The kosher salami

I joined the Navy immediately after graduating high school in 1943 and was sent to the Newport, Rhode Island, boot camp for boot training. It was a very hot summer and there was no air conditioning or fan in Barracks "D."
Since kosher food was not served, I subsisted on fish, vegetables and the ever-present navy beans. My parents started to send me a source of kosher meat: a "kenuble vurst" which was a two-foot-long salami, sort of like a kielbasi, that was made with a very heavy dose of fresh garlic. At boot camp we had to keep our personal belongings in our sea bag. So the salami was stuffed into it. This resulted in me being greeted each day by my famished shipmates after morning and afternoon drills, exercises and marching. They hung out near my sea bag which cast off the powerful odor of the garlic and urged me to break out the salami and share it with them. Since most of my shipmates in boot camp never know about kosher food, they learned it from my sea bag in boot camp.

Phil Schreiber, Highland Park, N.J.

« Previous story
Next story »