757th Railway Operating Battalion - Henry Brill

Bruce writes ....
Henry Brill was born in Yorkville, Manhattan, New York 24 January 1913. Yorkville was known then as a German neighborhood and --according to the 1920 Census, it has 8 year old Henry's language at home as German. His German speaking ability, I believe, came in handy in the army as the 757th advanced through Germany and then set up headquarters in Kasel, Germany. At the same time, my Dad was Jewish and he was given two different sets of dog tags: his official with "H" for "Hebrew" indicating he was Jewish; and an alternative set with "P," Protestant, for when the battalion landed in Europe and confronted the Jew-hating German forces (in case of capture) . Dad didn't talk much about the war except to mention that there was German resistance when his unit landed on the Normandy beach (even if it might have been a day or two after D-Day) and he hid behind a rock, which, he said, was "his best friend" that day. He also mentioned that when advancing on towns, that artillery would bomb certain factories and leave others untouched, which seemed strange to him. Only just now after viewing a conspiratorial-type documentary in which they maintained that Auschwitz and other concentration/extermination camp were actually more factories of "robber barons" which were big profit makers since they used slave labor. (and maybe --this is my own "thinking out loud"-- that's why Auschwitz

itself wasn't bombed??) Back to my Dad..... If you watched "Band of Brothers," one of the running themes was American GIs risking their lives to get a hold of a German Luger. Dad had one and sent it home (along with three sniper rifles, a German officer's sword, a Voigtlaender camera and other "souvenirs"). Before the war he tried to open a couple fruit and vegetable stores and each time they didn't make out and closed. . . so, the joke was that once he became part of the war effort, the war, too, would soon be over too. One very piquant story: sometime in May '44 he sent my Mom a letter from Great Britain and asked her to "give Aunt Sherry Berg birthday wishes for her birthday on June 6th" ..... Get it?....My Mom knew D-Day would be June 6th at Cherbourg ("Sherry Berg"). No one can figure out how Henry and Evelyn Brill knew when and where D-Day was going to happen when General Eisenhower himself didn't know! (I WISH I had that letter: no "experts" believe this story). After the war he began working for the Post Office as a letter carrier. Retired in the mid-70s to Florida. Loved fishing.

Taking the photo of my wall with Henry's grandson's (named for him, "Henny,") caricature along with photos of Dad and Mom with the trophy fish, brings my attention to another Henry-Brill-WWII item: that knife hanging on the wall. My dad made that knife himself in Kasel from an airplane propeller! I forgot to mention his rank: He was a buck private going into the army AND COMING OUT. I don't understand that. It SEEMS like it was a conscious decision not to take any rank ...not even Pfc, which, I thought came automatically after a few months of service. Am I mistaken? When I was in the army in the early 70s, I got E-4 in about a year. Dad was in for 3 full years. 

 Thanks to Bruce for sharing these amazing photos  ...