SAM NAHMAN. BORN JANUARY I9, 1919 DIED JANUARY 19 1997

WELL THE TIME HAS ARRIVED WHEN ONE OF US CHILDREN OF HAIM AND JENTIL NAHMAN HAS REACHED THE END OF LIFE. IT IS A HARD TIME, BUT " OLD AGE IS NOT FOR SISSIES ", AND HARD OR NOT THAT IS WHAT WE ARE FACING.

MY BROTHER SAMUEL, SAMMY TO US (AND MANNY TO OTHERS) DID REALLY HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE IN THE FAMILY. HE WAS THE MIDDLE ONE OF THE FIVE OF US.

OF COURSE TO ME HE WAS "MY OLDER BROTHER" AND SOMEONE I ALWAYS LOOKED UP TO, TRIED TO IMITATE (AN IMPOSSIBILITY.) HE WAS UNLIKE ANY OF THE OTHER SIBLINGS. AS A MATTER OF FACT WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT BUT WE DO ALL HAVE A STRONG SENSE OF "FAMILY".

HE WOULD MAKE UP HIS MIND TO DO SOMETHING AND NOTHING COULD DETER HIM. THE PROJECT THAT HE WOULD EMBARK ON BECAME ALL CONSUMING. OBSTACLES WERE THINGS TO OVERCOME. THINGS UNKNOWN WERE TO BE RESEARCHED AND LEARNED. SOMETIMES, (UNDERESTIMATING THE SCOPE) FORCING HIM TO TURN TO OTHERS (GUESS WHO) TO HELP CARRY THE PROJECT THROUGH.

I, ALONG WITH OTHERS, LOVE HIM. I WAS ALSO HIS STRONGEST CRITIC. HIS "DEVILS ADVOCATE", TRYING TO PREVENT HIS EXCESS EXHUBERENCE FROM EMBARKING ON A GIVEN PROJECT WITHOUT EXHAUSTING ALL THE AVENUES OF POSSIBILITY OF SUCCESS. I, AND MY SISTERS WERE NEVER ABLE TO TURN HIM DOWN WHEN HE ASKED FOR HELP. WE ALL WOULD SAY " HE'S MY BROTHER " AND THAT WAS IT.

HE NEVER FINISHED PUBLIC SCHOOL, IT WAS THE DEPRESSION, AND HE WORKED ON WPA PROJECTS AS A LABORER.ON SNOW REMOVAL AND THE EAST RIVER DRIVE IN N.Y. HE WORKED AS A LABORER ON FIREPROOFING OLD HARLEM TENEMENTS ETC.

WHEN THE FASCIST REVOLT AGAINST THE SPANISH REPUBLIC STARTED, (WITH GERMAN AND ITALIAN SUPPORT,) OUR FAMILY WAS ANTI-FASCIST. WHEN SAM TURNED 19 YRS. OF AGE HE WENT TO SPAIN AS A VOLUNTEER TO HELP FIGHT FASCISM. WHEN HE LEFT FOR SPAIN HE SAID, "I'M GOING BECAUSE IF WE STOP THE FASCISTS THERE THEN YOU WONT HAVE TO GO LATER."

IN SPAIN HE BECAME A MACHINE-GUNNER AND WAS WOUNDED TWICE. RECOVERING HE WENT BACK TO THE FRONT AND TOOK PART IN THE FAMOUS EBRO OFFENSIVE.. HE WAS REPATRIATED ALONG WITH ALL THE OTHER VOLUNTEERS . THE REPUBLIC WAS DEFEATED. FOR US IT IS WAS AS IF THE INQUISITION HAD WON AGAIN. THIS TIME THE LOSERS, IMPRISONED, KILLED AND FLEEING SPAIN WERE NOT THE JEWS, BUT THE SPANISH REPUBLIC SUPPORTERS REGARDLESS OF FAITH.

"3300 AMERICANS VOLUNTEERED.......1,600 WERE KILLED IN ACTION......THE REST, ALMOST TO A MAN COULD BOAST ... 1, 2, 3 OR MORE WOUNDS." "THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE "
BY ART LANDIS

AS THE AXIS POWERS PROCLAIMED THEIR HOLY WAR AGAINST THE 'RED MENACE.' THEY WERE NOT A THREAT TO US, (OR SO THE NEUTRALITY ACT AGAINST AIDING THE ELECTED SPANISH REPUBLIC SAID). SPAIN, ETHIOPIA, MANCHURIA, CHINA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, ETC ALL WENT DOWN THE DRAIN.

THEY WERE THE "PROVING AND TESTING GROUND" FOR WEAPONS, TACTICS, AND GAVE THE AXIS NEEDED SUPPLY SOURCES, AS WELL AS BUILDING UP THE MYTH OF THEIR INVINCIBILITY.

THE ONSET OF WORLD WAR 2 FOUND US BOTH WITH DRAFT NUMBERS WHICH WERE HIGH, MEANING THAT WE WOULD NOT BE CALLED SOON. PEARL HARBOR CHANGED THAT AND WE BOTH WENT DOWN TO VOLUNTEER UNDER THE DRAFT REGULATIONS ASKING THAT WE BE ADVANCED TO THE HEAD OF THE LIST FOR IMMEDIATE INDUCTION.

