170 war letters uncovered by widow

Antipodean Andy · Nov 16, 2008

Brighton widow finds 170 unread World War II letters | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle

For years, the letters were tucked away, preserved but unnoticed.

And then, in March 2007, Ben Kaplow of Brighton died at age 82 of cancer.

After his death, the more than 170 letters Ben wrote to his family in Rochester during World War II surfaced and became a kind of gift to his widow, Florence.

Words that she had never read during 53 years of marriage filled in a chapter of Ben's life, the time he served as a soldier in Europe, the time he never discussed.

"He knew if he mentioned it, I would have a lot questions," says Florence, who is 74, and met Ben after the war.

Reading Ben's letters comforted Florence in her time of grief. In a way, it was almost as if they were written to her.

For sure, his personality — cheerful, protective, modest — shines through. At 18, 19 and 20 years old, the boy had already become a man, a good man.

Soon, thanks to Florence and other people, including students in the Brighton school district, the letters will be available via the Internet.

And thanks to a coincidental meeting, they will also be on display at the new National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia when it opens in 2010.

On the Internet or in the museum, the letters will help illuminate the role that Jewish-American soldiers like Ben played as they witnessed the end of the Holocaust.

Into battle

Having been drafted before graduation from Madison High School in 1943, Ben went into the Army almost immediately after receiving his diploma. He shipped out for Europe in August 1944, and as a member of the 104th Infantry Regiment of the 26th Infantry Division, part of Gen. George Patton's Third Army, he headed east through France and into Germany, often seeing battle.

As a messenger, Ben received the Bronze Star for his courage in battle in 1945 in Germany. As described in the citation, he ran 75 yards through heavy fire to deliver a message after his vehicle was hit by shrapnel.

Ben wrote his family frequently, careful not to say things that would disturb his parents. "Don't let mom read this," he writes after describing enemy shelling.

The letters document the ordinary. "One of the fellows received some jars of pickled herring, so how about you sending me some," he wrote.

Similarly, they chronicle the reality of war. "Dead Krauts were lying all over," he also wrote. "More than I've seen any place."

Though Florence hadn't known about the letters while her husband was alive, her children, David Kaplow of California and Dr. Joan Kaplow of Brighton, were aware of their existence.

After their father died, they showed them to Florence, and eventually she had the idea of posting them on a Web site.

Seeking help, she went to the Apple Store in Eastview Mall and met Mike Otto, one of the resident geniuses, the problem solvers who assist and coach Mac owners. Otto took Florence under his wing, and they began creating the Web site.

As it turned out, Otto's daughter, Kirstra, was part of the team designing the core exhibition for the new National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.

Through her, Otto determined that the museum would be glad to receive and display Ben's letters, as well as some military artifacts that he had sent home. (These, too, Florence discovered after her husband's death.)

"I wouldn't trade this experience for anything," Mike Otto says of his part in helping Florence and in connecting her with the museum. "It became an opportunity to keep these materials around for years."

Young voices

Through another aspect of her project, people will also get to hear Ben's story.

Florence was aware that younger readers might have trouble with Ben's cursive handwriting.

Consequently, she contacted Mike Noto, a social studies teacher at Brighton High School in the hope of getting students in the Brighton district to help her create MP3 recordings of the letters. These, too, will be posted on the Web site.

Noto enthusiastically backed the project, and student volunteers have been coming forward to read and record transcribed versions of the letters.

The readings create a cross-generational connection, especially in the letter read by Serena Obrecht, 10, the Kaplows' granddaughter.

There are still more letters to be recorded, but Kaplow hopes that the Web site will be up and running soon, at least with some of the earlier letters.

"To this day, I rue that I hadn't read the letters while Ben was alive so that I could have told him how proud I was of him," she says. "But now, the letters have taken on a life of their own, and they will honor his memory."
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