Hy Wakstein papers

Collection — Container: Single Folder Collections - 2002 Box 15 (02.0400-02.0424), Folder: 02.0409 - Folder 1

Identifier: 02.0409

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Hy Wakstein was a Jewish American serviceman who reached the rank of Staff Sergeant with the 778th Anti-Aircraft-Automatic Weapons Battalion, Self Propelled, (served 1943-46) and discusses his experiences as an Army communications officer in the European theater of World War II in this oral history transcript. Wakstein participated in the Battle of the Bulge, and his division advanced further east into Germany than any other American division.

Dates

Created: 1943-1946
Other: Date acquired: 07/11/2001

Creator

Wakstein, Hy, 1922-2013 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to all researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Biographical or Historical Information

Hy Wakstein was born in 1922. He was drafted in February 1943 as a Jewish American serviceman from New Jersey. He trained at Camp Haan, California as a Communications (Radio Operations) Officer for the 778th Anti-Aircraft-Automatic Weapons Battalion, Self Propelled (778th AAA-AW [BN] SP). His unit served in the 3rd Army under General George S. Patton which fought through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. They were sent to save the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions that were surrounded at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and ended the war in Dresden, Germany. There, Mr. Wakstein met some Russian soldiers. He went to "American University" in Shrivenham, England for a college semester of coursework, while he was still a part of his unit (they kept daily radio communications) while they were stationed in Munich, Germany as a part of the Army of Occupation. He shipped back home in March 1946 out of Bremerhaven, Germany, and was sent off by General Dwight Eisenhower. He also participated in the liberation of concentration camps like Buchenwald and interrogated some of the German officers in charge there. His unit shot down between 22 to 55 German planes during the war. Hy Wakstein passed away in 2013.