On this episode of Our American Stories, Milton Nadler probably accumulated more stories by the time he was 30 than most people do in a lifetime. Here's Milt telling his extraordinary story of fighting against Hitler's army as a Jewish man in an American uniform.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories. Milton Nadler probably
accumulated more stories by the time he was thirty years
old than most of us do.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
In our lifetimes.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Born in nineteen twenty three in Trenton, New Jersey, Milt
served in the US Army from nineteen forty two to
nineteen forty five during World War Two. He died at
the age of ninety eight in twenty twenty two. But
what makes Private first Class Nadler's story particularly impactful is
that he was Jewish, an enemy of the Nazis in
(00:45):
an American uniform.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Let's get into the story. Here's Milt.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I was on the street with my bicycle doing something
I don't know, and then Pearl Harbor happened. So I
was a paperboy for the Treton time, so they were
passing out extress, so I immediately grabbed all I could.
Went out an extra extra you know, involve me mera Harbor,
and I got Nicholas and dimes. It was only two
(01:12):
cents for a paper, but whatever they gave me, Thank you,
thank you, thank you. I sold a ton of papers.
I went back and got more until I realized what
really happened. So I made a not a lot, maybe
maybe five hours that day, but at five hours at
that time, that was a lot of money. Because we
were very, very poor. I had no father. I was
(01:34):
supporting my mother and my sister. So I had two
or three little jobs in the morning before school, and
I did some of my little jobs that I really
couldn't study in school. So I hate to admit this,
but I finished the seventh grade and that's all. I
went to work because I figured it's gonna be drafted anyhow,
so I might as well work. And I worked until
(01:56):
I got into service. Of course, you know, I listed
the Navy, and they kicked me out because they found
out I was colorblind and I had my uniform and everything.
I told my mother, and all of a sudden they
gave me the bad news and they said, well, we'll
get you in the army right away, out the worry.
So they did. So my dog takes a regular army
(02:19):
and I went to Camp McCain, Mississippi, a brand new camp,
and it had rained the day before. There was mud
and bugs, and oh, I'm a city kid. I don't
like snakes and bugs, you know. And this is a
funny story. So I was sitting on the rock, just
figuring out what am I gonna do? Now? What's happening here?
(02:41):
I am in the army and this sergeant walks up
to me and he says, who are you? I says,
Private Milton. Ever sir, he said, you don't call me sir.
I'm a non com Okay, he says, you know what.
You look strong enough. I'm gonna put you on guard
duty tonight. You go and go from that tree to
that tree from ten to twelve. He says, follow me,
(03:03):
we'll get your gun. So it comes at ten o'clock
and I hear Russell and the bushes, and I howered, halt,
and I started a little bit, look who's here? And
there was silence, Russell and bushes again, and I hear it,
how look who's here? And up comes the sergeant in
(03:24):
the guard. He said, what you just saying? I said,
look who's here? You dummy? Oh you excuse me? You
said you're supposed to say, hal who goes there? I
know the following morning, at breakfast, about a hundred guys
stand up and Howard Hall, look who's here? So that
stuck with me the whole time, my service, I couldn't
(03:44):
get rid of it. So when I came home in
nineteen forty five, I wrote it into Rear's digests. They
sent me three hundred hours. So so we go to England.
I was so sorry for the English people. They were
taking such a beating where the guy would go to
work in the morning and come back at that his
house is going because at that time the buzz bombs
(04:06):
were going over and we were standing there like an oh,
there's another one, Like a bunch of dummies. I mean,
long as you can hear them, no problem. The minute
you can't straight down. A funny thing. Though, our dentist
was a drunk. Before he pulled any tooth. He'd drink
a glass of whiskey of some kind. So they sent
him back to the States. So they said, now we
(04:28):
need somebody for a couple of weeks to become a dentist.
I raised my hand. What do I got to lose?
I'll learn something. Maybe I'll come back and be a dentist.
And I fill a couple of teeth. There's nothing to it,
nothing to fill the tooth. You make a whole little bigger,
you clean it out, pull the medicinery. He packed the
stuff in the railroad. He's moose smoothing out goodbye. You know. Anyhow,
(04:50):
I'd fill a couple of teeth, and when the dentists came,
he said he checked the teeth right, He said, you
did a good job. You know. The nice thing about
it is we were winning, and when you're winning, you're
happy and just. But we I know, we when we
were into the farmland of France, well, the Germans had
(05:12):
poisoned the wells, so you know, our water was terrible.
