Izzy Sher

Sher was born in 1912^[1] or 1913^[2] in Odessa, Russia. His father died when he was 6 and he and his younger sister were placed for a time in an orphanage. After the revolution of 1917, it became difficult to leave the Soviet Union, but Sher's mother convinced the authorities that the family was not Russian but Polish, and the Shers were allowed to leave in 1926.

Assisted by relatives in the United States the Shers travelled first to Mexico, where they lived for a year and a half. Finally in 1928, they were admitted to the United States under the Mexican quota and a year later, via Cuba and Key West, Florida, they joined family members in Chicago.^[3]

During the 1930s, Mr. Sher worked at industrial jobs and changed his name from Yitzak to Emil. Friends and family continued to call him Izzy. He became a citizen of the United States in 1941 after a stint as a merchant seaman and was inducted into the army in 1942.

As a radio operator in the 1st Infantry division he fought in Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, Northern France, the Ardennes, the Rhineland, and Central Europe. He was shot three times and received the Silver Star and Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf clusters.^[4]