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Jerry Josh Konsker
"At the age of nineteen, while in my sophomore year at New York University, after deciding that I had no desire to be an electrical engineer and would not make the varsity basketball team, I gave u...view more"At the age of nineteen, while in my sophomore year at New York University, after deciding that I had no desire to be an electrical engineer and would not make the varsity basketball team, I gave up my educational deferment. It meant two years in the army. This was very late 1952 and the war was raging in the Far- East. Uncle Sam decided that, being tall and strong, I would make a good rifleman. After basic training in Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania I was sent to Korea to test these newly acquired skills. Luckily for me they were sufficient enough to keep me alive during the last few months leading to the signing of the cease fire on June 17, 1953. Upon return to the states, the G.I. Bill allowed me to first study journalism at Adelphi University. I later gave that up in favor of literature and the theater as a play write and director. After graduation I worked in theater stock, radio and television. Circumstance in 1958 caused me to put aside the work in order to make a decent living for a family. I've never regretted that decision. In 1990 I visited the Korean War Memorial in Washington D.C. It awakened my desire to pick up the pen again. It started with minor poetry, one act stories and one act plays. I have always said that one day of combat leaves its participants with PTSD. Meeting with, and writing the stories of more than a hundred returning POWs cemented my own memories. Therefore, most of my work reflects those sensitivities and experiences in my main protagonists. They are soldiers of the past, the present, and the future. However, the stories within are not war stories. I only know how war can affect the minds of those who have experienced it. Since semi-retirement at the age of 65, and a full 15 years later, I've used these experiences in various senior community theatre venues in South Florida as a writer, director and teacher."view less