Memories of Brooklyn

For men in the Mediterranean theater, where fighting has been bitter and reflection sharp, the War Department lately conducted an essay contest on "Why I Fight." Last week twelve Army judges, after pondering 300 entries, picked the winners. All three were from New York City--two from Brooklyn alone. First prize went to Corp. Jack J. Zurofsky, 28, of Brooklyn, now recovering from combat wounds. Excerpt:

"I fight because of my memories--the laughter and play of my childhood, the ball games I was in, the better ones I watched, my mother telling me why my father and she came to America, my high-school graduation, the first time I saw a cow, the first year we could afford a vacation, the crib at Camp Surprise Lake after the crowded polluted Coney Island waters, hikes in the fall, weenie and marshmallow roasts, the first time I voted, my first date and the slap in the face I got instead of the kiss I attempted, the El going down, streets being widened to let the sun in, new tenements replacing the old slums, the crowd applauding the time I came through with the hit that won us the Borough championship--the memories, which, if people like me do not fight, our children will never have."

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