CPL. Jack Dorfman
U.S. Army – Special Assignments
101st Airborne Division
53rd Airborne Infantry Regiment – Company G
2nd Army Headquarters, Ft Meade, MD
September 18,1952- September 17,195
U.S. Army – Special Assignments
101st Airborne Division
53rd Airborne Infantry Regiment – Company G
2nd Army Headquarters, Ft Meade, MD
September 18,1952- September 17,195
Jack Dorfman was born in a Manhattan hospital on August 7th, 1930. He and his brother grew up on Montgomery Ave. in the Bronx during the Depression. “My father had a job as the branch manager for the Public National Bank. We had a car; we had maid service; we had someone who operated the elevator...we had all of that. Where my father fell behind was after the war ended”. His salary didn’t keep pace with the rising costs and as money got tight the family had to move to a more modest apartment and scale back in other areas. “He put food on the table and clothing on our back and took care of the medical bills but there was no extra”.
Jack attended Dewitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and graduated in June of 1948. He went on to attend Long Island University to pursue a degree in Finance and Retail Distribution. While Jack was at LIU he received a letter from the draft board in early 1951 advising him to report to 20 Whitehall Street in Manhattan that June to take an exam given by the military. If he passed the exam he would be permitted to complete his senior year in college. Jack was worried he wouldn’t pass the exam, would be immediately inducted and wouldn’t be able to complete college. When Jack sat down to take the exam, he found all of the questions to be exceptionally easy. So much so, he thought it might be a trick. He completed the exam and went home. He was exhausted from worry and told his friend he was too tired to go to the big party on Saturday evening. His friend begged him to come and promised that if he wasn’t having a good time by 10pm they would leave.
Meanwhile on Webster Ave. on the other side of the Bronx Constance Safer, Connie to her parents and friends, was deciding if she should go to her best friend’s birthday party. Connie had spent the day at the beach and forgot to use her Coppertone and got a terrible sunburn. Her mother didn’t want her to sit at home on a Saturday night and gave her $1.00 for cab fare to the party. Connie arrived at the party and settled in. Then she saw Jack and thought, “gee, he looks good”. Jack sat down and Connie slowly scooted her way over toward Jack and said, “do you have a cigarette”? Jack didn’t know Connie didn’t smoke and he gave her a cigarette and said, “you don’t look old enough to smoke”. At the end of the evening Jack offered to drive her home and asked for Connie’s phone number. Connie said sure and asked if he had a pen and paper. Jack said no and Connie refused to give him her number because she was sure he would forget, and she would be sitting around waiting for a phone call that was never going to come. Jack said, “nobody goes to a party with a pen and paper”. Connie gave him her phone number which Jack remembers 73 years later, “Fordham 4-7821”. If they remake the movie When Harry Met Sally Jack and Connie should be in it.
“I really fell hard, and he really fell hard” Connie recalled. Jack was 21 and a senior in college and taken aback when he found out Connie was 17 and a half and a senior in high school. The kids dated seriously while they both finished up their schooling. Jack graduated from LIU in June of 1952 and in September he received his draft notice. Jack told Connie, “if I make it back from Korea, I’m going to marry you”.
September 18th, 1952, Jack headed back to Whitehall Street where he went through the induction process. Jack sat down to talk with a Sargeant Major and he said to Jack, “I see you have a college degree, and you worked for four years while in college. I never saw someone graduate in four years and work full time”. Jack asked, “you want to hear the whole story or just part of the story”? The Sargeant wanted the whole story. Somewhat reminiscent of the song Alice’s Restaurant, Jack proceeded to tell the Sargent how he was a supply expert for a women’s retailer, but he was really hired to play on their softball team. The disbelieving Sargeant Major moved Jack along to the next line.
