Miles:
What's your earliest memory?
Paul:
Earliest memory, is of my father carrying me downstairs because of a
fire in the apartment building, someone's kitchen had a fire. That was
on Popham Avenue in the Bronx. It was a fancy building with an awning
outside and a doorman.
When
I was 5 uncle Abe taught me how to ride a two wheel bike... and I went
down the hill on my own... seemed terribly steep, and I crashed at the
bottom, but years later I went back and looked at it and it wasn't at
all... just a gentle slope.
Then
we moved Morris Avenue, Bronx.
What
was dinner time like back then?
The
kids (Bob and Paul) ate dinner first with our mother, in order to get
to our home work. Eleanor was off doing her thing already in those years
(she was older than us)... Dotty ate with us. Father came home late,
around 8 o'clock.
What
was on the table for dinner?
Pot
roast, chicken....
How
many bedrooms?
Two...
one for Bob and Paul, Eleanor and Dotty shared a bedroom, and mom and
dad slept on a sofa bed in the living room.
Was
the apartment lined with books?
Yes
that was my mother's main complaint....in the earlier years there weren't
the full complement yet, but they were starting to collect.
What
floor did you live on?
Second
floor.... I spent a lot of time on the fire escape
What
were you doing on the fire escape?
Yelling
down to people... its an observation point.
Was
it a Jewish block?
100%,
except for the dentist across the street....
Was
it scary to go to the dentist?
No,
I used to like him... in the summer he used to sit on the street with
all the people... and everyone sat talking....the dentist would buy
ice cream bars for the kids....
The
adults sat on chairs on the street?
Yeah
that was the best part, it was cooler.. we used to sit outside... the
men sometimes sent the kids down to the candy store to buy cigarettes,
two cigarettes for a penny... that was a great run down to the corner...
we lived in the middle of the block... Then when I came back, I always
had the same conversation with my mother... she'd say "poor Mrs.
Levine". Mrs. Levine had to be in the store until 2 in the morning
and sent her kids to the college that way, on penny sales.
On
our street we were the Morris Ave. gang... but the College Ave gang
we thought was dangerous.. Irish and Italian... they weren't Jews....one
block over it was an unsafe block to walk on.... I never went around
the block from Morris, across 170th down College back on 169th... never
did that... too dangerous..
Another
dangerous trip was to go to the library... 165th... tough kids on Morris
avenue below 169th... there were altercations... they wanted to tie
a Christmas tree on my back and set it on fire....I went anyway ...
but I knew that was to be avoided alone.....
Ever
go see a baseball game?
I
used to go to Yankee stadium... or Polo grounds (Giants). Never went
to the Dodgers... Yankee stadium was very close... you could hear the
roar of the crowd.... we used to play stickball in the street... there
weren't too many cars parked on the street..... then in 1936 the Hindenberg
flew over the Bronx... it was the first time I saw a Nazi Swastika....so
exciting things happened.. the vegetable man came twice a week with
a horse drawn wagon... the milk man had a horse drawn wagon, the guy
who sold and bought old Singer sewing machines came calling through
the neighborhood....
How
many bases were there in stick ball?
There
could be three if there is a sewer in the middle of the street, or just
two.... I was never any good at stick ball. It wasn't until I got to
high school that my athletic career blossomed.
What
did you do?
You
don't know? I was a runner... that was all I did... I just used to run
all year round... spring indoors outdoors... that's all I did, I was
the Bronx champ in the quarter mile... You don't know that? I was a
very good runner... I had a great coach who I loved... I went to him,
I said "I want to be on the track team..." he was so happy
at Bronx high school of science... nobody wanted to be on the track
team... he said here and he gave me a uniform.... then I had a little
bag for my sneakers... we only had four dress uniforms for the track
meet... so we used to pass them around....whoever was running got the
green diagonal striped shirt. Then after that he'd pass it to the next
guy for his event... that's all I did in high school... I never studied
anything... I used to go up to NYU. They had a crack runner... McMitchel,
he ran a 4:10 mile.... there was a little wooden track he used to run
on, I used to run there and try to keep up with him... that was in high
school...
Your
parents didn't want you to study more?
No
they didn't say that.... Before high school I was fixed on building
model airplanes... my mother used to want me to get outside and get
some fresh air... I used to love to peel the glue off my fingers...
she wanted me to get outside... that was on Morris Avenue... When I
went to high school at 14, we moved to Montgomery Avenue....
Was
that a step up or down?
Neither
a lateral move.....
Why
did you move?
