In Memoriam

Frank at YIMC asked for commenters to post prayers for those who died in service of our country. I posted a brief comment about Eddie Berg, a man I never knew.

Eddie Berg was from New Jersey. His family owned a dry cleaners and Eddie wanted to return to the New York/New Jersey area after the war. He wanted to go to college and become a stock broker. I know these things about him from stories my Dad tells about WWII. Dad and Eddie were in the same infantry unit. Dad's amazing memory for details recalls many of the conversations he and his army buddies had during their time together in barracks, on troop ships, and in fox holes. I've jotted down a few names and details over the past several years in hopes I might one day retell Dad's experiences.

Dad's most intense memory of the time he spent in combat in Europe, from October, 1944, to V-E Day in June, 1945, was the crossing of the Roer River in April of 1945. Dad's unit was one of many crossing the river that day. They did so under heavy fire from German troops on the far side of the river. Imagine waiting to board a small metal flat boat, boarding the boat, rowing it to the other side of the river, then getting off the boat and running for cover, all while being fired upon.

Dad and Eddie Berg were lying near each other on the banks of the Roer, waiting for their units to be called to board the boats. Dad heard a shell in a tree overhead and felt a sharp bit of fire on his leg as a spark from the shell hit him. He brushed it aside. Moments later, the squad leader called names to board the ship. When he called Eddie Berg's name there was no answer. Dad replied, "He's right here," but as he glanced over, Dad saw Berg was dead. He was most likely killed by the same shell whose spark hit Dad's leg.

Dad says the soldiers in his unit had an agreement that if anything happened to any one of them, the other soldiers should divide anything that came in the mail after his death: cookies, chocolates, magazines, or newspapers. Sending these things home to the killed soldier's family would only cause more grief so they all agreed. After Eddie Berg's death, his fellow soldiers shared his daily copy of the New York Times. Dad says they looked for Berg's obituary in the paper but never saw it. The irony of reading a soldier's obituary in that soldier's subscribed newspaper is unforgotten by my Dad 65 years later.

For me, Eddie Berg represents all the soldiers in all our nation's history who have fought and died defending our liberty. May the souls of all these dearly departed soldiers rest in peace. Lord have mercy.

Blessings,

Sandy