Staff Sergeant Bernard I. Friedenberg was with the Medical detachment of the 1st Battalion, 16th Regiment in the 1st Infantry Division. He was born in Philadelphia in 1921. He has an older sister. His father was a merchant in the floor covering business. Friedenberg helped his father as much as he could while he was growing up. His family moved from Philadelphia to Atlantic City when he was a small boy. Friedenberg and attended high school there. He loves Atlantic City and has lived there all his life. The home that he shares with his clever wife, Phyllis, was built by them based on her ideas and plans. Friedenberg has always had a boat and an airplane. He learned to fly after he was discharged from the Army. He did so well that he became a flight instructor.

Bernard Friedenberg had his basic training at Fort Hancock. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, he was working with his father in his place of business. Young Friedenberg became very angry. He wanted to fight so he enlisted. He was turned down several times by the recruiters but kept returning. He fought hard to get in the Army. He fought as hard to get in as others were fighting to keep out. He enlisted early in the war. After basic, he was shipped overseas. He served in North Africa in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. He was in North Africa for a short time. He liked the girls there. Other than that, there was nothing particularly outstanding about being there. He did what he was supposed to do while he was in charge of an aid station. He had men who reported to him. Friedenberg took care of men coming in for sick call. If he could not take care of the case, he referred them to the doctor. It was on the job training. That was when there was no combat. In combat, he was with Headquarters Company [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division]. As soon as there was a wounded man, Friedenberg went out to tend them. He was supposed to send men out as litter bearers, but he chose to personally tend to the wounded. There was tough fighting at Kasserine Pass and El Guettar. It was hot during the day and cold at night. Friedenberg lived in a hole in the ground during that time. In July [Annotator's Note: July 1943], he left North Africa to land in Sicily. Friedenberg was always the first man off the landing craft during the amphibious invasions. He led his men off the boat. He immediately attended to the nearby wounded. He was very good at first aid, but his primary responsibility was evacuation of the wounded. He carried some medical supplies with him such as bandages and sulfa powder to treat the injured. It was urgent to get the wounded on a litter, and get them to the rear to receive more attention. He was first on the scene of the fight. He was first to see the results of war. He never got used to seeing the carnage. He cried for the men he could not treat. Friedenberg was very dedicated. He focused on saving as many lives as he could. He saved many lives by going from one man to the next when they called out for a medic. He was wounded twice while treating others who had been injured.

Bernard Friedenberg trained for the invasion of Europe after the invasion of Sicily. He landed at Omaha Beach and Gela. During the ride into the beach, the men kept their heads down. It was difficult getting down from the ship to the landing craft. If a leg was caught between the hull and the landing craft, it would be crushed. The seas were rough that day. The men were packed shoulder to shoulder in the landing craft. It was crowded. Friedenberg felt he was goofy at that point. He was a dedicated soldier and good with first aid. He saved a lot of soldiers. He positioned himself at the front of the landing craft so that, when the ramp went down, he could lead his men into the fight. The plan had been to offload the troops in waist deep water, but it was much deeper. The water was over his head. He was carrying a heavy load. They had been told that all they would have was what they could carry in with them. He carried medical supplies in addition to his regular gear. It was a hairy experience but there was no turning back. The troops had to go inland. Friedenberg did not get far because wounded were immediately everywhere. There were men calling for a medic and he had to respond. He went from one injured man to the next. The 29th Infantry Division was on the flank of the 1st Infantry Division so Friedenberg treated those troops too. He saw the division patches that identified each soldier to his particular division. There were bouncing Betty minefields. The mine had two explosions. The first lifted the mine to waist high and the second exploded the bomb at a soldier’s midsection. Friedenberg survived being hit by one of those type mines even though he was wounded. The explosion spread sufficiently in a different direction to preclude him receiving a fatal wound. Mine fields were marked off but Friedenberg had to treat wounded within the danger zone. He was lucky that he did not step on a mine. They were plentiful. When he saw a casualty, he went to him to dress his wounds. He would then go to the next man and never really had a direction or knew where he was. He was awarded a Silver Star twice for gallantry in action beyond the call of duty. He also received the Bronze Star twice though he did not know why. He always felt that he was only doing his duty. His citation says that Friedenberg was an inspiration to the others surrounding him. The other men were taking cover while Friedenberg was in the open treating the injured. He could have gotten in a hole and stayed there, but there were too many wounded men to allow him to do so. As he worked on one man, he heard others calling for help. He ran from one to another and another. The beach was loaded with casualties. At the end of the first day, he was exhausted. The whole day had been strenuous. He carried men out of the minefield that day. He was determined to do what he could to patch up the wounded. His main job after the beach was secured was to get the wounded to cover. Afterward, he would use litter bearers assigned to him to get the wounded to other locations for better attention. He did not know what happened to those men that he saved. Some had amputations and some lost limbs. One of his assistants was Arthur Tousar [Annotator’s Note: unsure of spelling] who was a subordinate to Friedenberg. Tousar and his family lived in Mays Landing [Annotator’s Note: Mays Landing, New Jersey]. The man was gay but not openly. He did his job. That was all that mattered to Friedenberg. Being gay was the man’s choice and did not bother Friedenberg. Friedenberg was trained to do what he did that day. He was dedicated but he was exhausted. The hedgerows came next in the fighting. They were waist high in some places. Friedenberg was so busy that he did not know whether the fighting was more difficult or not in that next stage. He carried a pistol that had been given to him. It probably had been picked up from a wounded soldier. Friedenberg wore his Red Cross band. Some did not keep it on but he did.

Bernard Friedenberg fought in the Battle of the Bulge in late December [Annotator’s Note: December 1944]. Friedenberg went out on patrols during that action. He and his unit were cut off behind enemy lines at one point. He found shelter in a farm house. He took advantage of any shelter he could find. He kept his cool and thought ahead. He kept his cover and saved a lot of lives. The battle ended in January. Friedenberg was in charge of all the medics on the line. He served as an aid man, too. He was always cool in combat. Now, he wonders how he managed to be so. He was always aware of his circumstances. He was well trained and picked up a lot by experience. He took advantage of every bit of cover he could find. Phil Cahill was wounded while he was in the farmhouse. Some of the men had to be left because a German Tiger tank approached them. The Tiger was an accurate, fast moving artillery vehicle. None of the days were very pleasant during combat. On 27 December, a patrol was caught in the open by a German machine gun position. Friedenberg played dead to avoid being shot. The thing that bothered him the most about that incident was that he could not get to some of the wounded. The enemy gun position had them pinned down. Six of the wounded died that day as a result. There was nothing he could do to help them. It was a cold winter during that battle.

Bernard Friedenberg fought at Aachen, Germany on the Siegfried Line. He was doing the same thing over and over again as a medic. It was the same as he had done in numerous battles beforehand. Aachen involved street to street fighting. A German Tiger tank was involved in some of the action. The next action was in a small town outside of Aachen called Munsterbusch [Annotator’s Note: unsure of spelling]. It was difficult fighting. That was the location where Friedenberg was awarded his second Silver Star. He was commended for his fearless efforts in treating the wounded. Friedenberg could not understand why he was not killed. He was a skilled soldier and trained well. During his time at an aid station in Aachen, he came in contact with a German woman who had a son who needed help. By the time Friedenberg reached the boy, the German had died. Friedenberg treated Germans that he came in contact with. He would treat all the Americans first but could not pass the enemy who needed treatment. He looked on the Germans soldiers as the enemy. Aachen was a big city and, with the street to street fighting, the battle lasted about a month. There was always plenty of wounded and Friedenberg stayed busy with helping the men. There was never much down time since he was right up on the front. They were considered crack troops and were always in the action. There was never much time to get too close to any fellow troops. He made friends but men moved on or got killed or wounded. There were some friends who he was drawn to but no particular friendships were long lasting. He did not reach out to any of them after the war. He was wounded twice by shell fragments. The first piece of shrapnel creased his helmet and scarred his head. The second wound was in his back. All the combat seemed like one big event rather than individual incidents. There was a lot of hiking on foot. Friedenberg was strong and husky and young. His stamina was good. He overextended himself at times. He was incredibly lucky. He received his first payday in Germany but did not know what to do with the money. There were always women and he got his share. Seeing street lights made him nervous because it made him visible to enemy shooters. Since Friedenberg was right up on the front, he never saw toilets. He would dig a hole; do his business and cover it up. He never went hungry because of C and K rations. They would be eaten cold and were not too bad. There was always canned stew, beans or hash. In Czechoslovakia, there were encounters with SS troops but then his unit returned to Germany. That was where he was when the war ended. The men never really knew what border they had crossed. During occupation duty in Germany, he was very close to a girl named Greta. They had a beautiful, physical romance. They fell in love for a period of time until they had to move on. After combat, it was nice to have a female to be close to.

Bernard Friedenberg passed through Camp Lucky Strike on his way home after the war. He remembers passing the Statue of Liberty when he returned home. He was happy to see it. After Fort Kilmer and Fort Dix, he received his discharge. He returned to his home. He was glad to be home in the United States. The effort he made in World War II was worth it. He still has vivid memories of those experiences. The first thing that comes to his mind when he looks back is always the dramatic amputations he witnessed. Most were due to shell fire. He was the first man on the scene for guys who had lost an arm and a leg. It was tough. He looked at the injured and would have to quickly decide where to start. He did not have a hard time when he returned. He was glad he did not have to go back to the war. He used to have repetitive nightmares. They have not occurred so much as the years went on. The German artillery fire was what bothered him the most in his dreams. There was no way to get away from it. Friedenberg returned to Omaha Beach. It did not look the same. It was all cleaned up compared to that day of the invasion. The people treated him very well. They were grateful. Friedenberg would not change anything that he did. He was thrown into a place where men were being killed and crippled. He could only do so much as a medic. He was a dedicated soldier. He wanted to fight. He was angry at the Germans. He saw the concentration camps and got mad all over again. That was his motivation for being an angry Jew after seeing the camps. He wanted to fight back. He wanted to fight. He did. He could not believe that human beings would treat each other that way. The prisoners of the Americans were treated well as opposed to the way the Germans treated their prisoners. The whole thing in Germany is amazing. Friedenberg cannot believe what happened to him during his World War II experience. Upon his return, he almost missed the action. He was accustomed to it. The way he acted and behaved showed that he was a perfect soldier. He had the citations and medals to show it. It was nice to get the medals, but, eventually, he gave them away to others.