That makes me so angry. Your uncle fought for his country and watched his friends die, yet felt he had to change his name to something "less Jewish." Not angry at him, angry at the bigots who made him feel that way. I'm serious, it makes my blood boil. Bigotry has always been with us. The Jewish people are not alone, although possibly the most long lasting targets. (No, wait; gypsies). How can we as a species be so effing stupid?!

I need to go take the dogs for a long walk.

>>Sorry about your uncle. So much dark history there. I had apparently pushed it out of my mind until reading her obituary that Tamar's mom and her sisters escaped the Holocaust and that their parents died in Auschwitz. I love it that Tamar's mom is smiling in the picture and did so much good in her life. Including Tamar, obviously. We all come from somewhere.
>>
>>http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20091111_Ruth_Ezekiel__79__teacher_who_survived_Holocaust.html
>
>Very nice obituary. I don't have one on my uncle, but oddly enough, the Toronto star did a story on "The Boys of Major Street". I remember my grandmother's house on Major, but of course, I never knew that particular uncle. My mother was one of 9 kids, so I did have lots of uncles and aunts. Three of my mothers other brothers also served overseas in WWII, but fortunately they survived.
>
>http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/remembranceday/article/724096--remembrance-day-the-boys-of-major-street
>
>My uncle is the bottom right photo (Arthur Gold). His real name was Abe Goldenthal, but he changed it when he enlisted because he thought 'Arthur Gold' sounded less Jewish. My mother said she didn't know the others in the photos, but she did know Greenberg as a kid working his way through school in a pharmacy before enlisting.
>
>
>>
>>I know what you mean about only being able to take too much. "The Good Soldiers" is a deeply disturbing book, make no mistake about it. Even after recommending it I have put it on the half-read stack (not to be confused with the to be read soon stack and the good for you doorstop biography stack and the quirky young writer stack).
>>
>>>Thanks. I'll read that, but it's going to have to wait a bit. I was just reading a book on Ortona (the Stalingrad of Italy - WWII). It's where my uncle was killed. He didn't die in the battle, but he was killed afterward apparently digging a trench where he hit an unexploded shell (a day after his birthday).
>>>
>>>I can only take just so much of that sort of reading at one time, but I'll look for the book and pick it up for later reading.
>>>
>>>>I have been reading a lot lately and will try to contribute posts here regularly in hope of invigorating this section. Mostly I read fiction, lots of escapist fare lately, but this recommendation is about a nonfiction book.
>>>>
>>>>Today's book is "The Good Soldiers" by David Finkel. He spent nearly a year with an Army battalion, the 2-16, deployed to one of the most dangerous areas of Baghdad in 2007 as part of the surge. It is not a political book or a should-we-or-shouldn't-we-have polemic. It is a grunt's view of everyday life in a war zone.
>>>>
>>>>The most vivid impact it made on me was to dispel my belief that this has been a peacekeeping mission, much less a gentle phaseout. Our soldiers still come back in boxes and we are still distrusted by the people we claim to be saving. The mission has been much uglier than most of us have understood. Kudos to David Finkel for making it specific.
>>>>
>>>>This is not a pleasant book to read. It's easy reading in a way, so don't fear you will be under the dead hand of one of those interminable historians. But it's real life, real people you care about. (Not much difference between fiction and nonfiction there). Just warning you that this book will affect you, and not necessarily pleasantly.
>>>>
>>>>Here is an early passage which IMO illustrates the flavor of the book.
>>>>
>>>>"Point made, the project resumed. Still, on June 5, Kamaliyah was a long way from having sewers, which meant that the trenches were filled to their rims as a convoy pulled out of their COP on a lights-out mission to rendezvous with an informant.
>>>>
>>>>"'Go right! Go right!' one of the soldiers in the last Humvee yelled to the driver, who was fiddling with his night-vision goggles, or NODs, as they rounded a corner, but it was too late.
>>>>
>>>>"The Humvee began to slide into the trench. Then it flipped. Then it sank. Then it began filling up.
>>>>
>>>>"Four of the soldiers scrambled out a door and got out of the trench relatively dry, but the gunner was trapped inside. 'He was yelling,' Staff Sergeant Arthur Enriquez would remember afterward, and if there was any hesitation about what to do next, it was only because, 'I didn't want to jump in the poo water'.
>>>>
>>>>"And then?
>>>>
>>>>"'I jumped into the damn poo water.'
>>>>
>>>>"Down he went, into the crew compartment, where the gunner was stuck in his harness straps, his partly in the sewage water, which continued to seep in. Enriquez got one arm around the gunner and lifted his head higher, and with his other hand began cuting away the straps. Now he and the gunner were nearly submerged as he pushed the straps away and began pulling at the gunner's armor away. He squeezed his eyes shut. He wondered how long he could hold his breath. He felt for the gunner's waist and began pulling. Everything was slippery. He tried again. He got the gunner to the door. He kept pulling, and slipping, and pulling, and now they were out the door, out of the Humvee, out of the sewage, and up on the bank, and that's how this month of hopeful signs began for the 2-16, with two soldiers wiping raw Iraqi sewage out of their eyes and ears and spitting it out of their mouths."
>>>>
>>>>The only complaint I could issue against that passage is that the soldiers are not identified by name. It is an anomaly in that regard. The power of the book is that you do get to know them by name, by hometown, by likes, dislikes and quirks. (Sort of like here <g>, only a whole lot more serious). The last few pages are snapshots of the 2-16 soldiers who died on their mission. So far.
>>>>
>>>>Page 108: Two pictures, not graphic, captioned "The death of James Harrelson." Page 283: James Harrelson alive.
>>>>
>>>>As is often the case, I am a few days late for the party. In late tribute to Veterans Day, to all our vets and currently deployed soldiers, thank you.