It
was a bigger apartment... maybe my dad had more money... it was just
a block from Popham Avenue, West Bronx, nice area, and bus service to
the subway... It was an out of the way place... so they had a private
bus to take people to the subway and back to their apartments... I liked
to ride it... took it to high school.
Then
it was a great honor to get into the Bronx High School of Science....
it was a big deal... I wasn't such a good student.. but I must have
done well on the test because I got into the Bronx High School Science...
none of my friends did, so I was like a star....
One
summer I worked on a vegetable farm (during high school) I was a member
of the volunteer land corp... during the war you had to go out and till
the soil for the war.... I took short courses on harnessing horses and
milking cows in preparation for my summer work... and then two summers
I worked at a camp for handicapped children... cerebral palsy and polio...
and that was certainly a high point and one of the most formative experiences
of my life up to that point... I loved working with kids and I was very
good at it... I was very mature for 16... and all the men were away
at war so it was all women counselors....and I still have friends that
go way back to those days of summer camp.
So
there I was, getting close to graduating high school and the question
was what should I do? In my year book it says "profession: engineering"
I didn't know what to do... so my uncle Abe had given me a drafting
set... a wonderful set of tools.... and I was very good at drafting...
and I always imagined that I would be an engineer... like a draftsman...
but that didn't make sense... I just liked the tools.... so I signed
up for the "armed service training program" and the idea was
you go to the army and they'd send you to college for four years....
so I signed up for that....somehow I didn't have to finish my last semester
of high school.. But the same week that I was inducted they closed that
program.... all I know is I was in the army... I enlisted... and the
program didn't exist, so they said "well, infantry basic training...
so they sent me to Georgia, and that's what I did...."
You
must have been in good shape because of your running...
Oh
yeah I loved the army... I could do 25 mile hikes with a pack on my
back... guys were dropping out.... I never understood the shooting....the
only part of the shooting I was good at... these targets would pop up
and you shoot at them... that I was good at... but if I had to lie down
and aim I was never any good at it... I thought I was a weakling...
but it turned out I could do more than any of these guys... I liked
marching in line....
Kind
of meditative?
Yeah
it was a pleasure to march in a line....I must have been a good marcher..
because on the 25 mile all night graduation hike... they put me as the
guy between platoons with a white handkerchief... that was a very responsible
position because if I went off the trail I could lead everyone off...
but as dawn approached I pulled back into the line... then we had to
really straightened up.... because the general would review us.... so
we had to fix bayonnets... I loved that marching part. And I was the
hero of basic training...
Why?
Because
I used to listen to all the stupid things they'd tell us. Nobody else
listened or remembered. Like "the 3 Ds: deceive delay and destroy."
Then once I was lying in a hole on a training exercise. I looked up
and there is a general standing over me looking down and the general
asked me "what are you doing solder?" I told him that my job
was to "deceive, delay and destroy" Well he just kvelled....And
he asked me where my platoon commander was, and I didn't know so I said
"up that way and pointed..." and he asked me where (some other
officer) was and I pointed somewhere else, even though I didn't know,
and he went on... Well later when I returned everyone was cheering me...
because it turned out that the general had said to the commanding officer
that "these guys really understood their mission...", and
he was so impressed by what I had told him that they called off the
exercise for the day.... I was a hero.
So
that was your first contact with people from the "outside world"....
Yeah...
my parents worried about me.. I told them, don't worry, I'm having a
ball....you don't have to think for yourself.... close order drill..
I loved that.....Then there was a drill sergeant from Panama, regular
army. He couldn't pronounce "Hochstein" So he called me "hawk"
and that was my nickname in the army.
Then
after basic training they sent me to Louisiana to the 69th division,
regular army maneuvers... and there I got a good break... I was trained
as a rifleman and those guys have a tough job. But for some reason they
didn't have people for the antitank company... I didn't know what it
was.... it was a little scary I didn't want to be anti anything... but
it turned out that was wonderful. For one thing, it turned out you got
to ride in a truck all the time... and in the truck you can carry whatever
you want, extra blankets, food, anything... you go along in the truck
and you see guys marching along the road. It was great.
And
then they sent me out and we went to England, and they transferred me
to the 83rd infantry division. Now because I was in the antitank company...
I didn't carry a rifle, I had a pistol and a carbine. But because that
was my weapon they couldn't put me in a rifle company.... so they sent
me to a weapons company. They had mortars and machine guns. Those were
the two options...They said to me what do you want mortars or machine
guns... I knew that mortars were way back and machine guns closer to
the front, so I said "mortars" So the captain said,
"OK you're machine guns". I said "captain I've never
fired a machine gun" He said "machine guns"...
I'll
tell you more another time. |
.jpg)
