Gerard M. Degenstein (Uncle Jerry)
My Uncle and Jewish War Veteran, Gerard M. (Jerry) Degenstein, served with the U.S. Army’s 26th Infantry Division during WWII. He was KIA (Killed in Action) on 16 November 1944 just a few days after his 20th birthday. A sergeant would later tell my grandparents he was killed when he volunteered to attempt to rescue wounded comrades. The jeep he and a medic were in came under fire and was hit by an enemy shell.
Uncle Jerry was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals for valor.
Jerry's loss devastated my grandparents and, when I was young, they charged me with keeping his memory alive. Doing so became my purpose—and was the seed that grew into the Philipson-Warech Jewish Heritage Collection.
Both Michelle's family and mine paid a heavy price both as soldiers and civilians during WWII. Let us never forget their heroic actions. It is because of their sacrifices that we live under the blanket of freedom today. May all of our continued good deeds be forever a merit to their souls.
Important Moments
Highlights from the Collection
A photo of my Uncle Jerry (right) and fellow soldiers, taken in 1944 in Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
Uncle Jerry's Army portrait and Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals are on exhibit at Fort Hood, in Killeen, TX.
Uncle Jerry as a teenager, circa 1942, posing with his dog, Todo.
My uncle's original framed US Army portrait, recently on exhibit at the Texas State History Museum.
The inventory of my uncle's personal effects at the time of his death included four photographs, a book of Jewish scriptures, a Jewish prayer book, and a Jewish calendar.
A letter my Uncle Jerry wrote to his sister Gloria, my mother, on June 1, 1944. Among other things, the letter outlines a prank my uncle played on one of the officers. The apple didn't fall far from that tree.
The receipt my grandmother received upon the return of Uncle Jerry's remains to Yonkers, NY, on August 27, 1948.
