Sid Shachnow has two Silver Stars, three Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts -- and that's just for his service in Vietnam, where he led his troops with courage and distinction. “There was no room for conscience,” he confides when discussing his 39 years of military service. “Once I was face to face with a Viet Cong. I had him in my sights as he ran toward me. He dropped his weapon and veered left. I did not pull the trigger. I still do not know if I did the right thing. My conscience got in the way.”

Barry Bruk speaks of the deteriorating living conditions in the Lódz ghetto, Poland, in late 1941. He remembers the deportation of thousands of Jews from the Lódz ghetto to the Kulmhof Death Camp in Chelmno, Poland, in January 1941 and relates that his sister, brother-in-law and young nephew were among those deported and killed in the camp.