North Shore Towers Courier n December 2015 13 the joyous reaction when they make it home or the anguish when it is learned their beloved have paid the ultimate sacrifice and will not be returning. Music and narration blend seamlessly throughout, making for a powerful, yet respectful, acknowledgement to all who served. Following the movie, Chernow introduced in turn several of the Armed Services veterans who call North Shore Towers their home, each taking the moment to recall their experiences. They sat stage right under the American flag used to drape Ann Brady’s husband upon his death. Bernard S. Greenbaum served in the army during the waning year of Korean War. After the war ended, he learned that the army was allowing wives to live with soldiers who agreed to stay in Japan. Greenbaum had just gotten married and asked his new wife if she’d move to Japan with him. Fortunately, she agreed and Phoebe and he spent the early part of their marriage in the South Pacific. Greenbaum was grateful that his and his fellow soldiers’ efforts kept his son from being drafted and having to experience war. Joe Giacone, who served in the Navy during WWII as a minesweeper and navigation man, spoke of his unit’s getting “the pants torn off us in Tehran.” He was followed by Norman Bard, who also served during WWII in the Army Air Corps, supplying equipment to all the airports in the South Pacific. He recalled being asked by a pilot to accompany him on a bomb drop. The initial attempt to deploy the explosive failed, the bomb dangling from the bay doors. Fortunately, the subsequent try was successful. Upon his return to base, Bard found himself facing Court Martial for taking the unauthorized trip! Sid Worobow began his tour in the northern climes of Maine as a minesweeper, before being deployed to the South Pacific to help clear the China Sea in preparation for the dropping of the atomic bomb. Possibly the most poignant story told came from Bob Zuchor, He, too, served as a minesweeper off the East Coast before moving to the Pacific to perform his duties off the coast of Japan after the war ended. He returned home to his wife and 16-month-old son, who he hadn’t seen in 9 months. When told to “Kiss Daddy goodnight,” the child kissed Zuchor’s picture instead—he hadn’t recognized the man his father had become. Jacob Kornbluh – One of “The Angels” Jacob “Jack” Kornbluh and his wife of 66 years, Elaine, are relative newcomers to the North Shore Towers community, having moved in this past April from their home of 44 years in Jamaica Estates. Jack was a member of the 11th Airborne, also known as “The Angels,” under the command of Major General Joseph M. Swing. In May 1944, “The Angels” were put on a converted Danish Merchant Marine ship out of San Francisco. With no convoy to protect it, the vessel zigzagged its way across the Pacific avoiding mines and the enemy on its way to New Guinea. On June 6—D-Day— whilst the rest of its world held its breath, Allied Forces stormed Normandy beach, while Kornbluh and his fellow Angels trained in jungle warfare in preparation to enter the Pacific Theater of Operation. In November, 1944, the 11th Airborne received its baptism of fire when they came ashore at Leyte in the Philippines. Their objective was to clear a mountain pass of enemy troops. It took three months of tough fighting to get the job done, including days of suffering without food as typhoons swept the region. The 11th Airborne were credited with killing 6,000 Japanese soldiers after the Leyte campaign By January, another ship and another destination— Manila. It was as his division was fighting to capture Fort McKinley, Clark Field and Nichols Field that Kornbluh felt he was most productive. “I did my best there, shooting Japanese like pigeons,” he explains. It was the penultimate battle before the final assault on Manila. But Japanese resistance stiffened against the Allies. On orders from General Tomoyuki Yamashita, Commander in Chief of the Japanese armed forces in the Philippines, more than a quarter of a million Japanese soldiers withdrew to the mountains surrounding the city. “The Angels” were dug in at the base of one such location, thick with vegetation. The foliage made it possible for the enemy to penetrate the defensive perimeter one night during a full moon. Kornbluh was in a foxhole fronted by a deep ravine, which he believes saved his life. “When the Japanese penetrated our defenses, an airstrike was ordered,” he recalls. “Shells fell into the ravine instead of landing in front of our foxhole, otherwise we wouldn’t have made it.” Kornbluh and his comrades in arms were among the first in Japan and he actually witnessed the Instrument of Surrender signing on the battleship, USS Missouri, on September 2, 1945. “General Swing and MacArthur were close,” Kornbluh explains. “My company saw the signing in Tokyo Bay from another ship floating alongside the Missouri.” By January 1946, Kornbluh was back in the states by way of Long Beach, California; then Fort Dix in New Jersey. He was discharged January 15 and later awarded the Bronze Star for his military accomplishments. cisco.WWII Army Air Corps Vet Norman Bard Korean War Vet Bernard S. Greenbaum and wife Phoebe Jacob “Jack” Kornbluh and wife Elaine
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