So we filled our canteen cups cowvalos. So half the
time we had a buzz on, but we never got drunk. Well,
I wouldn't say that this is the bad part. Now,
we were in an encampment and a lieutenant came up
in a jeep and he says, about a mile down
(05:34):
in the road, he says, there's a fence in the
area and a lot of people there. It's probably a
work camp. Would anybody be interested in going up and
seeing what it is? I think they're all Jewish people,
So I said sure, So I went up. We got
his jeep, We went up, and they were there. The
(05:57):
people were so they were What happened is it was
burnt out and they were making shells for the you know,
for the Germans, and as long as they were there,
they worked twelve hours a day. They fed them. The
minute the plant burned down, the Germans left and took
all the food whenever they had and so on. They're
darving here. Their teeth were black, their eyes were in
(06:20):
sunken and you know, there was a pile maybe of
six bodies, and the smell. You have no idea what
the smell of the place was. And I said, I
don't know what to do. Now, I'll go back. I'll
get whatever I can, gum, food, candy. Underneath our helmets.
We had a little cap give them some caps. Let's
(06:40):
get whatever we can. We got wherever we can and
laid everything out and they come out like animals, like
just worse than animals. I remember, I don't talk about
it too much because there was a bad, bad time
in mind and nohow. Just after that was the bulch
and we were captured. We didn't realize, I said, they
(07:00):
were all around us, but they figured if they go
and take us, what theyre going to do with this?
They had to feed us. So I'm on the radio
and my captain was Captain Tim, and he came on
the radio. He says, I want you to get a
hold of battalions and tell them to blow the breeches
of the one on fives because the Germans had a shell.
(07:23):
If they captured the one on fives, they turn them
around and shoot us. So I said, well, how do
I know you are Captain Tim? You may be some
German telling us to do that. He said, well, he said,
when you're right to Edie, that was my girlfriend. Tell her.
I said hello, and only he would know. So, okay,
I get on the radio and I call all five
(07:45):
battalions and one guy, some wise guy, comes back to me.
He says, how do I know this is legitimate? I said, well,
it's from Captain Tim. He said, how do we know?
I said, well, ask me a question. He said, who
played left field for New York Yankees. I said, Joe Demaggio. Okay, Also,
I hear boom, boom, boom, they're blowing the breeches of
(08:08):
the you know. So up comes Captain Tim and the jeep.
He spins around me. Okay, here's here's a couple of grenades.
Blow up the radio shack. I say, how kind of
all that equipment? In there, my mother's picture, all my clothes,
my girlfriend's picture. He's give me the tamn grenades and
he blows up the radio shack. I don't know I
(08:31):
was crying or not, but it was a sad time
because that was my home since, you know. I said, well,
what do you do now? He said, you see the woods?
He says, yeah, go to the woods because the tanks
can't come there. The tanks are on the way. Well,
me and lieutenant and another guy we take off to
the woods and it's drizzling and we're cold. None of
(08:53):
us have heavy stuff on. And we go all night
and we ended up in a building and we get
down the base. But you know, those old buildings had
a wooden floor. All of a sudden, I hear a boom, boom,
German boots. We weren't crying, but we were close to it.
We were scared as this and if I were, well,
I'm twenty years old. I lived this long. You hear
(09:16):
a door open, it's creaking like you like in a movie,
you know, and I see three rifle butts coming down.
It was a free French. How lucky can we be?
But the free French had a habit they shoot first,
then they ask questions. One was a woman. I remember
she had hair, well black hair, and I don't know
(09:39):
why I did this, but I got down on my
knees and I hit myself in the chest. And Howard
Jewish Jewish Jewish, and I hear him talking. She says,
drop your trousers. If I wasn't sircriciiced, I wouldn't be
here today because none of the Germans the soldiers were circumcised.
(10:01):
So they gave us bread and water, and we had
to stay in there all day because the Germans were
all over. But that following night they brought us to
an army hospital and they got us back to the outfit.
The whole world knows I'm circumcised now.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
And a terrific job on the production and editing by
Russ Jones and Manty Montgomery. And a special thanks to
the Library of Congress for sharing Milt's story with us.
Milton Nadler and my goodness, what a sense of humor.
