Like many soldiers, Jack Krashin was only 18 years old when he was drafted into the U.S. Army after he graduated from high school in 1943. Sixty-nine years later, he still proudly speaks of his service to his country, and daily feels the effects of it.

Krashin’s 1943 Army photo is one of 400 photos of soldiers from the Midwest that has been placed on the Wall of Honor that will be featured, along with the exhibit “Ours to Fight For: American Jews in the Second World War,” which opens Sunday, Feb. 19, at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, in Skokie, Ill. (See box for more information.) His photo is one of five included on the opening event’s invitation. He is the only representative on the Wall of Honor from Kansas and the metro area.

In addition Krashin’s bio is one of 44 that will be used in a Facebook and Twitter campaign publicizing the exhibit. Krashin’s information will be featured the week of March 7 according to Arielle Weininger, the museum’s chief curator of collections and exhibitions.

When asked about his Army service, the 86-year-old Krashin said in a soft-spoken voice that he is simply proud to have been able to completely perform his combat duties during hard-fought battles.

During the two years Krashin fought in World War II, he earned a Bronze Star, the combat infantry badge and was wounded. As a member of the 30th Infantry Division, he sailed for Europe in February 1944 and served in France, Belgium during the famous “Battle of the Bulge” and Germany. He was discharged in the fall of 1945.

Krashin was a “bazooka man,” the man who fired the rocket propelled anti-tank weapon. He thinks it’s ironic that they chose the “shortest, smallest guy” to carry it.

The bazooka rested on Krashin’s right shoulder whenever he knelt to fire it. The weapon was loud and sat next to his right ear. His hearing loss — he now has a cochlear implant to help him hear better — is attributed to the loud noise the bazooka made when fired.

“We had no hearing protection like they have today. They just said here’s your bazooka, go shoot some Nazis,” he said.

Krashin was awarded for his bravery in battle with a Bronze Star Medal. His Combat Infantry Badge recognizes the fact that he personally fought in active ground combat while an assigned member of an infantry unit in World War II. After he was wounded by shrapnel in battle, he was also awarded a Purple Heart.

The Bronze Star was earned following a battle on Crucifix Hill where his squad leader was injured, and presumably killed. The squad needed to be led back to safety and Krashin was trusted with the task because he was an assistant squad leader.

“Our squad leader was listed as missing in action and never found,” said Krashin, a member of the local Jewish War Veterans chapter. “Two others were also decorated for heroism that day besides me.”

He remembers having a huge “adrenaline rush” that day.

“It put my whole body out of control. I didn’t know where to turn, to run or hide,” he said. “But I didn’t think that I could be a casualty or be captured. From then on I just tried to get the Germans.”

He was injured in another battle while his unit was on the front lines in Germany.

“We were ordered to move back due to a counter attack,” he explained. “A whole group of men instantly took off for the main line and left me there.”

Krashin was alone and didn’t want to run the risk of being captured. So he didn’t move for a while.

“At that point all hell broke loose, mortars and artillery were flying. When I was able to find the others, some flying shrapnel struck me in the leg,” he explained.

After he was wounded, he was able to run until he found a vacant fox hole.

“I jumped in it and put a tourniquet on my leg using my bandolier (ammunition belt) and tightened it using my bayonet,” he said.

He eventually passed out and woke up in the dark. He doesn’t know how long it took before a medic found him.

“I was surprised they found me. They treated me with a sulfa drug and a couple of guys carried me to the aid station,” he said.

Krashin was sent to a hospital in Belgium, where he had surgery. When he first got to the hospital and his dog tags were being checked, the soldier greeted him by saying “hello Lantzman.” That’s Yiddish for a Jewish person from the same area you are.

The injury didn’t send him home, however. After he recovered from the surgery, he joined a postal unit in England.

“It was a break for me. I couldn’t stand the cold anymore,” he said.

But before Krashin left Germany, he was often used as an unofficial interpreter when the unit was in a town or village.

“He knew Yiddish so he could run interference with the population,” Fannie, his wife of 60 years, said.

Even during this mild Kansas City winter, today Krashin is always cold. He suffered frost bite on his hands from the cold conditions he faced all those years ago in Europe.

“That’s from sleeping on the cold ground,” he explained. In addition, it’s because the coats they were issued weren’t nearly warm enough for the conditions.

After his Army service, Krashin attended the University of Missouri and then went into his father’s wholesale jewelry business.

He later worked for himself for about 10 years and then worked in retail jewelry stores. He is now retired from the jewelry business after a 60-year career.

The Krashins are members of BIAV and are active at Chabad and the Torah Learning Center. They have four children, 11 grandchildren and “4.5 great grandchildren.”

“The fifth is due in May,” Fannie said.

Skokie exhibit information

Kansas City resident Jack Krashin is one of 400 people whose photos will be showcased on the Wall of Honor when the exhibit

“Ours to Fight For: American Jews in the Second World War” opens in Skokie, Ill. The traveling exhibit, which was created and is circulated by the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York, opens Sunday, Feb. 19, at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. It will be on display through June 17. For more information, visit www.ilholocaustmuseum.org or call 847-967-4800.

“Ours to Fight For” explores and celebrates the achievements of Jewish men and women who were part of the American war effort on and off of the battlefield. In their own voices and through their artifacts, letters and photographs the “Greatest Generation” tells the stories of what the war was like for all its participants, and for Jews in particular. Approximately 500,000 Jews served in all branches of the U.S. armed forces during the war and 52,000 were decorated for bravery.

The voices are drawn from more than 400 interviews conducted with Jewish servicemen and women throughout the country.

“Ours to Fight For” powerfully illustrates what it was like to be American — and Jewish — in a time of war.