Ira Schafer

Birthplace: New York City, New York

Branch of Service: Army

Unit: Artillery

Theater of Operation: European

Enlisted / Commissioned: Oct 15, 1943

Discharged: Sep 5, 1945

Honored By: Sons, Randy and Mark Schafer

I liked the army. It did some things for me I would never have done for myself. It taught me the value of an education. It taught me some values of life such as applying myself, which proved very valuable in my later college and professional careers. If I did not serve in the Army, I don’t know what I would have become. The morale was pretty good; we were winning the war by then. I made some good friends. I was in a hospital after the Battle of the Bulge and one of the guys near me dove under the bed when he heard a piper cub flying overhead. I remember coming home to Boston and the awful weather. I remember the excitement of visiting London on a weekend pass and the horrors of a V-1 raid. The Army did more for me than I did for the Army. Serving in the Army was a very positive, life-changing experience.