LEROY GOLDSTEIN..Class of...1948

This is a very special Madison Fates and Fortunes story and at the end, you will understand why. It's about a Madison graduate who holds a unique place in the history of our school. His name was Leroy Goldstein and he lived on Bedford Ave near E.25th St. He wasnt crazy about the name Leroy, so his friends simply called him Roy. Roy had a very definite career goal. He was going into show business. He loved making people laugh and after being bitten by the bug thru his participation in a very early version of "Sing" he knew his place was before a live audience.

Roy, and three of his neighborhood buddies, Sam Berman, Abe Latman and Murray Jacobs graduated from Madison in 1948. World War Two had ended three years earlier. There was still a draft but since the war was over, they could concentrate on the really important stuff. First, lets picture Roy. He was about 5 feet nine inches tall and weighed about 150 lbs. And he had dark blond hair. Roy and his buddies attended PS 206 before coming to Madison. While getting his professional life started, Roy also made a major change in his personal life.......he married Cindy Citron.

Roy began to discover that making it in show business is no easy task and despite his having a perpetual smile on his face, his buddy Abe Latman says there always seemed to be a cloud over his head. Then suddenly, at about the same time,the letters arrived for Roy, Sam, Abe and Muray. They read...."Greetings From The President Of The United States". The Korean War had started and they had been drafted. It wasnt long before Roy found himself as a member in good standing of the 2nd Infantry Division and in particular, the 5th Regimental Combat Team. So, Roy had to put his show business dreams on hold to get this war out of the way first. This was not exactly the career path he would have chosen but it was a path that led him to a tiny town in South Korea called Won Ju.

Roy and the others tried keeping in touch as best they could but in a war, thats not always an easy thing to do. The boys worried about each other and took comfort in the fact that there often are places where it is relatively safe to be. But Roy was on the front lines where the bullets were flying thick and fast.

And then. in a letter to Murray who was in Pusan, Sammy wrote that Leroy Goldstein, their buddy from PS 206 and Madison was killed in action . He died of catastrophic wounds sustained when a North Korean artillery round found Roy's bunker as he was trying to get some rest from the incessant artillery bombardment. He lost both legs. Medics tried getting him to a hospital but he died of shock. And it was Sammy who had to go and identify the body of his friend.

Murray received yet another notification. It was a letter he had sent to Roy but it was returned, stamped Addressee Deceased. Leroy Goldstein, the budding young performer and Madison graduate was going to be remembered alright, but not exactly as he would have wanted.

Earlier, I said that Roy holds a unique place in the history of James Madison High School. When the war was over, it was found that Leroy Goldstein, class of '48, was the only Madison graduate to give his life in defense of the country during the Korean War. That war, today, is way back in our past but Roy's spirit is still out there, M-1 rifle in hand, a proud and honorable representative of our school whose memory is still alive in our heads and our hearts. And one day, maybe there will be a special plaque on the wall of James Madison High School honoring Leroy Goldstein.

Leroy truly gave his all that we might be safe. Thank you Roy from all your friends at Madison.