By the way, what a storyteller just after he was born. Well,
his circumcision saved his life. And yes, it's true. Everyone
(10:36):
in the world knows Milt Nadler was circumcised the story
of Milton Nadler.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Here on our American stories
And we returned to our American stories. Milton Nadler probably
accumulated more stories by the time he was thirty years
old than most of us do.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
In our lifetimes.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Born in nineteen twenty three in Trenton, New Jersey, Milt
served in the US Army from nineteen forty two to
nineteen forty five during World War Two. He died at
the age of ninety eight in twenty twenty two. But
what makes Private first Class Nadler's story particularly impactful is
that he was Jewish, an enemy of the Nazis in
(00:45):
an American uniform.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Let's get into the story. Here's Milt.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I was on the street with my bicycle doing something
I don't know, and then Pearl Harbor happened. So I
was a paperboy for the Treton time, so they were
passing out extress, so I immediately grabbed all I could.
Went out an extra extra you know, involve me mera Harbor,
and I got Nicholas and dimes. It was only two
(01:12):
cents for a paper, but whatever they gave me, Thank you,
thank you, thank you. I sold a ton of papers.
I went back and got more until I realized what
really happened. So I made a not a lot, maybe
maybe five hours that day, but at five hours at
that time, that was a lot of money. Because we
were very, very poor. I had no father. I was
(01:34):
supporting my mother and my sister. So I had two
or three little jobs in the morning before school, and
I did some of my little jobs that I really
couldn't study in school. So I hate to admit this,
but I finished the seventh grade and that's all. I
went to work because I figured it's gonna be drafted anyhow,
so I might as well work. And I worked until
(01:56):
I got into service. Of course, you know, I listed
the Navy, and they kicked me out because they found
out I was colorblind and I had my uniform and everything.
I told my mother, and all of a sudden they
gave me the bad news and they said, well, we'll
get you in the army right away, out the worry.
So they did. So my dog takes a regular army
(02:19):
and I went to Camp McCain, Mississippi, a brand new camp,
and it had rained the day before. There was mud
and bugs, and oh, I'm a city kid. I don't
like snakes and bugs, you know. And this is a
funny story. So I was sitting on the rock, just
figuring out what am I gonna do? Now? What's happening here?
(02:41):
I am in the army and this sergeant walks up
to me and he says, who are you? I says,
Private Milton. Ever sir, he said, you don't call me sir.
I'm a non com Okay, he says, you know what.
You look strong enough. I'm gonna put you on guard
duty tonight. You go and go from that tree to
that tree from ten to twelve. He says, follow me,
(03:03):
we'll get your gun. So it comes at ten o'clock
and I hear Russell and the bushes, and I howered, halt,
and I started a little bit, look who's here? And
there was silence, Russell and bushes again, and I hear it,
how look who's here? And up comes the sergeant in
(03:24):
the guard. He said, what you just saying? I said,
look who's here? You dummy? Oh you excuse me? You
said you're supposed to say, hal who goes there? I
know the following morning, at breakfast, about a hundred guys
stand up and Howard Hall, look who's here? So that
stuck with me the whole time, my service, I couldn't
(03:44):
get rid of it. So when I came home in
nineteen forty five, I wrote it into Rear's digests. They
sent me three hundred hours. So so we go to England.
I was so sorry for the English people. They were
taking such a beating where the guy would go to
work in the morning and come back at that his
house is going because at that time the buzz bombs
(04:06):
were going over and we were standing there like an oh,
there's another one, Like a bunch of dummies. I mean,
long as you can hear them, no problem. The minute
you can't straight down. A funny thing. Though, our dentist
was a drunk. Before he pulled any tooth. He'd drink
a glass of whiskey of some kind. So they sent
him back to the States. So they said, now we
(04:28):
need somebody for a couple of weeks to become a dentist.
I raised my hand. What do I got to lose?
I'll learn something. Maybe I'll come back and be a dentist.
And I fill a couple of teeth. There's nothing to it,
nothing to fill the tooth. You make a whole little bigger,
you clean it out, pull the medicinery. He packed the
stuff in the railroad. He's moose smoothing out goodbye. You know. Anyhow,
(04:50):
I'd fill a couple of teeth, and when the dentists came,
he said he checked the teeth right, He said, you
did a good job. You know. The nice thing about
it is we were winning, and when you're winning, you're
happy and just. But we I know, we when we
were into the farmland of France, well, the Germans had
(05:12):
poisoned the wells, so you know, our water was terrible.
