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May 18, 2007
Honoring Jewish vets
Victoria ceremony marks fighters' contribution.
SID TAFLER
Walter Burnett remembers the sound of bullets flying overhead,
"like hundreds of wasps all around you."
Burnett was advancing under fire on a strategic German position
near Ravenna in northern Italy with the British Pioneer Corps in
the Second World War. His commando unit was assigned to take a position
near the edge of a lake, using amphibious, troop-carrying vehicles
to cross.
"Unfortunately," he recalled, "the water was too
shallow, so we ended up pushing the damn things across the lake."
But they did succeed in taking the German position – one small
step in defeating the military force that was attempting to enslave
all of Europe and destroy the Jewish people.
Burnett, born in Vienna and now 86 years old, was one of 14 Jewish
veterans honored at a ceremony at Congregation Emanu-El in Victoria
May 8 – the anniversary of VE Day.
Another of Burnett's vivid war memories was guarding a prisoner
of war camp filled with German soldiers. "It was a strange
thing,"he mused, "for us Jewish boys to be walking around
guarding Germans."
Burnett and has family had moved from Vienna to Trieste, Italy,
when he was a teenager. With repression against Jews becoming widespread
in 1938, they fled to England.
The ceremony at Canada's oldest synagogue was attended by Lt.-Gov.
Iona Campagnolo and Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe, who presented a proclamation
honoring Jewish veterans of the war.
Veteran Sam Paul paid tribute at the ceremony to "the giants
who were our comrades in arms" who fell during the war. They
went into battle without hesitation – "against odds unlimited,
their eyes straight to the foe."
Janna Ginsberg, chair of the organizing committee for the ceremony,
said it was time to honor Jewish vets because of their extraordinary
contribution and sacrifice to the war effort. Of a population of
167,000 Jewish people in Canada, 16,888 volunteered for active service.
Of these, 420 were killed, 334 wounded, 85 taken prisoner and 196
received military decorations.
Another veteran, Michael Brodsky, now 87, joined the Royal Canadian
Engineers in 1939. He landed in Normandy on D-Day and fought with
his brigade all the way to Germany. He was wounded in the leg with
shrapnel but that hardly slowed him down.
Brodsky said many of the German soldiers were very tough opponents.
"There were some hard-headed vets," he said, "but
toward the end of the war, there were some youngsters of 16, 17
and 18. They were scraping the bottom of the barrel."
After the war, Brodsky received the prestigious Military Medal from
King George VI at Buckingham Palace for "leadership and coolness
under fire."
"He had a nice firm handshake," said Brodsky, who is now
blind. "I haven't washed my hand since," he joked.
In addition to the commemorative ceremony, the honors included a
display of artifacts such as diaries, photos, uniforms, medals and
wartime souvenirs.
Among other vets who were honored were:
• Victoria-born Ray Rose, who joined the Royal Canadian Air
Force at 22 and flew 33 bombing missions over France, Germany and
Poland.
• Ira Robinson from New York, who saw service with the United
States Navy in New Guinea and Japan and at the Battle of Leyte Gulf
in 1944, the largest naval battle in history, pitting 212 Allied
ships and 1,500 planes against 66 Japanese ships and 200 planes.
• Manfred Hermer, born in Johannesburg, who joined the South
African Corps of Signals and was involved in the battles at El Alamein
and Bariya. He was injured by an enemy artillery shell but returned
to duty training new soldiers after he recovered.
Sid Tafler is a Victoria freelance writer.
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