WORLD WAR II BOOK REVISITS MEMORIES.Byline: Don Conkey Daily News Staff Writer Leonard Zerlin could swap horrifying war stories with anyone. Instead, he's chosen to compile some World War II stories in a book that, hopefully, veterans can read without reliving re·live v. re·lived, re·liv·ing, re·lives v.tr. To undergo or experience again, especially in the imagination. v.intr. To live again. Noun 1. the horror. ``What I tried to do in the book was eliminate heroism Heroism See also Bravery. Achilles Greek hero without whom Troy could not have been taken. [Gk. Lit.: Iliad] Aeneas Trojan hero; legendary founder of Roman race. [Rom. Lit. , eliminate romanticism romanticism, term loosely applied to literary and artistic movements of the late 18th and 19th cent. Characteristics of Romanticism Resulting in part from the libertarian and egalitarian ideals of the French Revolution, the romantic movements had - the scars of the war,'' said Zerlin, 73, a resident of Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. . ``I tried to make it a diary of the experiences, rather than the heroics . . . memories of a period of life for those of us who participated.'' ``World War II Memories'' is thus a collection of slang, expressions, songs, cartoons, magazine excerpts, pictures, prayers, letters - anything he felt would paint a picture of World War II ``for the veterans who were there.'' He started working on his book about two years ago, asking veterans - through newspaper letters to the editor - to send written material, or thoughts, that he might include. About 180 people responded. He used materials from about 15 or 20. ``Most of them were too self-centered,'' he said. ``I got a lot of letters from GIs telling me about their experiences and the battles. Many of them wanted to put their personal experience about what they did to win the war.'' He disregarded most of those. Instead, he chose to list slang and expressions such as goldbrick, snafu, and ``Kilroy was here.'' There are lyrics lyrics npl [of song] → paroles fpl lyrics lyric npl [of song] → Text m for Army, Navy and Marine service songs. There is a list of the war's leading fighter pilots, from both sides: Germany's Erich Hartmann Erich Alfred "Bubi" Hartmann (April 19, 1922 - September 20, 1993), also nicknamed "The Blond Knight Of Germany" by friends and "The Black Devil" by his enemies, is the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial combat. was the top ace, with 352 kills. There are, in short, many memories. ``These were things that were part of life for us,'' Zerlin said. ``You learned these things "These Things" is an EP by She Wants Revenge, released in 2005 by Perfect Kiss, a subsidiary of Geffen Records. Music Video The music video stars Shirley Manson, lead singer of the band Garbage. Track Listing 1. "These Things [Radio Edit]" - 3:17 2. right away. . . . It was all part of the period in which we lived - the war period.'' That period, for him, was as a turret gunner on a B-26 Marauder
The Martin B-26 Marauder was an American World War II twin-engine medium bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. bomber group ``stationed all through Europe'' from 1943 through the end of the war. And while his book glosses over the horror of war, he couldn't personally avoid it there. ``1943 was a difficult period for the Air Force,'' he said, ``Bad design of planes. Lots of losses. Lots of tragedies. ``We learned. But at the time we went in, there was a 20 percent loss per mission. So five missions, and the chances were you weren't going to be there any more.'' The bombers he flew were relatively low-altitude aircraft, he said, ``about 5,000 to 8,000 feet - and the flak would get you. ``The Air Force, vs. any other branch, was the elite, because you're living well, you're eating well, you sleep in barracks bar·rack 1 tr.v. bar·racked, bar·rack·ing, bar·racks To house (soldiers, for example) in quarters. n. 1. A building or group of buildings used to house military personnel. . You're not out in the field. ``The major difference, however, was the trauma of leaving a clean environment and, in the 15 minutes you're over the (English) Channel, flying to (German-occupied) France, you could be dead. . . . One exploding piece of shrapnel shrapnel Originally, a type of projectile invented by the British artillery officer Henry Shrapnel (1761–1842), containing small spherical bullets and an explosive charge to scatter the shot and fragments of the shell casing. can tear you apart. And you'd see it all around you. ``Maybe the thing that bothered me the most was when you'd see another plane going in circles. It's a coffin centrifugally going to hell. You can't parachute out because of the centrifugal force centrifugal force Fictitious force, peculiar to circular motion, that is equal but opposite to the centripetal force that keeps a particle on a circular path (see centripetal acceleration). . You know you've got a minute or so, and you're gone. ``The other fear is that you'd be damaged far from your base, because you'd be attacked immediately. You're limping home. That happened to me twice. You just pray.'' Often, worse than the flights were the hours leading up to them. ``The fear comes when you know that you might not come back . . . the night before the mission, you're vomiting vomiting, ejection of food and other matter from the stomach through the mouth, often preceded by nausea. The process is initiated by stimulation of the vomiting center of the brain by nerve impulses from the gastrointestinal tract or other part of the body. , you wet your pants. You're scared. ``I lost about 80 percent of my buddies over there over a period of years. In the 150 range. In the beginning, it's painful. At the end, it doesn't . . . you don't even . . . it's hard to explain that. ``Your philosophy of life changes dramatically. And I tell my grandkids this. If you're worried about something, remember that you're going to get up tomorrow morning. You're going to be able to walk out and see the sun. ``So, I've always said, I'll look at life and say, thank God I'm here.'' Intertwined in that philosophy was the attempt to keep the blood and guts out of his book. ``War is a destructive thing. And I didn't want my book to be like that. . . . I wanted to recapture recapture n. in income tax, the requirement that the taxpayer pay the amount of tax savings from past years due to accelerated depreciation or deferred capital gains upon sale of property. (See: income tax) RECAPTURE, war. the war through the expressions, through the camaraderie ca·ma·ra·der·ie n. Goodwill and lighthearted rapport between or among friends; comradeship. [French, from camarade, comrade, from Old French, roommate; see comrade. , the things we did. ``That four-year period made boys into men, in a short period of time, and changed the universe.'' ``World War II Memories'' was self-published a few weeks ago. It cost him about $17,000 to produce 2,000 copies. While the book is available for sale - those interested can call him at (805) 492-4778 - ``I didn't do it as a way to make money,'' he said. ``I don't expect to make money from it. ``It's for the veterans. The older you get, the more you want to recapture your youth.'' And, he hopes, veterans will recapture something enjoyable. ``I don't think there's any pain in my book. Or violence. ``Maybe because I've seen too much of it.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: A stack of Leonard Zerlin's books awaits shipping as he makes out envelopes. Andy Holzman/Special to the Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion