For Arno Heller, 91, of Rego Park, the road to receiving one of the highest-ranking medals awarded to a soldier was along one—one that was 68 years in the making.
Heller was born in October 1920 in Hamburg, Germany, where he lived in his Jewish household with his mother, Paula, his father, Emil, and his sister, Ingrid. Life growing up was simple, with sports and school filling his youthful days.
“[Hamburg] was just like any place else in the world,” Heller said.
That changed in his teenage years, when the Nazi party rose to power in Germany and began persecuting its Jewish population. With little time to spare, Heller and his sister were given visas and immigrated to the safe shores of New York’s Upper West Side in 1939, where they stayed with relatives and saved money, hoping his parents would arrive soon after.
They never made it, Heller said. Both his mother and father died in the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp.
While dealing with his parents’ deaths, Heller—a baker by trade—also had to find a way to make a living in the midst of the Great Depression, where “jobs were hard to come by.”
After finding work first as a candy maker for $8 a week, Heller slowly began making more money during the course of three years. However, despite his new life in America, he decided to risk everything in 1942, when he enlisted as an infantryman for the 9th Infantry Division in the U.S. Army—actually going directly to the draft board and asking them to put him in the armed forces—after a painstaking process involving a thorough background check from the government due to his German heritage.
“What made me decide [to join?] I really don’t know. I just wanted to do my part in defeating the Nazis,” Heller said as he reflected on his decision to enlist.
From there, the German-American went on a harrowing three year tour, fighting in military campaigns in Tunisia, Sicily, and even on the second day of the Normandy invasion.
While Heller—whose father and uncle were also soldiers in the German army—described his time serving overseas as intense, with many memorable experiences, one particular experience stood out in his mind during the Normandy campaign. That experience was when his unit, which he led at the time because of his ability to speak German, defeated and captured elite soldiers from an SS Lehr division.
“They had a lot of artillery against us; they had rocket[launchers] which made a terrifying sound,” he recalled. “We didn’t know where they could land. They could land on top of you.”
On the way back to their base, the Rego Park veteran recalled, several of his men called for the execution of the German captives.
However, despite the soldiers belonging to the same party responsible for his parents’ deaths, Heller spared them.
“I yelled out, ‘We are American soldiers. We are not murderers, we do not shoot unarmed prisoners, whether they are SS or not,’” he said. “And that was the end of it.”
“You don’t shoot unarmed people. At least, I wouldn’t. Maybe some people have no scruples…and have no compunction in shooting somebody, but I do,” Heller added, explaining that it was a matter of a soldier’s honor.
During the Normandy campaign in 1944, Heller suffered a concussion and was hospitalized after an enemy mortar shell exploded near him. As such, he was eligible for a Purple Heart medal, awarded to U.S. armed service members injured in combat; however, he never received it.
Enter Congressman Bob Turner, whose office Heller contacted to obtain the medal. First, they conducted a thorough search of his military file.
However, Heller’s military records were destroyed in the St. Louis Fire of 1973, and the National Personnel Records Center could not verify his entitlement to a Purple Heart. Next, Turner’s office sent this claim to the Awards and Decorations Branch in Fort Knox, who conducted a search but could not verify Mr. Heller’s entitlement to a Purple Heart based on the documentation that was provided and obtained.
However, the Fort Knox branch found that due to his achievements in the Rhineland Campaign of 1944, Heller was entitled to an even greater honor—a Bronze Star Medal, which is the fourth highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award.
In a surprise ceremony on Jan. 24, Heller, who also volunteered at Queens Borough President Helen Marshall’s office, and his wife, Ruth, who he married in 1946, were honored during the State of the Borough address. Heller received a Declaration of Honor from Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, declaring that day to be ‘Arno Heller Day’ in Queens.
Ruth—who met her husband during a singles retreat in the Catskills in 1946 when he offered her his coat—was particularly excited for him.
“We never expected anything like this [for him]. But it’s a great thing,” she said, crediting Turner for his efforts in uncovering the commendation for her husband.
Turner, who credited his staff for their efforts in this case, told The Forum this week that while he had never met Heller personally, he looks forward to meeting him when he presents the medal to the Rego Park veteran this Friday, Feb. 3, at American Legion Post 1424 in Forest Hills.
“My only regret is that it took so long, but I’m glad we could make it happen,” Turner said. Receiving the award, Heller said, was an unexpected surprise, but the ceremony itself was emotional for the retired baker, father, grandfather and deli shop owner.
“It was like a dream almost,” he said.
By Jean-Paul Salamanca
Forum Newsgroup Photo By Jean-Paul Salamanca
jp.salamanca@theforumnewsgroup.com
