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Oral history interview with Gerald Silver

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 2014.85.1 | RG Number: RG-50.030.0756

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    Oral history interview with Gerald Silver

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Gerald Silver, born on April 26, 1923 in Brownsville, New York, discusses his family’s background and his childhood growing up in a culturally-rich atmosphere; his fluency in Yiddish; his family’s Jewish background and religious views; following current events in the newspapers; graduating high school in 1940 and working various jobs; being drafted in February or March 1943 and his initial training in the 397th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, working with 40 mm anti-aircraft gun; his experiences in Chicago, IL during his training; not experiencing antisemitism before going to Europe; arriving in Glasgow and then Wales for further training around April 1944; being transferred to the 16th Infantry; his experiences crossing the English Channel, during which a friend (Jimmy Speridegus) died because of an attack from a German U-boat; landing as part of the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944; the chaos on the beach and being hit by shrapnel in the leg and arm; his efforts to help other wounded soldiers; making it to the seawall despite his wounds; helping others get to the wall and getting gas masks to other soldiers; receiving a letter of commendation for his action in lieu of a Bronze Star and promotion (both were denied him by an officer with an antisemitic attitude); his and other soldiers’ opinions about the invasion; his emotional reactions to films such as The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan; his temporary work as a beach master; confronting a group of German prisoners of war on the beach; rejoining his unit; Passover services in a Venlo, Netherlands convent where the nuns had been hiding Jewish men in the basement; his brief visit to Dachau after its liberation; his time in Kaufbeuren, Bavaria as part of the occupying forces; his return to New York in late 1945; how the war affected him personally; his marriage in 1951; and his postwar life and work.
    Interviewee
    Gerald Silver
    Interviewer
    Ina Navazelskis
    Date
    interview:  2014 June 19

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    1 digital file : MPEG-4.

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Silver, Gerald, 1923-

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Ina Navazelskis, on behalf of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral History Branch, conducted the oral history interview with Gerald Silver in Forest Hills, NY on June 19, 2014.
    Funding Note
    The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:04:40
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn84823

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