HE WENT INTO THE AIR FORCE TO BECOME A GUNNER ENGINEER, AND I WAS SENT TO ABERDEEN PROVING GROUNDS WHERE I SPENT A YEAR AND A HALF TEACHING BASIC TRAINING.

WE SOON FOUND OUT THAT THE ARMED FORCES HAD A POLICY OF NOT ASSIGNING THOSE THEY CONSIDERED "PREMATURE ANTI-FASCISTS" TO COMBAT UNITS. "PREMATURE " WHAT A TERM FOR THOSE WHO SAW THAT THE RISE OF FASCISM WAS A THREAT TO ALL THE WORLD.

SAM TRAINED AND TRAINED AND TRAINED, BUT AS EACH GROUP FINISHED, AND WAS SENT OVERSEAS , AT THE LAST MOMENT HE WOULD BE PULLED OFF THE CREW AND SENT TO ANOTHER SCHOOL. HE TRAINED IN FIGHTER BOMBERS B-25, B-26 AND HEAVY BOMBERS B-17 AND FINALLY B-24's.

I WAS 'FROZEN' IN MY JOB AS A BASIC TRAINING INSTRUCTOR THOUGH I HAD A REQUEST IN FOR TRANSFER TO THE INFANTRY. THAT STUPID POLICY KEPT ME AT THE ABERDEEN ORDINANCE PROVING GROUNDS, FOR A YEAR AND A HALF. THEN ONE DAY THE POLICY WAS REVERSED.

MY BROTHER WENT OVER WITH HIS B-24 CREW TO ITALY, AND I WAS TRANSFERED TO AN OUTFIT READY TO GO, AND WENT WITH THEM TO ENGLAND TO A TANK ORDINANCE DEPOT.
AS I WAS GETTING READY TO GO OVERSEAS, NEWS CAME THAT SAMS PLANE HAD
BEEN SHOT DOWN IN ITALY ON A BOMBING MISSION TO THE PLOESTI (ROMANIA} OIL FIELDS AND HE WAS "MISSING IN ACTION."

PUTTING A CHUTE ON AN UNCONCIOUS CREW BUDDY AND THROWING HIM OUT FIRST, SAM LEFT THE BURNING PLANE. HE SUFFERED BURNS ON HANDS AND FACE AND WAS CAPTURED.(THE UNCONCIOUS CREWMAN CAME TO IN TIME TO PULL HIS CHUTE AND ALSO WAS SENT TO A PRISON CAMP.) SIX OF THE 10 MAN CREW DIED.

LATER CAME THE WORD THAT HE WAS A PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY. HE SPENT A YEAR AND A HALF IN VARIOUS P.O.W. CAMPS. ON A FORCED MARCH FROM ONE CAMP TO ANOTHER HE ESCAPED AND WAS FREE FOR A FEW DAYS ONLY TO BE RECAPTURED. WHILE A PRISONER HE WORKED WITH THE ESCAPE COMMITTEE, AND WAS THE LIASON FOR GETTING FOOD TO THE RUSSIAN PRISONERS IN AN ABBUTING CAMP. MESSAGES WERE ALSO HIDDEN IN THE FOOD AND CLOTHES PARCELS (BY THE U.S. INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS IN CAMP TO THEIR RUSSIAN COUNTERPARTS.)

HE ALSO BECAME A CAMP BARBER, MADE CROCHETING NEEDLES OUT OF TOOTHBRUSH HANDLES AND TAUGHT GUYS HOW TO CROCHET WARMING ITEMS FOR THOSE WHO NEEDED THEM. HIS CAMP WAS LIBERATED BY THE ADVANCING RED ARMY ON MAY 1 1945.

AFTER THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE, NEEDING REPLACEMENTS, I WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE INFANTRY AND AFTER 2 WEEKS OF WEAPON ORIENTATION WE WERE SENT TO JOIN THE 70th INFANTRY DIVISION, AS RIFLEMEN, IN ALSACE -LORRAINE. AT WARS END WE WERE NEAR THE CZECH BORDER. I DIDNT GET A SCRATCH AND WAS DISCHARGED IN FEB. 1946.

DAVE NAHMAN, MY FATHERS YOUNGEST BROTHER, DIED AFTER BEING WOUNDED IN FRANCE.

A.C. (BEBO) DIAZ, NILDAS FIRST COUSIN, WAS KILLED IN HOLLAND. HE SURVIVED ALL HIS BOMBING MISSIONS BUT WAS PULLED OUT OF HIS PLANE WHILE DROPPING SUPPLIES TO FLOODED HOLLAND IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE WAR.

THE POST WAR YEARS HAD THEIR PROBLEMS. SHORTAGE OF LIVING QUARTERS, LACK OF JOBS, INTERRUPTED LIVES,TO BE STARTED OR RESTARTED, BUT WE WERE ALIVE AND FASCISM HAD BEEN DEFEATED.

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