Jack moved to the next line where it would be determined if he went to the Army or the Marines. Jack noticed that every other recruit was being sent to the Marines. The man in front of Jack had his papers stamped Army. Jack did not want to go to the Marines and was concerned he would not survive boot camp at Parris Island. Just as Jack reached the front of the line the phone rang and the Sargeant answered. Two minutes later the called ended and the Sargeant asked, “where was I”? Jack said, “you sent the last guy to the Marines”. The Sargeant stamped Jack’s papers Army. “That’s the first bit of good luck I had other than meeting Connie”.
Jack and the rest of the men stamped “Army” boarded a bus and headed to Camp Kilmer in New Jersey. There the men were issued a duffle bag, an assortment of uniforms and given a battery of vaccinations. Everyone was assigned a job and Jack was assigned to “KP”. His next bit of good luck came on his second day when he was mopping the floor and ran into a Major General and another man dressed in all black. The man in black walked over to Jack, looked at his dog tags, noted that Jack was Jewish and told the Major General, ‘This is a Jewish solider and he should not be on duty today. Today is the first day of Rosh Hashanah. He should be home with his family. I want you to issue an order that no Jewish soldier should be on duty tomorrow because it is the second day of Rosh Hashanah”. The man in black walked away mumbling something that Jack could not hear. Jack looked at the Major General and asked, “Sir, who is that?” That was Francis Cardinal Spellman, Vicar General of the U.S. Army. “Sir, what was he mumbling”? “He was saying a prayer that you should not be killed in service”.
The fully outfitted new recruits headed off for boot camp. After a 40 hour train ride and a profitable poker game the train arrived at Camp Breckenridge in Morganfield, KY. Jack was issued a rifle “but they didn’t give you any bullets”. For the next six weeks the day started early and was filled with marching, hiking and a variety training. At this time the Korean War was raging on, and the word came down that Thanksgiving leave was cancelled. The pace and intensity of training picked up and although Jack couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with his rifle, he found he was accurate with the mortar. Jack was hoping he would not be sent to Camp Benning to prepare to deploy to Korea. He learned there was an opening in Supply at Camp Breckenridge and he was being recommended to fill the spot. In the 12th week of training Jack received orders to report to Japan with the likelihood of going on to Korea. It was well known that Jack would have a hard time defending himself based on his poor marksmanship. Three weeks later, just before he was to ship out, there was divine intervention and Jack’s orders were rescinded, and he was reassigned to Supply.
Although Jack was happy he did not have to go to Korea, he felt guilty. “I did the same training as the other guys. They went and I didn’t”. After the 15 week training period the men had formed tight bonds during their training and now they were all going there different ways. Initially Jack found himself lonely and feeling guilty he didn’t go to Korea with the other men.
Jack reported to the company Supply depot at Camp Breckenridge in January of 1953 and was informed by an onery Lieutenant that he was going to be the new company clerk. Now with the knowledge he was not deploying, Jack called Connie and said, “we’re getting married. Arrange it”. Jack came home on a three-day pass and on March 8th of 1953 the couple was married. Together they headed back to Camp Breckenridge.
When they arrived back at Camp Breckenridge they moved into their off base housing. Back in 1953 Jim Crow was still enforced in southern states like Kentucky. It was a real eye-opener for two kids from the Bronx, NY.
Jack was told to report to Headquarters Company. When he checked in with his unit Jack learned he was going to be assigned to a top-secret project and was sworn to secrecy. He and three others worked on this project for four months. When the project was completed all four men were promoted to Corporal and because of their outstanding performance the Army gave them the choice of their next duty station. Jack put in for California and San Antonio, Texas hoping he and Connie would get to see some of the United States outside of the Northeast. But when his orders arrived, he learned he was headed to Ft. Meade in Maryland.
The couple arrived in Baltimore by train. Jack met his new boss, Sargeant Major Raymond LaFontaine, who was in charge and one of the nastiest human beings Jack had ever met. However, when Sear’s refused to extend credit to Jack and Connie, Sargeant La Fontaine stepped in and soon the couple’s apartment was fully outfitted courtesy of the U.S Army. More good luck.
