Lawrence Hoffman
Private 1st Class
US Army, Artillery
France, Germany, Belgium ’43-‘46
Private 1st Class
US Army, Artillery
France, Germany, Belgium ’43-‘46
Lawrence Hoffman. Born in Brooklyn in 1925 and lived most of his life in the Bronx. He entered the war in 1943 at the age of 18. He was given the choice of Europe or the Pacific and chose Europe. “I’m a Jew and they were killing Jews. I wanted to kill more of them than they killed of us.” He trained in Ft Bragg and then deployed from Boston to England.
He landed on Normandy at D Day +6. He was at the Battle of the Bulge and Bastogne. "I was in 5 Battles. We fought our way all the way to Belgium. The day after we got to Belgium, the Bulge started. They pushed us all the way back. We took back the territory and then fought into Germany and down to Munich or München as they call it."
"We liberated a couple of camps. I don't remember the names." From what he said about working his way south he may have liberated Buchenwald and Dachau. “The German people said they didn’t know anything about what was going on in the camps. But that was a lot of baloney. They knew all about it.”
His daughter wasn't aware of this until he gave his oral history to the Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas. I asked why he never told her. He said, "when the war was over, I didn't want to remember anything about it. You went and did what you had to do. I just left it over there. A lot of death." Mr. Hoffman is Jewish, so I imagine liberating those camps was particularly difficult.
He returned to the Bronx and was a NYC Cop and patrolled the Bronx for 21 years. "I enjoyed every minute of it. Back then every neighborhood was different. You had the Irish in one area, you had the Jewish in another neighborhood, the blacks in another neighborhood and the Italians in another neighborhood." "Everyone thinks the cops are there to chase you and lock you up. We did a lot of good things to help people. Notify parents, help with accidents, help get medical assistance. I loved helping people". He liked taking about being a cop.
Of all of the veterans Larry was the funniest. He was full of NYC wise cracks. But he was also the most-tight lipped. I told him I grew up in Astoria. He said, "Queens, yeah, pfffttt". I told him I would send him a picture, but it might take a little time. He said, " I don't have time, I'm 94!" I told him I'd move him to the top of the list. He said, " awright, that's betta".
He landed on Normandy at D Day +6. He was at the Battle of the Bulge and Bastogne. "I was in 5 Battles. We fought our way all the way to Belgium. The day after we got to Belgium, the Bulge started. They pushed us all the way back. We took back the territory and then fought into Germany and down to Munich or München as they call it."
"We liberated a couple of camps. I don't remember the names." From what he said about working his way south he may have liberated Buchenwald and Dachau. “The German people said they didn’t know anything about what was going on in the camps. But that was a lot of baloney. They knew all about it.”
His daughter wasn't aware of this until he gave his oral history to the Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas. I asked why he never told her. He said, "when the war was over, I didn't want to remember anything about it. You went and did what you had to do. I just left it over there. A lot of death." Mr. Hoffman is Jewish, so I imagine liberating those camps was particularly difficult.
He returned to the Bronx and was a NYC Cop and patrolled the Bronx for 21 years. "I enjoyed every minute of it. Back then every neighborhood was different. You had the Irish in one area, you had the Jewish in another neighborhood, the blacks in another neighborhood and the Italians in another neighborhood." "Everyone thinks the cops are there to chase you and lock you up. We did a lot of good things to help people. Notify parents, help with accidents, help get medical assistance. I loved helping people". He liked taking about being a cop.
Of all of the veterans Larry was the funniest. He was full of NYC wise cracks. But he was also the most-tight lipped. I told him I grew up in Astoria. He said, "Queens, yeah, pfffttt". I told him I would send him a picture, but it might take a little time. He said, " I don't have time, I'm 94!" I told him I'd move him to the top of the list. He said, " awright, that's betta".