet by a spoon he kept in his chest pocket. On 19 December, his unit [Annotator's Note: Company I, 3rd Battalion, 423rd Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division] was completely out of ammunition, they were surrounded, and had not eaten in a couple of days. His regimental commander [Annotator's Note: US Army Colonel Charles C. Cavender] surrendered to the Germans and Stein became a Prisoner of War.

Murray Stein remembered the Germans told them to dismantle their weapons, then forced them to march for about six days until they reached a train station. Stein was loaded up into a boxcar in which they rode for about another seven days until they reached Stalag IV-B in Mühlberg, Germany. He remembered on the train ride, they were being bombed by the British, and at one point some officers got off the boxcar but were killed shortly after. Stein was at Stalag IV-B for about two months. They did not receive enough food. He was transferred to Elster auf an Elbe [Annotator's Note: Elster auf an Elbe, Germany]. He was put to work moving railroad ties. He developed a hernia doing this work and was taken to Halle, Germany to see a doctor who gave him a truss. He wore the truss until he was liberated in May 1945. He was in a hospital and he had received a parcel from the Red Cross. He was sent to Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France] to be rehabilitated. Stein recalled one event when he was at Elster auf an Elbe where he snuck under some wire fencing and went across a road and grabbed a bunch of potatoes, then snuck back into camp. He shared the potatoes with the rest of the men in his barracks. He hid the remaining potatoes in the floorboard and ate on them for the next two or three days. He was a Prisoner of War for six months before he was liberated. He was sent back to New York on a hospital ship. He is still active with the 106th Infantry Division association.

Murray Stein was born on 23 September 1925 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He played football and graduated from high school and then went to Rome, New York to work as a craftsman repairing parts on planes that came from Europe. Stein was listening to a football game when he heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] over the radio. His older brother served in the military before and after Pearl Harbor. Today, Stein works very closely with Veterans Affairs and travels around talking about his World War 2 experiences with other veterans. When stein received his draft notice, he was sent to Camp Croft in South Carolina for training. He also went to Camp Shelby in Mississippi for his basic training. From there, he was sent to Camp Atterbury in Indianapolis, Indiana and was assigned to Company I, 423rd Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division. He recalled that most of the guys he was with were young like him and were new to the whole experience. During the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], he revenged his friend's death that was killed during combat. Stein developed friendships with a couple of the guys. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer and interviewee discuss an upcoming interview with another individual from 0:35:56.000 to 0:36:27.000.]

Murray Stein was told that when they replacde the 2nd Division [Annotator's Note: 2nd Infantry Division], they were ordered to go up to a foxhole and jump in. Stein jumped into a hole and realized he knew the guy he was replacing, who was from New York. Stein recalled that he received the proper clothing and equipment for the weather. He recalled how bitter cold the weather was and when he was taken prisoner, the Germans took his brand-new combat boots. The terrain was covered with snow. Stein recalls that he never got a leave before he was shipped overseas but received a three-day pass while in England. Stein did have extended family in Europe, but he does not know if they were in the holocaust. He does recall his parents being concerned about what was going on in Europe. During the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], Stein remembered they had no indication that the Germans were going to counterattack. The morning bombardment that began the battle, woke him up.

Murray Stein was injured during the battle [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], but not anything serious. For days they fought, and it was terrible. They had run out of ammunition and they were in a terrible position. When the shelling stopped, Stein's commander [Annotator's Note: US Army Colonel Charles C. Cavender, commanding officer of the 423rd Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division] surrendered his regiment to the Germans. He was told to dismantle his gun and to get on his knees. They marched them to a boxcar at a train station. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer stops the interview to change tapes at 0:55:19.000.] Stein, as far as he knows, was the only Jewish guy in his company [Annotator's Note: Company I, 3rd Battalion, 423rd Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division]. When he was captured, even though he had an "H" stamped on his identification, he was never interrogated by the Germans. After his regiment surrendered, the Germans searched everyone, and one German was trying to get a ring off Stein's finger, but it would not come off. He was put on a boxcar and during the ride, the British strafed them, killing many of the prisoners. Stein had a million questions running through his head during his train ride. When he returned home, he recalled that he lost his speech and had to go to speech therapy.

Murray Stein remarked that they were liberated by the 104th Division [Annotator's Note: 104th Infantry Division]. Stein was in a hospital in Halle, Germany at the time of his liberation. In the prisoner of war camp in Elster auf an Elbe, Germany, Stein can remember that they would wake up in the morning, have a roll call, and give them a bowl of soup. At night they were given black bread and some more soup. When he was taken to a doctor, the local people spat on him when they saw him pass by. While he was in the hospital in Halle, Germany he received a package from the Red Cross. Stein figured a few days before that liberation was near because the Germans were acting differently. After Stein was liberated, he was sent to Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France] and was put on a hospital ship and taken to New York. Stein was put in a hospital in New York and was discharged from the hospital on New Years Eve 1945. Stein did not learn about the Holocaust in Europe until he returned home. Stein does not have any animosity towards the Germans and how he and the European Jews were treated during World War 2. He received a note from the war department that he was not allowed to discuss his POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] experience. He remembered that he wanted to go to a ballgame with his brother and father when he returned home. All of his family and neighbors gave him a big welcome home.

Murray Stein believes that America is the best place to live in the world. He speaks to students regularly about respect for others. Stein was discharged as a corporal. He attended school on the G.I. Bill then went to work as for the post office. He eventually became a postmaster. Stein does suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and nightmares. He remembered when he returned to the United States, he was ready to be someone again. Stein's most memorable experience of the war is when he snuck out of prison camp to get potatoes from a field. He still cannot believe he had enough courage to do something like that. Stein fought in World War 2 because he was drafted, but he wanted to fight the Germans because it was something we had to do, and it was expected as an American. The war changed his life made him a better person, especially being a prisoner of war.