Sargeant Major LaFontaine advised Jack he was being assigned to training aids group. His responsibilities included sweeping the floor and putting hand tools away. Jack told him that he didn’t know one tool from the other. The other soldiers asked how he made it through life not knowing how to use tools. “We called the super” replied Jack. The Sargeant Major reassigned Jack to the mess hall which was equipped to serve 9,000 soldiers each day. Camp Breckenridge was a transitory base. Soldiers attended boot camp and also out processed at the end of their tour of duty.
Jack heard they were hiring stenographers and told Connie. Connie took the test and passed easily. She was assigned to the medical section of the 2nd Army. The girls she worked with got a big laugh listening to Connie’s Bronx accent.
In his capacity as company clerk for the mess hall operation, Jack quickly learned the black-market network of bartering within the Army. Jack had access to food which was an extra special currency that could pave the way for a lot of favors, weekend passes, MP’s looking the other way and more.
At the conclusion of the fighting in Korean the U.S. began to receive it’s POW’s back. Jack learned that there would be 300 POWs coming to the base. Jack was also told that the POWs couldn’t have ice cream and milk because their diet in captivity has been so restrictive their digestive systems were still adjusting to food. Jack didn’t want to be the person standing between a POW and their ice cream. He told the servers not to tell the POWs there was ice cream and make them ask for it. “But if they ask for it give it to them”. Jack was awake all night worrying that the POWs would eat the ice cream and get sick. The next morning, he was relieved to find out no POWs reported to sick call.
When Jack left the Army, he took a job as a salesman with a plumbing supply company. Jack got a break when he was accepted as a trainee at Bankers Trust where he went through credit training, honed his credit skills and began a career in commercial lending. Later he followed his boss to the National Bank of North America. Jack was a loan officer during the 1960’s through the early 1990’s when personal relationships were of greater importance in making lending decisions and knowing your client was an integral part of managing banking relationships. Jack’s personality was perfectly suited for this role. Jack left banking in 1993 to start his own business handling loan workouts for banks. After a successful ten-year career Jack retired at the age of 74 in 2004.
Jack and Connie are enjoying retirement and spend time with their three children, seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren. They are looking forward to their 72nd wedding anniversary this year and good luck follows Jack and Connie.
Jack Dorfman’s military career was both colorful and funny. It provided many stories that could serve as the basis for scripts for Gomer Pyle, Seinfeld, Biloxi Blues and MASH. Jack served his country and did what the Army asked him to do. Jack, we thank you for keeping all of the GI’s feed and not holding back on the ice cream…and I guess Sargent Major Raymond LaFontaine wasn’t all that bad!
Jack attended Dewitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and graduated in June of 1948. He went on to attend Long Island University to pursue a degree in Finance and Retail Distribution. While Jack was at LIU he received a letter from the draft board in early 1951 advising him to report to 20 Whitehall Street in Manhattan that June to take an exam given by the military. If he passed the exam he would be permitted to complete his senior year in college. Jack was worried he wouldn’t pass the exam, would be immediately inducted and wouldn’t be able to complete college. When Jack sat down to take the exam, he found all of the questions to be exceptionally easy. So much so, he thought it might be a trick. He completed the exam and went home. He was exhausted from worry and told his friend he was too tired to go to the big party on Saturday evening. His friend begged him to come and promised that if he wasn’t having a good time by 10pm they would leave.
Meanwhile on Webster Ave. on the other side of the Bronx Constance Safer, Connie to her parents and friends, was deciding if she should go to her best friend’s birthday party. Connie had spent the day at the beach and forgot to use her Coppertone and got a terrible sunburn. Her mother didn’t want her to sit at home on a Saturday night and gave her $1.00 for cab fare to the party. Connie arrived at the party and settled in. Then she saw Jack and thought, “gee, he looks good”. Jack sat down and Connie slowly scooted her way over toward Jack and said, “do you have a cigarette”? Jack didn’t know Connie didn’t smoke and he gave her a cigarette and said, “you don’t look old enough to smoke”. At the end of the evening Jack offered to drive her home and asked for Connie’s phone number. Connie said sure and asked if he had a pen and paper. Jack said no and Connie refused to give him her number because she was sure he would forget, and she would be sitting around waiting for a phone call that was never going to come. Jack said, “nobody goes to a party with a pen and paper”. Connie gave him her phone number which Jack remembers 73 years later, “Fordham 4-7821”. If they remake the movie When Harry Met Sally Jack and Connie should be in it.
