[Magdalen] Oh my!

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/4/2016 6:55:19 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
scottknitter at gmail.com writes:

Circumcision? Was the done thing in 1960  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 
Before WW-2, it was a strictly ethnic/religious practice.  Then,  for
reasons not clear, there was a heavy switchover favoring  circumcision.
The deciding factor?  Mothers decided they wanted it for God  knows
what reason.
 
There was a wonderful story a now deceased WW-2 bomber pilot
used to tell around the local VAMC.  He didn't like his  complicated
Polish Roman Catholic gentile name, and changed it over to a  typically
Jewish name. For some reason he was circumsized - very unusual
for his age group.
 
He was shot down and captured during the Ploesti Oil Field Raids in  1943.
 
A Nazi military officer questioned him and upon hearing his name, and
noting that the airman was circumsized, pulled out his gun to  summarily
execute him, but then the Nazi officer noted a "Miraculous Medal of  Mary"
around the captive's neck along with his dog tags and blurted out,
"Catholisch?"  The answer was yes, of course, and it is an instance  where
a religious medal saved him.  The vet always wore the Miraculous  Medal.
 
 
David Strang.