William R. Pomerantz

My grandfather during the war.

Who is my hero? Well, in this century, there are many people whom young teens look up to, admire, call their heroes. Mine happens to be my grandfather. My mother’s father William Richard Pomerantz was born in Philadelphia, PA on May 10th 1923. He lived there all his life with his mother, Pearl, and his father, David. My grandfather is a loving and caring person who is full of information and always willing to share.

Some documents from the war.

Before the Second World War, he started studying at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a Liberal Arts student with a major in Political Science and a minor in Debating. Then the war came. My grandfather was twenty-one years old and a member of the ROTC, Reserved Officer Training Course, at Penn State. He was sent to many places such as North Africa, then Sicily, Italy, where he spent the most time, and finally Germany and France. He was in the Intelligence Corps and helped in any way he could. He took pictures to document some events, was a messenger and sometimes, when he was needed, he participated in combat. My grandfather was present in the first group to go into Buchenwald, a concentration camp in Germany. He stayed there for a few days taking pictures for the army, helping wherever he could. He took photos all throughout the war wherever he went, documenting for the generations to come all the events of the war. The pictures he took now belong to the American army. I’m very proud of my grandfather who served his country with bravery, pride and dignity even though he was so far away from his home, his family and the world he knew. When the war ended my grandfather was twenty-four years old. He was then assigned to go to the 3131 Photographic Platoon in Rome where he stayed for a few years until he was released to go home. When my grandfather arrived home from the war, he had only one semester left to finish at Penn State in order to get his degree. Halfway through that term he married my grandmother. When he was finished his degree he chose to go law school at the University of Boston. When he passed his bar exam he became a certified lawyer who participated in trials and had his own personal clients, mostly businesses.

My grandfather as a young man.

My grandfather is very special to me and an important part of my life. He calls all the time to see how my family and I are doing, what’s happening in our lives, how school is, what extra-curricular activities we’re doing, etc. He provides me with lots of information and interesting facts on any topic I’d ever like to know about, such as politics, sciences, definitions of words, anything at all. I don’t get to see him very often and so when we visit we try to do fun activities and make the most of the time we have together.

My hero is not some celebrity, someone rich or famous whom teens today idolize. No, my hero is an ordinary person living an ordinary everyday life, but he’s one ordinary person who did extraordinary things.