“I really fell hard, and he really fell hard” Connie recalled. Jack was 21 and a senior in college and taken aback when he found out Connie was 17 and a half and a senior in high school. The kids dated seriously while they both finished up their schooling. Jack graduated from LIU in June of 1952 and in September he received his draft notice. Jack told Connie, “if I make it back from Korea, I’m going to marry you”.
September 18th, 1952, Jack headed back to Whitehall Street where he went through the induction process. Jack sat down to talk with a Sargeant Major and he said to Jack, “I see you have a college degree, and you worked for four years while in college. I never saw someone graduate in four years and work full time”. Jack asked, “you want to hear the whole story or just part of the story”? The Sargeant wanted the whole story. Somewhat reminiscent of the song Alice’s Restaurant, Jack proceeded to tell the Sargent how he was a supply expert for a women’s retailer, but he was really hired to play on their softball team. The disbelieving Sargeant Major moved Jack along to the next line.
Jack moved to the next line where it would be determined if he went to the Army or the Marines. Jack noticed that every other recruit was being sent to the Marines. The man in front of Jack had his papers stamped Army. Jack did not want to go to the Marines and was concerned he would not survive boot camp at Parris Island. Just as Jack reached the front of the line the phone rang and the Sargeant answered. Two minutes later the called ended and the Sargeant asked, “where was I”? Jack said, “you sent the last guy to the Marines”. The Sargeant stamped Jack’s papers Army. “That’s the first bit of good luck I had other than meeting Connie”.
Jack and the rest of the men stamped “Army” boarded a bus and headed to Camp Kilmer in New Jersey. There the men were issued a duffle bag, an assortment of uniforms and given a battery of vaccinations. Everyone was assigned a job and Jack was assigned to “KP”. His next bit of good luck came on his second day when he was mopping the floor and ran into a Major General and another man dressed in all black. The man in black walked over to Jack, looked at his dog tags, noted that Jack was Jewish and told the Major General, ‘This is a Jewish solider and he should not be on duty today. Today is the first day of Rosh Hashanah. He should be home with his family. I want you to issue an order that no Jewish soldier should be on duty tomorrow because it is the second day of Rosh Hashanah”. The man in black walked away mumbling something that Jack could not hear. Jack looked at the Major General and asked, “Sir, who is that?” That was Francis Cardinal Spellman, Vicar General of the U.S. Army. “Sir, what was he mumbling”? “He was saying a prayer that you should not be killed in service”.
The fully outfitted new recruits headed off for boot camp. After a 40 hour train ride and a profitable poker game the train arrived at Camp Breckenridge in Morganfield, KY. Jack was issued a rifle “but they didn’t give you any bullets”. For the next six weeks the day started early and was filled with marching, hiking and a variety training. At this time the Korean War was raging on, and the word came down that Thanksgiving leave was cancelled. The pace and intensity of training picked up and although Jack couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with his rifle, he found he was accurate with the mortar. Jack was hoping he would not be sent to Camp Benning to prepare to deploy to Korea. He learned there was an opening in Supply at Camp Breckenridge and he was being recommended to fill the spot. In the 12th week of training Jack received orders to report to Japan with the likelihood of going on to Korea. It was well known that Jack would have a hard time defending himself based on his poor marksmanship. Three weeks later, just before he was to ship out, there was divine intervention and Jack’s orders were rescinded, and he was reassigned to Supply.
Although Jack was happy he did not have to go to Korea, he felt guilty. “I did the same training as the other guys. They went and I didn’t”. After the 15 week training period the men had formed tight bonds during their training and now they were all going there different ways. Initially Jack found himself lonely and feeling guilty he didn’t go to Korea with the other men.
