MISHEBEIRACH

                                       MISHEBEIRACH

“May the Source of strength who blessed the ones before us help us find the courage to

to make our lives a blessing and let us say. Amen.  ”

I’ve been saying this blessing every Saturday for over fifteen years. I’ve probably been

saying this blessing, before I knew it.

I was the youngest of seven children. I’m not anymore. Four of them have died.

My oldest sister was my sister Jean. She was almost twenty years older than me.

We became closest, when she reached the last stages of her life in a nursing home.

I visited her every week. Jean would tell me about a family, I never knew. She told me

about my dad, a dad ,I never met. My mother didn’t like Jean,her oldest child. Jean told 

me that our father would take her for walks and try and explain his wife Rose, Jean’s 

mother to her. I never met that dad.

Three of my brothers joined the Army Air Force before it became the U.S. Air Force.My 

mother hung three stars in the family room window. Everybody who passed our house 

in Dorchester knew that the Isenbergs had three young brothers serving their country.

Hank AKA Henry was the first to join. I didn’t get to know him much. I remember that 

one morning, I sat on the toilet seat, watching him shave. I told him I didn’t like the song 

they sang in my kindergarden class. Hank said, “If you don’t like it, tell the teacher you

aren’t going to sing it and would prefer the others don’t sing it either.” I Did. The teacher

sent me home without our daily snack.I don’t remember ever seeing Hank again. He 

was the oldest brother. Paul was about fourteen months younger than Hank.According

to my mother, Paul lived in Hank’s shadow. Lou was next in line. My mother didn’t say

  much about him. Henry was by far my mother’s favorite. If someone commented on 

how handsome Lou was and that he looked like a movie star. My mother would laugh

and say he’s not as handsome as my son Hank. Hank didn’t like my father. My father 

didn’t like Hank. I found this out, when I was in my late thirties. Yes, I vaguely remember

 the arguments that Henry and my father had about me.They always took place  in the 

mornings.I really had no idea what they were yelling about. Years later, my sister 

Charlotte told me that my father wanted to drive me around the block in his 1939 black

Pontiac. Henry wanted to be at work on time. Charlotte explained that Henry had a 

prized job at the Chicago Mail Order Company, that would one day become Alden’s.

My father had started a new business. Both of them worked within one block of each 

other. I don’t think they ever met for lunch.

Paul was off at what was then Carnegie Tech now Carnegie Mellon. I hadn’t seen too 

much of him, even before he went off. However, we would develop a very strong friend-

ship much later on. This is how I found out, how he came to complete fifty missions in

probably less time than any Air Force Navigator ever had  or has done since.

Paul was working at the steel mills in Pittsburgh trying to contribute to his tuition.

 Because, he worked on the night shift,he was very tired in the morning. Paul asked the

dean if he could change his schedule for some later accredited classes. The dean 

refused, explaining to Paul that he couldn’t make exceptions. A few month later the 

dean called Paul in to say he changed his mind. Paul told him, he also changed his

 mind.Paul told the dean he had joined the Army Air Corp yesterday and that he would 

be a pilot in a few months. Paul had trouble with soft landings. The Air Corps decided 

that Paul would be an excellant navigator.Paul went off to Italy. He was attached to a 

B17 Squadron.At that time, before there was a B29, the B17 was the largest and 

slowest bomber in the United States air arsenal. The B17 flew high and dropped many 

bombs mostly over german occupied oil fields. The missions were extremely dangerous. 

The Germans were not happy with these tactics. Paul quickly found out that the more 

dangerous and more difficult the mission the more mission credits you would 

be awarded. The more dangerous and more difficult the mission, the more quickly Paul 

volunteered for the mission. In the midst of these missions Paul’s B17 got caught in a 

terrible storm. The plane was tossed around and the turbulence caused the plane to 

lose it’s way. Paul remembered that there had been a special lecture on “what to do”

in these circumstances.Paul had fallen asleep in that class. Now what to do? Somehow,

Paul figured it out and got the plane back to it’s home base safely. Paul later

 said,”Maybe not too soundly.” Paul was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross Medal

for his heroism.Paul had a personality trait that gave him his undying courage. He never

believed that he could or would die. Paul came home a few months before the 

European war was over. Married his girl friend Ruth and finished his degree at MIT.

   

Hank was not so lucky. Hank unlike Paul was attached to only one crew. They flew out

of France.  Hank wrote to my mother just about every day. I’m not sure who the letter

in the hall over the telephone was addressed to. It was a photograph of the B26, he flew

in.  In front of the plane was a picture of his crew. On the backside of the photo was a 

description of each crew member’s job and how good they were at it. He said because 

each guy was so good,that he would be home very soon. He also said the rumors were

that the Germans would soon surrender.My mother believed every word.