Ben was born in New York City’s Lower East Side. Before he joined the US Army he worked in his cousin’s plumbing business. During the war, he served in the Quartermaster’s Department of the 322nd Bomb Group at Bovingdon. After three years in Britain, he was posted to France following D-Day. He wrote letters daily to his girlfriend back home, Helen Doretsky, whom he had known since she was 16. After the war, the pair married and had two children. They later moved to North Carolina to expand the family business. Ben died in 2001, Helen in 2007. Both are buried in Mount Lebanon Cemetery, New York City.