Since 1917

Several days after settling in, the Jewish holidays came up. Gen. Mark Clark was overall Commander and he sent a notice to all No. Africa that Jews in the service are to be excused for the purpose of attending religious services. This surprised us but of course was very welcome. (I later learned that his mother was Jewish. He chose to follow his father, an Army Officer and his religion, Presbyterian…………………………I was reminded of this incident while I was attending services for the holiday two evenings ago. I walked to the Sephardic Temple in Tunis which was only two blocks from the 904th quarters. The Temple was in good shape, no sign of damage. I enjoyed the service in spite of the fact that it did not resemble what I experienced in my father’s shul ( Yiddish for temple). The melodies and the pronunciation of the Hebrew were different. The male worshipers were seated on one side and the women were separated on the other side or upstairs. Many officers and GIs attended. It was a touch of home and very heart-warming…………………………I was on my own and when I left the temple to walk back to my barracks(apartment) a young teen-aged girl approached me and greeted me with “Shalom, Shanah Tovah”. So, I knew she was Jewish and I greeted her and wished her the same. Then she tried to communicate with me in broken English and in French. She wished to invite me to her home. She was sent by her mother to bring a Jewish boy for dinner and to thank him for the service the U.S did for the people, especially for the Jewish population. So I was happy to go……………………………It was evening. We were close to her apartment and not too far from the 904th dwelling. The apartment was on a narrow street, white stucco exterior. I think we walked up three flight of stairs and we entered a modest group of rooms. l I was greeted by the mother, who was plainly dressed and her two sons, who were in their late teens. It was a good feeling for me to be embraced by such happiness this family displayed. We crowded together and ate , seated on low stools around a low center table. The mother cooked in a fireplace that was built into the side of the inside of the outer wall. The smoke and heat escaped through the chimney. I assumed that all apartments had this same system for cooking and heating. This was my first introduction to cous-cous with chicken……………….The meal was great but the conversation was difficult. They did not speak Yiddish and I did not speak Latino. So we relied on broken English from them and broken French from me. The boys were fairly conversant in English and said that when this war is over they were going to move to Israel…………….. The family name Smola. During free days I would visit them and the boys would show us the sights. I would also invite Milt and other GIs to come along and be escorted to the Casbah, the ruins of Carthage and other interesting areas. We also had U.S. entertainers visit us. The U.S.O sent the top entertainers. Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Martha Ray and others. Our movement through Italy was held up . Our Troops in Italy could not break through the Rome area. More troops from No. Africa were called for. On Nov.1, we started our journey through Sicily and into Southern Italy arriving in Naples Nov.10, 1943. .