So we filled our canteen cups cowvalos. So half the
time we had a buzz on, but we never got drunk. Well,
I wouldn't say that this is the bad part. Now,
we were in an encampment and a lieutenant came up
in a jeep and he says, about a mile down
(05:34):
in the road, he says, there's a fence in the
area and a lot of people there. It's probably a
work camp. Would anybody be interested in going up and
seeing what it is? I think they're all Jewish people,
So I said sure, So I went up. We got
his jeep, We went up, and they were there. The
(05:57):
people were so they were What happened is it was
burnt out and they were making shells for the you know,
for the Germans, and as long as they were there,
they worked twelve hours a day. They fed them. The
minute the plant burned down, the Germans left and took
all the food whenever they had and so on. They're
darving here. Their teeth were black, their eyes were in
(06:20):
sunken and you know, there was a pile maybe of
six bodies, and the smell. You have no idea what
the smell of the place was. And I said, I
don't know what to do. Now, I'll go back. I'll
get whatever I can, gum, food, candy. Underneath our helmets.
We had a little cap give them some caps. Let's
(06:40):
get whatever we can. We got wherever we can and
laid everything out and they come out like animals, like
just worse than animals. I remember, I don't talk about
it too much because there was a bad, bad time
in mind and nohow. Just after that was the bulch
and we were captured. We didn't realize, I said, they
(07:00):
were all around us, but they figured if they go
and take us, what theyre going to do with this?
They had to feed us. So I'm on the radio
and my captain was Captain Tim, and he came on
the radio. He says, I want you to get a
hold of battalions and tell them to blow the breeches
of the one on fives because the Germans had a shell.
(07:23):
If they captured the one on fives, they turn them
around and shoot us. So I said, well, how do
I know you are Captain Tim? You may be some
German telling us to do that. He said, well, he said,
when you're right to Edie, that was my girlfriend. Tell her.
I said hello, and only he would know. So, okay,
I get on the radio and I call all five
(07:45):
battalions and one guy, some wise guy, comes back to me.
He says, how do I know this is legitimate? I said, well,
it's from Captain Tim. He said, how do we know?
I said, well, ask me a question. He said, who
played left field for New York Yankees. I said, Joe Demaggio. Okay, Also,
I hear boom, boom, boom, they're blowing the breeches of
(08:08):
the you know. So up comes Captain Tim and the jeep.
He spins around me. Okay, here's here's a couple of grenades.
Blow up the radio shack. I say, how kind of
all that equipment? In there, my mother's picture, all my clothes,
my girlfriend's picture. He's give me the tamn grenades and
he blows up the radio shack. I don't know I
(08:31):
was crying or not, but it was a sad time
because that was my home since, you know. I said, well,
what do you do now? He said, you see the woods?
He says, yeah, go to the woods because the tanks
can't come there. The tanks are on the way. Well,
me and lieutenant and another guy we take off to
the woods and it's drizzling and we're cold. None of
(08:53):
us have heavy stuff on. And we go all night
and we ended up in a building and we get
down the base. But you know, those old buildings had
a wooden floor. All of a sudden, I hear a boom, boom,
German boots. We weren't crying, but we were close to it.
We were scared as this and if I were, well,
I'm twenty years old. I lived this long. You hear
(09:16):
a door open, it's creaking like you like in a movie,
you know, and I see three rifle butts coming down.
It was a free French. How lucky can we be?
But the free French had a habit they shoot first,
then they ask questions. One was a woman. I remember
she had hair, well black hair, and I don't know
(09:39):
why I did this, but I got down on my
knees and I hit myself in the chest. And Howard
Jewish Jewish Jewish, and I hear him talking. She says,
drop your trousers. If I wasn't sircriciiced, I wouldn't be
here today because none of the Germans the soldiers were circumcised.
(10:01):
So they gave us bread and water, and we had
to stay in there all day because the Germans were
all over. But that following night they brought us to
an army hospital and they got us back to the outfit.
The whole world knows I'm circumcised now.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
And a terrific job on the production and editing by
Russ Jones and Manty Montgomery. And a special thanks to
the Library of Congress for sharing Milt's story with us.
Milton Nadler and my goodness, what a sense of humor.
By the way, what a storyteller just after he was born. Well,
his circumcision saved his life. And yes, it's true. Everyone
(10:36):
in the world knows Milt Nadler was circumcised the story
of Milton Nadler.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Here on our American stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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