Ed Koch - Standing Up

 

 

When I was 19, I was drafted. It was World War II, and I was sent to Spartanburg, South Carolina. And I was not a particularly physical kid. In fact, I had a tough time getting over the obstacle course. But I practiced. I'd go back at night at 5 o'clock and practice so I could get over the obstacle course. And the members of the platoon and company that I was a part of were from New York City. And about 25% of them were Jewish kids. They weren't very physical. [audience laughter] And 75% were kids from Hell's Kitchen and Clinton. I mean, it was a totally different, divisive environment for us. And when we had the day planned, they planned it for us, of course, [audience laughter] there would be seminars in addition to the physical aspects of it.

 

And with respect to the obstacle course, the 75% of us were much better than the 25% that I referred to. But when they came to map reading and a whole host of subjects that the Army wanted you to be proficient in, it was the Jewish kids who would either raise their hands and ask questions or get up and provide the answers. And the others were very unhappy. [audience laughter] And there came a point-- and basic training is 17 weeks in those days-- there came a point when every time a Jewish kid would get up and raise his hand, one of the others-- his name, peculiarly, I mean, it sounds so crazy because it's so Hollywood, his name was actually Jack LaRue-- [audience laughter] and when a Jewish kid would raise his hand, LaRue would say, "Who's the next Yid?" That was, he's going to raise his hand.

 

And that went on and seared my soul. I thought to myself, what can I do? I mean, I'm not very strong. This kid would [beep sound] out of me. But I said, I'm going to train myself. And I did. I tried to put myself into shape. And when the 15th week came-- there were two left-- and we're out in the field and there's a seminar. And the same thing happened. Jewish kid raised his hand, and Jack said, "Who's the next Yid?" And when the lecture was over, I went over to him and I grabbed him by the neck and I said, "When we get back to the battalion, we're going to have this out." And he didn't know what it was all about, because I could get over the obstacle course. He said, "What's wrong? What's wrong?" And I couldn't tell him what was wrong.

 

I said, "You know. You know." And then I could hear yelling around me and somebody yelling, "What's happening?" And somebody else yelled, "Come on over. They're going to kill the Jews." And we went back to the battalion, and it was really very gentlemanly [chuckles]. They had gloves, [audience laughter] and we had three rounds. And he knocked me down in each of the rounds. And I got up in each of the rounds. And there's no question but that he won the fight. But the moral of the story is there were two further weeks of basic training, and the seminars were part of it. And there was never, in the course of those two weeks, an antisemitic slur. And I felt I had done something. Thank you.