Battle of the Bulge veteran shares his story
Irv
Abramson, a 96 years young veteran, has been living the American dream.
The Chicago native was married to his wife, Doris, for 72 years before she passed away in 2020. His in-laws invited Doris and Irv into the family automobile supply business. They eventually ended up owning the business.
Abramson has three children — one son, Lee, and two daughters, Janice and Francine —11 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
“I’m not a religious nut, but I am religious and all my blessings are from my God,” he says.
Yet the long life with which Abramson, a decorated World War II veteran, has been blessed was nearly cut short at age 18.
A marksman with the U.S. Army 100th combat infantry unit, Abramson and his unit were stationed in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium in December, 1944, as the German army made a last-ditch effort to push back the advancing Allies in an offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge.
On Dec. 16, he and two fellow soldiers in his unit were on the front lines. They hastily dug a small fox hole that enabled them to lay on their sides as German artillery bombarded the area. He and the two soldiers were eventually showered with shrapnel.
Abramson was severely wounded, but the two soldiers next to him in the fox hole died. Being sandwiched between them, he says, saved his life.
“I was out unconscious for three days,” Abramson recalls. “I went to a M*A*S*H hospital (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital). I woke up, and asked if my buddies were there. No, they both died. I had a guilt complex about that.”
Something else saved his life, as well. In 1944, Europe had been experiencing its coldest winter in decades.
“How I didn’t bleed out (after being wounded) was a miracle, but I attributed that to the Lord,” he says. “It was so cold that the blood had congealed and clotted and I didn’t bleed out because of it.”
In addition to bleeding, Abramson had broken both bones in his lower left leg, smashed a kneecap, had three or four broken ribs and punctured his left lung. It would take him a year to recover. He was finally reunited with his family at home in Chicago in December, 1945.
15 minutes of fame
Early on the road to recovery, Abramson ended up in Marseilles, France, for a couple of weeks after spending time in a hospital in Dijon, where he had undergone six surgeries. He was then told he would be taken by train from Marseilles to Paris, and then would fly home to the U.S.
During the train ride to Paris, Abramson’s leg was in a cast from his toe up to his groin area. He had developed sharp pain in the foot that was casted, and the foot swelled up. A first-aid attendant on the train went to get a knife to cut the cast open. While going to get a knife, he told Abramson that he would have an aide stay with him.
The aide put her arm around him and asked him questions about home and his family. She spent 15 to 20 minutes with him. After the first-aid attendant returned and cut the cast open, she asked him if he was OK. When Abramson replied yes, she put her arm around him, gave him a big kiss and left.
The man who cut the cast open asked Abramson if he knew who she was. Abramson replied that he had no idea. Well, that aide was none other than Marlene Dietrich, a famous German-born American actress and singer in the 1930s and 1940s who, during the war, contributed much of her time and talents to aid troops.
That experience, he jokes, was his proverbial 15 minutes of fame.
“Later in life, I kept throwing (the line) at my wife that I could have had Marlene Dietrich,” he says with a laugh.
Experiencing PTSD
No one knew what post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, was during the post-World War II era, but after returning home from the front, Abramson experienced just that.
“At that time, they called it shell-shock,” he says. “Any little sudden noise sent me into a nervous attack. The nights were terrible. I had nightmares and woke up in the night screaming. The sights and sounds of the battlefield is something you never forget.”
Abramson never spoke to anyone about what he experienced during the war until one day, one of his daughters came home with an assignment from school: interview a veteran. Doing that interview, he says, changed the course of his life.
“I can’t remember if it was Janice or Francine,” Abramson says. “I didn’t want to speak about it or talk about it. I wanted to help them, but it was very difficult.”
He did the interview. “It was very emotional,” he says. After his daughter gave the presentation, a couple of her classmates asked if they, too, could interview her dad.
“By the time I did the third or fourth interview, my emotions were easing up a bit,” he says. “It changed my life because I was able to talk about it more.”
Honor Flight Chicago
Over the years, Abramson — a recipient of the Purple Heart, a Bronze Star Medal, a marksmanship badge and a combat unit presidential citation — has been honored on a number of occasions for his service. He’s been a grand marshal at Memorial Day and July 4 parades, has participated in Veterans Day observances, and has been honored at a Northwestern University football game and during halftime at a Chicago Bears game.
“That was quite a thrill,” he says of being honored at a Bears game.
Another honor equally as thrilling for Abramson occurred in 2009. That’s when he flew to Washington, D.C., with Honor Flight Chicago. The honor flight program celebrates veterans who’ve served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War by flying them from Chicago to Washington, D.C. (all expenses paid) to visit war memorials in Washington and interact with other veterans on the flight.
“It was amazing, as it is with all the veterans,” he says. “The organization is an exceptional group that caters to the veterans in every way possible.”
Abramson has been volunteering with Honor Flight Chicago ever since. He’s helped the organization over the years in various ways and with fundraising efforts.
“He was so touched that he wanted to give back and help our organization in any way he could,” says Honor Flight Chicago co-director Doug Meffley.
This year, Honor Flight Chicago sponsored seven flights to Washington, with the final flight of the year taking place Oct. 19.
“We generally aim for between 115 and 120 veterans (on each flight),” Meffley points out.
Meffley has gotten to know Abramson personally through Honor Flight Chicago, and can’t thank him enough for his support.
“He’s like a veteran ambassador for us and our mission, and the impact our mission has on the lives of veterans,” Meffley says. “It energizes the veterans and makes them feel appreciated. He’s a Battle of the Bulge survivor. He’s jovial and engaging and a sweetheart of a man. When you talk about humble heroes, he embodies that for sure.”
A resident of a senior community in Lincolnwood, Abramson says, “I’m very proud of my country and glad I had the opportunity to serve. Getting to the age of 96 is not too bad of a job either. A few people at the (senior) center have reached 100, and that’s what I’m shooting for now.”