CENTER FOR U.S. WAR
VETERANS' ORAL HISTORIES

World War II

Gerard Sorell

World War II Oral History Interview
US Army, 99th Infantry Division
Date: November 16, 2018
Interviewer: Carol Fowler
Summarizers: Jonathan Scinto, Carol Fowler
V eterans History Project

Summary

Gerard Sorell

Gerard Sorell (“Jerry”) was born in Vienna, Austria in 1926. Musically gifted, he started violin lessons at age eight and aimed at becoming a professional musician. Fate dictated otherwise when Hitler annexed Austria in March 1938. Anti-Semitism there was par for the course in Austria. Being Jewish, Sorell and his widowed mother and new husband fled with no possessions from Austria that August, and via waystations in Luxembourg and England, along with grandparents, settled in November 1939 into a small New York City apartment on the Upper West Side. His mother worked as a Designer. Sorell started in 1940 at the High School of Music and Art and resumed violin lessons. At age 14, he composed a duet for violin and was accepted to perform in concert. In 1944, Sorell graduated high school as its top student.

Anxious to fight the Nazis, Sorell tried to enlist at age 18 but was turned down because he was not a U.S. citizen. On June 8, 1944, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and soon thereafter obtained his citizenship. Sorell spent 17 weeks of basic training one hot summer, with forced marches in extreme heat, tarantulas and coral snakes at Camp Blanding, Florida. In fact, it was so hot, a thermometer was stuck in the shooting range sand and registered 142 degrees!

Soon afterward, Sorell was aboard a troopship to England.

But shortly thereafter, I was sent to the middle of the Battle of the Bulge. You know, so many people in the 99th Infantry died. So, I was shipped very quickly to be a replacement.

Sorell crossed the English Channel, then was in France, and then to Belgium where the Battle of the Bulge was taking place. During this battle, he was assigned to Heavy Weapons Company D (machine guns and mortars) in the 394th Regiment of the 99th Infantry Division, whose nickname was Battle Babies, due to their newness in the European Theater of the war.

It was the first time we had to be in foxholes… with artillery barrage from the German… you know.

It was November and December 1944, and the coldest weather of the century thus far.

No, we didn’t have anything. It was wet and cold and miserable. But nevertheless, with a flashlight and candles, in between the fighting I started to read and write letters to my parents… to keep busy.

Since Sorell was with mortars and machine guns, rather than hand to hand fighting, he was several hundred yards back. The mortars were riskier a job, as he had to get quite close. They shoot up, a very steep angle, rather than straight across, like with artillery.

So, we didn’t see too many German soldiers. Of course, we did see some of them, you know. In fact, I saw one of our fighter planes get shot down. It was between Christmas and New Years.

In March 1945, his outfit spearheaded the crossing of the Rhine across the bridge at Remagen into the German heartland. While crossing under heavy German artillery barrage, Sorell sustained severe ear nerve damage and hearing loss (tinnitus) which lasts to this day. Later that year, the 394th Regiment participated in the Ruhr Pocket and Danube Valley Drive mopping up campaigns. He had to assist and escort 200 to 300 German prisoners who surrendered in droves near the Danube area.

Getting across the Rhine was the last resistance of the Germans. After that, it was a forgone conclusion it’s going to be over soon. We established the bridgehead at the Rhine and had to protect it.

Jerry’s fluency in German came to good stead: (1) during hostilities as a battalion interpreter questioning German civilians and captured soldiers; (2) encouraging German soldiers to surrender by means of megaphone messages transmitted across the frontline; (3) during the occupation after hostilities ended in May 1945, as an interrogator while attached to the Counterintelligence Corps. His role in the CIC was interrogating German prisoners of war and government officials to uncover their roles in the Nazi regime, a gratifying task for a Jew who escaped the Holocaust.

(Speaking fluent German) that was one of my major contributions to the effort… the fact that my German was put to very good use. Particularly, after the war ending.

With Sorell’s ability to speak German, he joined some combat patrols carrying a megaphone and shouting across the front lines:

German soldiers, don’t be a fool! Why risk your life now that the war surely is coming to an end? Why don’t you just give up? You’ll receive good and fair treatment – international conventions… so, give up!

In August 1945, Sorell was shipped back to the U.S. for reassignment to the Pacific war zone, but after Japan surrendered in September 1945, he was sent to Fort Campbell, KY in the 656th Tank Destroyer Battalion. In April 1946, he was discharged with the Private First Class. While on home furlough, Sorell met his future wife, Susan. They married in 1952 and remained living in New York, raising daughters Tamara and Deborah.

Gerard Sorell

Under G.I. Bill funding, Sorell earned a B.S.E degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University, graduated in 1950 with High Honors, and stayed on at Princeton for an M.S.E. From 1946 through 1951, he served as Concertmaster and occasional soloist in the Princeton University Orchestra. After graduation, Sorell worked for the M.W. Kellogg Company in New York City.
In 1970, Sorell switched employment to Esso (now Exxon) Research and Engineering in Florham Park, NJ, prompting the Sorells to settle in the Caldwells, NJ. After leaving Exxon in 1986, he established G. Sorell Consulting Services, providing engineering studies and technical advice for over 30 years to corporate clients and government agencies.

Anxious to step up his violin playing, Sorell and a neighbor teamed up to form the “Arthritic Duo.” They performed a mix of classical and contemporary selections at Continuing Care Communities and home musicales in New Jersey. In 2017, Sorell gave up his lifelong pursuit of competitive tennis, which earned him several trophies in local tournaments.

The Sorells moved into an adult community in North Caldwell, NJ. Daughter Tamara, her husband Tom and their daughters Jocelyn, Carly and Raquel live in New England. Deborah, her husband Mark and their two children Daniel and Julia reside in Montclair, NJ.

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