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AT EASE By Mordechai Schiller
Back in November, JWR ran a profile of Dr. Arnold Rist, 65th Armored Infantry Battalion, 20th Armored Division, one of the liberators of the Dachau concentration camp. The article received an unprecedented amount of reader response. And if you didn't read it then, you should now by clicking HERE. (Letters for this living hero still encouraged and can be sent via the link at end of article). Today, we offer a follow-up to the original article
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DR. ARNOLD RIST - A.K.A. SERGEANT RIST - recently told me
he won't be sounding taps anymore. He's nearing eighty-eight now,
bless him. A few months ago he missed a step and took a bad fall.
The head injury he sustained prevents him from blowing the bugle.
Unfortunately, they don't give Purple Hearts for head wounds
received on the stairs at home.
The "sarge" may have hung up his bugle, but when I finally got to
meet him a few weeks ago, I saluted. Then I broke rank and hugged
and kissed him.
That happened at the engagement of my son Meir and his bride, Ariella Tendler. Here's how the sarge came to be there.
On November 9, 2011, honoring
Veterans' Day, Brooklyn-based HaModia carried my
article "Salute to a Liberator," telling the
World War II story of Dr. Arnold Rist, then
Sergeant Arnold Rist, 65th Armored
Infantry Battalion, 20th Armored Division,
one of the liberators of the Dachau
concentration camp. It was a rare privilege
to interview him, albeit over the telephone,
and to have the opportunity to express
long-overdue gratitude.
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Two of the messages in particular struck me.
A retired lieutenant colonel and professor wrote: This was a great
article and I was touched very deeply. I forwarded it to my children and my grandchildren. I also forwarded it to the superintendent of schools in Torrance, California (where I live), and to the principal of our local high school. I urged them to circulate it to all of their staff who teach history, social studies, [and] current affairs.
This week I celebrate my eightieth birthday. I am particularly aware
of the Holocaust and the tragic circumstances, including American
Jewish inaction, during World War II. I am particularly distressed when
Jewish liberals discount the [current] dangers to Jews and to Israel.
I am attaching a brief of my experience (I am an Army veteran) and
affiliations for your information, to help you evaluate the basis for my praise of this article and the author.
Thank you for writing it and thank you for publishing it.
Another wrote: A long time ago a nation sent its strongest across the globe to fight evil where it existed, and won a great victory for humanity. I have taught my children this fact, but our public universities have changed the story on them. So Sergeant Rist's simple testimony takes on urgent importance.
Thank you, Sergeant Rist, for your service
and that of your generation. And thank you,
Mr. Schiller, for your gifted words.
I sent a note to Dr. Rist with the packet
of e-mails, saying, "It was an honor and a
privilege to write your story. May you
continue to inspire future generations!
My wife and I would love to visit you.
Perhaps we can arrange it for one Sunday
soon."
A few months later I got a call from Dr.
Rist, who told me about his fall and
informed me that he would be moving soon from Nanuet, New
York, to Florida. Could my wife and I come to see him before he left?
That was two weeks before Passover, and since my son was coming in
that week from Jerusalem, where he's in rabbinical seminary, the timing just didn't work out.
After Passover my son became engaged, and the party was scheduled
for the next week in Monsey, New York. In the middle of the
delightful simchah (joyous) tumult, it hit me: Monsey is right near Nanuet. I
searched for Dr. Rist's phone number. Sure enough, he was still in
Nanuet.
When I arrived at the party, my future mechutan (in-law), Rabbi Mordechai
Tendler, told me there was somebody looking for me. I turned and
saw the "sarge" - out of uniform but with a small bugle pin tacked
to his suit jacket. I told him it was a great honor for us that he came.
As they say, "One picture is worth a thousand words." I wouldn't
have missed that moment for anything, and I am sure the
readers share that sentiment.
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JWR contributor Mordechai Schiller is a wordsmith and marketing consultant. He wrote this article for America's only daily Jewish newspaper, HaModia.
© 2012, Mordechai Schiller
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