Ben Schneider Library of Congress Testimony

This is Sarah Chapman's interview of Mr. Ben Schneider. Okay, so before you entered the Army, were you enlisted or drafted?

I was enlisted.

Okay. And how old were you when you entered?

I enlisted in 43. I was 23 years old.

And did you have any schooling when you entered, before you entered?

Schooling before I entered. I went to grade school and high school. Okay, yeah. I graduated Omaha Technical High School in 1938. Before that, I graduated from Dundee Elementary School in Omaha, 1934. I graduated there in 34.

Okay. So when did you move to Council Bluffs?

Pardon?

When did you move to Council Bluffs?

I moved to Council Bluffs after the war.

Oh, okay. Why did you choose to enter the Army?

Pardon?

Why did you choose to enter the Army?

Why did I choose to enter the Army? Mm-hmm. Uh...

It's okay if you can't answer.

I mean, I was going to be drafted anyway.

Okay.

And I wanted to enter before I was drafted to choose... Okay. communication.... That's what I wanted to do. And not only that, I was Jewish, and I was very, very distraught at what the Germans were doing to the Jews. Okay. And I wanted to go over there and fight them.

Yeah, true. Okay. Um... What were some of your hobbies before you entered the war?

My hobbies before I entered the war? I was an athlete.I did all kinds of athletic activity. Football, basketball, baseball. My other day, school and... Okay. Grade school and high school.

Okay. Um... So your first days in the service, were you nervous or excited?

When I was going in, uh... I don't remember.

That's fine. You don't know? Okay.

I would say I was... I wasn't nervous because I enlisted, you know. Yeah. But I was excited because I wanted to go real bad. Okay. Because of what I said.

Okay. Um... What were some of your first experiences in the Army?

Um... What was my first experience in the Army?

Uh... Your training or... Your training or things like that? Yeah.

Basic training was experience. Okay. And then I went to communication school. Okay. At Camp Crowder, Missouri. That's where I was. Camp Crowder, Missouri. Neosho, Missouri. Okay.

Oh, that's where that picture was taken. Okay. And what was it in Camp Crowder your training was? Camp... what was it? Camp Crowder?

Yeah, Camp Crowder.

Okay. C-R-O-W-D-E-R.

You got it.

Okay. Where were some of the places that you served? Okay. Oh, you have it written down, right?

Here. I know it off the bat. I'm just going to let you see it. Okay. I'll open it. I start here, Camp Crowder, Missouri. Okay. North Africa. I was in Oran, Okay. That's a big city there. I was in Naples, Italy. Italy. I was in many cities in southern France, up to Paris. I was in many cities in Bavaria, Germany. See, that's a southern part of Germany. Okay. And then I don't remember the actual place. I was in Austria, but it was a ski resort.

Oh, okay.

In Austria. Okay.

Okay, what were some of your assignments? What were some of your assignments? What's the name of them? No, what were some of them? Assignments?

We were a... This is interesting. We were 18 soldiers in the 5th Signal Center team of the 7th Army. Our mission was to do communications between the 7th Army and the French 1st Army all the way from France into Germany and Austria.

So the 7th Army is just what your team was called?

No, no. My team was called the 5th Signal Center team.

Oh, okay. So what was the 7th Army?

The 7th Army was an army of the American task force there. We had the 1st Army, the 3rd Army, and the 7th Army. Oh. We went all the way.

One of the armies that beat Germany? Oh, okay. Okay. So did you actually see or experience combat?

I wasn't in the front line, but I was right behind it.

Oh, okay.

And I did experience some artillery and air action. I mean, they were shooting it up. Okay. Not a lot. Okay. Not like a combat soldier.

Okay. So your job was really more communications more than combat?

Yeah, we were communicating. Okay. Well, we were in a combat area communicating to the French Army. Okay. In other words, and I was a radio operator. Oh. I was the sergeant in charge of the radio. So this was an outfit on wheels. I had my own radio truck, and that was a truck for message center. There was a truck for teletyping. It was all in a truck, in trucks. We went from one place to the other. We never stayed anywhere. We went, we were assigned to communicate with this French Army. That's what our mission was.

Oh, okay. Okay. So what did you do to keep in touch with the people back home? Were you married before you left the United States?

Well, I was married while I was in the Army. I was married in May 30, 1943, right after I got out of basic training at Camp Crowder. And my wife came to Neosho and Joplin [gap] a year off campus while I was training in being a radio operator and other communications. From there, we were assigned to the Fifth Center. I wasn't in the Fifth Center team in Crowder.

That's where you assigned?

I was assigned to it.

Okay.

In 1943.

Okay.

When we went overseas.

Okay. What did you guys do for recreation while you were overseas?

We didn't have any. We didn't have any. Well, we did a little, very little recreation. The only recreation you might say is off-duty. We walked around the towns we were in and looked at all the cultural things in Europe.

So sightseeing and things like that?

Sightseeing, yeah. But that's all we had. We were too busy. We were running all the time.

Now, as a Jewish veteran, did you ever experience any anti-Semitism?

Yes, I did.

You did? What were some of those experiences?

I had an experience with one of the sergeants of my crew. One out of eighteen guys, we had about four or five anti-Semites. But the main one that I remember was Michael Burke, who told me many bad things about the Jewish people. But he didn't get away with it. I told him off. But I hated him ever since then. I went all the way through the war with him. And then when I ran into several soldiers, not in my outfit, that gave me a hard time about being a Jew.

Were they American soldiers?

Pardon?

American soldiers?

American. This is all American. I didn't talk to anyone. I couldn't talk the language. I did talk Jewish to the Germans.

Oh, okay.

But I didn't talk to them very much because I hated every one of them.

Yeah, I can see that. Okay, so how did you practice Judaism while in the army? How did you practice Judaism while in the army? Did you go to service?

I can't understand.

How did you practice Judaism?

Okay. I practiced Judaism because I was a Jew. I mean, I didn't have too many opportunities to go to synagogue because we weren't any place at one time. But I prayed to my God every night that I was there. Okay. And I never forgot that I was a Jew because I am a Jew. You know what I mean? Okay. I was Orthodox at one time.

Oh, really?

I went in and found it too Conservative.

Where do you guys go?

We go to Bethel.

Oh, that's where I went.

Oh, really?

For years.

Oh, really?

I'm still there.

Yeah?

How did you celebrate high holidays?

How did I?

Celebrate high holidays?

[shakes head]

You couldn't?

I did not celebrate high holidays. I had no way to do it except talking through my letters. I wished happy New Years to my family in my letters, but that's the only way I had. We were very, very busy.

Yeah, okay. So there really wasn't that much time for religion.

Pardon?

So there really wasn't that much time for religion other than your own praying and things?

There wasn't that much what?

Was there any time for religion while you were there?

No, there was no time for religion. Okay. Except to myself. And I prayed, yeah.

Okay. Were there other Jewish soldiers serving with you?

Yes, there was.

Did you know any?

There were five Jewish soldiers out of 18 people in this team that I was on. I became very close to two of them, which I'm still in contact with, except that my very, very dearest friend's dead.

Oh, okay. I'm sorry.

Oh, okay. We're talking about 62 years.

Yeah, yeah. Did you keep kosher before the war?

Pardon?

Did you keep kosher for war?

No. My family didn't keep kosher, and my wife and I don't keep kosher.

Do you recall the day that you left the service?

I was discharged at Fort Collins, Colorado. That's near Colorado Springs.

Oh, okay.

And I spent many, many, many months in hospitals. I was sick a lot.

Oh, really?

And I was discharged from this hospital in Colorado Springs, and I went to, then I went to Fort Collins. I don't remember where the hospital was around here somewhere. And I went to Fort Collins and got officially discharged from there.

Okay. Why were you discharged?

When?

Why were you? Was it the end of the war?

Oh, yeah. Honorable discharge. Okay. Yeah, I was in it all the way. Okay. So you were in Fort Collins when the war ended? Well, I was in Fort Collins. Oh, okay. No, no. I was in Nancy, France.

Oh, okay.

When it ended. Nancy right? At a hospital, by the way.

Oh, okay. What were you sick with?

I had anemic dysentery, and then I had a perforated appendix. I almost died.

Oh, my gosh.

I was operated on in Nancy, France, and they saved me.

Oh, my gosh.

I was discharged from Nancy, France to Fort Collins. Wherever that was. But it was the end of the war. Okay. But Japan was still fighting us. I could have gone to Japan. Which a lot of my, my people did.

. But you didn't because you were sick.

Yeah.

Okay. So you said you formed many close, two close relationships?

I had two close.

Okay.

Do you want to know their names?

No, that's okay.

Lasting up until now, I still talk to this one guy's wife who calls me, New York. Oh. One was in New York, from New York, and one was from Denver, Colorado.

Oh, okay. How did the war change your everyday life after you got home?

I'm going to give you the answer to that. Okay. This question right here.

Okay. So, all right. What was your career after the war?

What was my...

Your career after the war?

After the war? My career was I was a plastering contractor, and then I did... After that, I worked for a very close friend of mine as a bartender in his bar. Okay. Very, very good experience. Okay. And then I went into my father-in-law's store in Council Bluffs as a partner. Okay. And he consequently died. Oh, okay. And my mother-in-law and I and my wife were partners in the store until 1965 when we bought her out. Okay. And then our store was taken out by a road in Council Bluffs for the new shopping center there downtown.

Oh, okay.

In 197-, 1979... But we went out... We sold our store in 1978. Okay. And I retired after that. Okay. And use whatever you want.

Okay.

I talked a lot of crap.

No, it's not. It's not. Did you have any kids?

Huh?

Did you have any children?

Yes, I did. I had three lovely daughters.

Okay. And they were born when you got home from the Army?

They were born after I got home, yeah.

Okay. Okay. So the last question is, overall, what was your most memorable experience?

You're getting me emotional.

Oh, okay.

I shouldn't, but I am.

No, don't worry.

Well, we were on the road to Austria. Well, we camped in a town called Starnberg on the Z-E-E. Starnberg on the Sea in Germany. So we went all from Germany up to Austria, but the war was over.

Oh, okay.

And we were, a friend of mine, the one I really loved, and I, were walking in that town of Starnberg, might have been on patrol, I don't remember. And suddenly, on a rise in the road, we saw 15, at least 15 refugees from Dachau. And they ran over to us and said, America, thank you, America. I don't know who said it. One of them did. I don't know. They couldn't talk, but we took care of them for two or three days. They were part of a camp right there in Starnberg, a refugee camp. America took the Jews and put them in his camp, took them out of it. And that was a tremendous thing.

Yeah, I can imagine.

And I said to myself, there by the grace of God goes I. We could have happened to us if we weren't in America because they took six million Jews. You know all about it, I don't have to tell you. When I came back home, I vowed that I was going to work for the Jewish people so it wouldn't happen here. And I did. I became a very active person at B'nai Brith. Okay. And I worked for 18 years with B'nai, boy, more than that. I was 35 years with B'nai Brith and I was very active in my synagogue in Council Bluffs.

That's really amazing.

Huh?

That's really amazing.

I still can't get over it. And that's why. Here's, wasn't there I said something about.

After the war, what was your career after the war?

Well, my career was, I told you that. But that, I don't know, that was the main thing that I lived for. Okay. Jews. Okay. Here in America, America, you know. It was a very, very terrible experience.

Yeah. Yeah, I can imagine that. Okay.

I don't know why I'm crying. I've told that story 50 times.

No, no. No, I would be crying too.

A little note, too, for the day. And I wanted to hear, I had to get your name.

Oh, okay. I'm Sarah Chapman.