STEIN, BERNARD Dec 17, 1944 age 19 KIA Germany

BERNARD STEIN, b. July 6, 1925 Lithuania d. Dec 17, 1944 Missing in Action Germany

Pvt 36887012 Army 112^th Inf Reg 28 Inf Div First Army

Buried Arlington National Cemetery, Virg

 

Parents: Morris & Nina

Siblings: Evelyn (Eva)

The family were late arriving in the U.S., in time for the outbreak of war and Bernard’s being drafted. All were born in the Baltic area, countries constantly in flux as to what country had control – Lithuania, Russia, Latvia. They crossed into Detroit by the tunnel from Windsor on Feb 23, 1937. That made several trips previously going to visit Harry Stein who lived in the Old Redford neighborhood (Harry was the father of Meyer, another student named on the plaque). Morris himself arrived in New York 1929 from Bordeaux, then went to Canada. They went to work in the U.S. at Harry’s retail store Stein’s sited on the corner of Grand River and Lahser, formerly People’s State Bank Bldg.

 

They later purchased the 1939 built house at 22060 Karl, just a couple blocks north of the Redford Theater. The two-story house is a nice size at 1,200 sq ft; just sold for $92,000, nice price for the area.

1936 Debate Team - Bernard back row left end

Bernard’s was very active in high school and he was an honor student when he graduated in 1942. He was attending Wayne  University in 1943 when he registered for the draft July 6, 1943 at age 18 at 160 lbs, 5’9” with brown hair and brown eyes.

Bernard entered the army and in fall of 1944 the 28^th Division was fighting in the Hürtgen Forest where they suffered excessive casualties in a costly and ill-conceived battle. In mid December  the 112^th Regiment was selected to occupy a ‘quiet sector’ of the Allied front so they could get some needed rest and build up their fighting strength. This was the Ardennes - in the month of December all hell broke loose. Enemy artillery and mortars ripped into the division’s 25 mile line. Fanatic German Wehrmacht elements threw themselves at the 28^th Infantry immediately after barrages as they attempted to throw back the Allies in a tremendous counter-thrust.  It was the Battle of the Bulge, one of the largest battles in world history, a last all-out counter offensive attempt by the Third Reich.

 

 The National Jewish Welfare Board in 1946 documents his death and burial in Arlington. The address given for Mr & Mrs Stein is in Arlington, VA. Daughter Evelyn was a WAVE serving in Washington D.C. at the time so it may have been her apartment address.

 

 

There are no black students on the memorial plaque but there is one woman and two Jewish men. There were deed restrictions in some neighborhoods against selling to ‘colored people’ which lasted through the 1950’s. A promotional brochure published in the 1920’s for Redford Village stated that the community didn’t have ‘Mediterranean types’; a new Rosedale Park subdivision advertised it was ‘well restricted’. The Redford ‘Phoenix’ Golf Course was established 1914 by Jewish businessmen, including architect Albert Kahn, as they weren’t allowed in the other country clubs.