What is the life story of the man who wore his German Iron Cross against the Nazis and then joined the US Army to fight them?


 The story by Richard Stern is a very strong example of individual stand against oppression.


He was a Jewish war veteran of World War I and he had been awarded the Iron Cross by Germany in his service.His peak of rebellion was in 1933. Stern arose as the Nazi regime started to persecute the Jews. He was a proud owner of his Iron Cross that he displayed outside his shop when he was being intimidated by a Nazi soldier. It was not defiance in itself but rather, Stern took a symbol of German military honor and turned it against the people who were trying to deprive him of his identity and of his rights.


The hatred was increasing and he had to escape. In 1939 he immigrated to the United States. That was not the end of his struggle against injustice.


In 1942, at 43, Stern joined the U.S. Army. He directly entered the lines of battle where he fought Nazis in Italy. His courage earned him the Silver Star in 1944, one of the greatest combat awards in America.


Stern later donated the original Iron Cross which he had worn in that well known photo to the scrap metal program in the United States. He used the German medal of his youth as raw material to manufacture bullets which would overpower the Nazis.


Richard Stern had lived until 1967, and his life can be remembered as a unique and strong symbol of the significance of freedom over fear, twice.

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