Eli
Levitt's Story by Miriam Levitt
My late father, Eli Levitt (Ela Kuschelewicz) of blessed memory,
told this story to me, about his best friend, who was a
pilot during World War II. Although my father also served
in the military, he was a member of the 29th Territorial
Rifle Corps, a Lithuanian infantry riflemen’s division
within the Red Army. My father was an accomplished marksman,
and served in the army for 7 years, before being discharged
due to suffering a crippling wound. He had been conscripted
at age 17. Interestingly, my son, Eric, who carries my
father’s name, is a medal winning marksman, including
being state collegiate champion, when he was the captain
of the Yale University International Skeet and Trap (Shotgun)
Team. Luckily, my son’s shooting experience has been
confined to sports, unlike his grandfather’s generation.
My
father told me stories about his service in combat, where he
was assigned
to shooting down German incendiary devices with
his “bix,” as he referred to his rifle. The devices
were dropped from aircraft, and parachuted slowly to the ground,
lighting up the territory with a shining torch before they exploded
on impact. The lights allowed the German pilots to accurately
place the next round above the vulnerable soldiers, who were
accustomed to moving under the cover of darkness. The devices
created much panic as they whirled, making a distinctive clacking
sound. (The US military is now equipped with spectacular night
vision devices that will hopefully give them a huge advantage,
if necessary). Back then, my father’s task was to shoot
the tiny German parachutes out of the sky in order to detonate
the devices before they reached the troops on the ground. He
was quite good at this, but as I said, this story is about his
friend, whom I will call Jakob (not his real name).
Jakob
was one of three brothers in an educated family of Lida. His
father
was a lawyer. Because of their position, Jakob was
able to study to become an engineer, and excelled in mathematics.
In addition to the Yiddish education that most children in Lida
received, he was proficient in Polish, and probably several other
languages as well. Just before Hitler invaded Poland, Jakob,
due to his technical abilities, was trained as a pilot by the
Polish military (I’m not certain if they knew he was Jewish).
Hitler’s invasion of Poland was a historic military rout,
with the Polish army being destroyed or captured in days. But
an air force cannot be captured.
Jakob,
then about 18 or 19 years old, was able to take to the air
in his
plane, which he flew to England. Imagine this teenager
flying his airplane over Europe and landing in the British Isles.
There, Jakob and his aircraft were absorbed into a special RAF
unit called the Polish Brigade. The Polish Brigade participated
in the Battle of Britain, providing air power for the defeat
of Hitler’s crusade for world domination. After the War,
Jewish refugees displaced from Eastern Europe were seen as a
big problem by the Allies, and we were confined to camps (I was
born in a camp in US occupied Germany). General George Patton
referred to us as “A particularly subhuman form of refugee.” As
you can tell by the story of heroic Jakob, he was far from “subhuman.” The
British government allowed him to emigrate to Canada, and he
was later able to legally enter the USA, where he now lives with
his family.
Miriam Mary Levitt (Mirjam Kuschelewicz)
Scarsdale, New York
2003
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