[Andrew, Jr.]

Rosie's stepfather was Milton Bromberg, a Jewish boy 18 yo. He volunteered to go. He was the son of an immigrant. In his family he was the only son, and had 6 sisters. With this said, you can imagine the conversation at the dinner table when he told his parents what he had done that day. But off he went into the army. And Milton loved it. For him, it was his duty, and responsibility. He never regretted his decision. Never.

In his platoon, Milton says there were about 1,000 men at first. NC was his basic training. Then he was moved to Florida, then Texas. However, after basic training, about 300 men failed. The remainders continued on. Milton was fortunate in that he found that he enjoyed being a sharp shooter. So, he was moved to a different unit, and given a different squadron to learn under. In doing so, he also learned to use the "flame thrower" (it is the propaine tanks that the soldiers carried on their backs, with the rubber tubing that was ignited by a Zippo Lighter (of all things) and shot out fire instead of bullets. Milton also learned to shoot a variety of pistols, rifles, and machine guns from that time period. He chose the infantry instead of flying. He felt that he had more of a chance of survival in that than those "angels" - the airmen were always called and referred to as angels on their wings or wingmen. Even today that is what they are referred to as.

Milton's first mission was in England. However, he was in a specific unit that was sent in to find certain things. This is where Milton gets very quiet about. He refuses to talk about this part of his duty. I am not sure of what happened or anything. In fact, I am not really sure if Milton stayed in England or traveled to Germany or where. It is a year that he just cannot talk about.

The next thing Milton will talk about is Normandy. He was on one of the large ships that was filled with men, tanks, boats, ammunitions, food/water/basic living supplies, and so on. Milton's group was one of the first on the beach. He talks about the ocean going from a blue color to red. Men, bodies, body parts...just the unimaginable everywhere. All these men, young men, in the water, on the beach, hung on barbed wire, just everywhere for miles and miles laying dead. The German's were mercy-less. Milton vividedly remembers having to grab those who died, their rations to survive. For him, he said that it was shot to kill or be killed yourself. That is how he justified what he did or had to do. He had no hesitation shooting or using the flame thrower. And when he did use the flame thrower, he refused to shoot the men who were burning alive. However, if a man who was a flame thrower was hit, and was burning, his fellow soldiers would shoot him to put him out of his pain.

Milton was in a group of men who found many POW camps. One of which was Auschwich (sp). He was given a leave, but refused it. In doing so, his CO ordered him to go. That is one of the reasons that Milton struggles at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. He also finds peace at the WW2 Memorial.

Milton and his group of remaining 10 men get together once a year for a weekend. They go to different places each year. One year they returned to Normany, next they went to Washington, DC for the opening of the new monument, and this year they are having it in Richmond.

He, like so many other soldiers from WW2, have a problem with President Bush signing a cement slate that sits at one of the entrances/exits of the DC Memorial. Milton feels like the Bush family has no respect for the US or any of the soldiers. It is like a slap in their face.

We have given Milton a tape recorder to tape his war stories. They are so fascinating.