Jack reported to the company Supply depot at Camp Breckenridge in January of 1953 and was informed by an onery Lieutenant that he was going to be the new company clerk. Now with the knowledge he was not deploying, Jack called Connie and said, “we’re getting married. Arrange it”. Jack came home on a three-day pass and on March 8th of 1953 the couple was married. Together they headed back to Camp Breckenridge.
When they arrived back at Camp Breckenridge they moved into their off base housing. Back in 1953 Jim Crow was still enforced in southern states like Kentucky. It was a real eye-opener for two kids from the Bronx, NY.
Jack was told to report to Headquarters Company. When he checked in with his unit Jack learned he was going to be assigned to a top-secret project and was sworn to secrecy. He and three others worked on this project for four months. When the project was completed all four men were promoted to Corporal and because of their outstanding performance the Army gave them the choice of their next duty station. Jack put in for California and San Antonio, Texas hoping he and Connie would get to see some of the United States outside of the Northeast. But when his orders arrived, he learned he was headed to Ft. Meade in Maryland.
The couple arrived in Baltimore by train. Jack met his new boss, Sargeant Major Raymond LaFontaine, who was in charge and one of the nastiest human beings Jack had ever met. However, when Sear’s refused to extend credit to Jack and Connie, Sargeant La Fontaine stepped in and soon the couple’s apartment was fully outfitted courtesy of the U.S Army. More good luck.
Sargeant Major LaFontaine advised Jack he was being assigned to training aids group. His responsibilities included sweeping the floor and putting hand tools away. Jack told him that he didn’t know one tool from the other. The other soldiers asked how he made it through life not knowing how to use tools. “We called the super” replied Jack. The Sargeant Major reassigned Jack to the mess hall which was equipped to serve 9,000 soldiers each day. Camp Breckenridge was a transitory base. Soldiers attended boot camp and also out processed at the end of their tour of duty.
Jack heard they were hiring stenographers and told Connie. Connie took the test and passed easily. She was assigned to the medical section of the 2nd Army. The girls she worked with got a big laugh listening to Connie’s Bronx accent.
In his capacity as company clerk for the mess hall operation, Jack quickly learned the black-market network of bartering within the Army. Jack had access to food which was an extra special currency that could pave the way for a lot of favors, weekend passes, MP’s looking the other way and more.
At the conclusion of the fighting in Korean the U.S. began to receive it’s POW’s back. Jack learned that there would be 300 POWs coming to the base. Jack was also told that the POWs couldn’t have ice cream and milk because their diet in captivity has been so restrictive their digestive systems were still adjusting to food. Jack didn’t want to be the person standing between a POW and their ice cream. He told the servers not to tell the POWs there was ice cream and make them ask for it. “But if they ask for it give it to them”. Jack was awake all night worrying that the POWs would eat the ice cream and get sick. The next morning, he was relieved to find out no POWs reported to sick call.
When Jack left the Army, he took a job as a salesman with a plumbing supply company. Jack got a break when he was accepted as a trainee at Bankers Trust where he went through credit training, honed his credit skills and began a career in commercial lending. Later he followed his boss to the National Bank of North America. Jack was a loan officer during the 1960’s through the early 1990’s when personal relationships were of greater importance in making lending decisions and knowing your client was an integral part of managing banking relationships. Jack’s personality was perfectly suited for this role. Jack left banking in 1993 to start his own business handling loan workouts for banks. After a successful ten-year career Jack retired at the age of 74 in 2004.
Jack and Connie are enjoying retirement and spend time with their three children, seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren. They are looking forward to their 72nd wedding anniversary this year and good luck follows Jack and Connie.
Jack Dorfman’s military career was both colorful and funny. It provided many stories that could serve as the basis for scripts for Gomer Pyle, Seinfeld, Biloxi Blues and MASH. Jack served his country and did what the Army asked him to do. Jack, we thank you for keeping all of the GI’s feed and not holding back on the ice cream…and I guess Sargent Major Raymond LaFontaine wasn’t all that bad!