Melvin A. Sher, a former longtime Livingston resident who was active in the township, was lauded at a 100th birthday party on Sunday, October 29, at the Livingston Senior/ Community Center.
Sher, who currently lives in Fair Lawn, was born on October 29, 1923, and graduated from Weequahic High School, Newark, in January of 1942. While he and his wife, Estelle, lived in Livingston, they were active volunteers with Meals on Wheels and Saint Barnabas Medical Center. Sher also did volunteer work for the Special Olympics and drove for the Livingston Senior Transportation. He was a member of the Livingston Veterans of F oreign Wars and J ewish War Veterans Posts; the Livingston Chapter of AARP (American Association of Retired People); and Livingston’s Sanford M. Schor Lodge of the Knights of Pythias.
Served in Italy During WWII
After graduating high school, Sher enlisted in the armed forces. He recounted his World War II experiences in a 2002 book, “Wars Remembered,” compiled and published by the Livingston VFW Post 2856. Below is his account.
•••
I enlisted in the Army Air Force on December 15, 1942 and took my basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. I was then sent on to Atlantic City for further AAF training.
I was later permanently assigned, as one of a group, to assemble recruits coming into Atlantic City from the railroad station and marching them to their respective hotels.
After about three months, I requested reclassification. Following some testing, I was sent to Seymour Johnson Field in Goldsboro, North Carolina as a clerk-typist. Not satisfied with that position, I requested to go to a technical school. I was again reclassified and sent to Radio Mechanics School at Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin for 18 weeks. I did well and after finishing the course, was sent to Chanute Field in Illinois for an Electronics course of six weeks. When the course was almost completed, I was asked if I wanted to go on to radar. All taking that course were investigated by the FBI, radar being a secret thing at that time. I was sent to Boca Raton, Florida for pre-radar of five weeks, and upon completion, was then selected to go on to specialize in radar navigation. I had a title of radar mechanic navigator at the completion and received my corporal stripes after this course.
I was sent to Bari, Italy and assigned to the 782nd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) of the 465th Bombardment Group (Heavy) in the 15thAir Force. My job was to service navigation and IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) radar on units B-24 Liberator bombers. Many times the equipment was not repairable and with new units not available, I had to take parts from one to make the other usable. We lost many of our planes and crews. I saw many land in crippled condition. Our bombers made many runs on Po Valley and on Germany in the Rhineland campaigns, helping to end the war in Europe that much sooner.
Medals received were the EAME Service Medal with two bronze stars, American Theater Medal, World War II Victory Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.
I returned to the United States in July of 1945 for a month furlough and then on to the Pacific, but the war in the Pacific soon ended after the atomic bombs were dropped. I was sent to the Overseas Replacement Depot, 3501 AAF Base Unit in Greensboro, North Carolina and then back to Boca Raton, Florida, where I received my sergeant stripes and the position of Supply Sergeant of my unit until discharge on December 11, 1945.
After returning home to Newark, New Jersey, taking advantage of the GI Bill, I took a home study course from National Radio Institute in Washington, D.C. and then a two year course at New York Technical Institute in radio and television servicing. After graduation, I found a job in television service, working my way up to service manager. I stayed at that job for over 28 years. Tired of that, I went on to do inside sales for a parts distributor.
I married my wife, Estelle, on March 25, 1950. We moved to Livingston in 1955 and raised three children. My oldest son, Larry, died of leukemia at the age of 17. My two other children, Pamela and Howard, married and each have children of their own.
