The troops’ favorite bootlegger

Hyman Strachman is America’s most patriotic DVD pirate, said Alan Schwarz in The New York Times. Over the past eight years, the 92-year-old has sent some 300,000 illegally copied movies to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, at a personal cost of around $30,000. “It’s not the right thing to do, but I did it,” says the former stockbroker and World War II veteran. “If I were younger, maybe I’d be spending time in the hoosegow.” Strachman—or “Big Hy,” as he’s known to GIs—started burning discs in 2003 after the death of his wife, Harriet. While looking for ways to keep busy, he discovered a website that collected soldiers’ requests, and noticed a recurring request for DVDs. Soon after, he shipped a box of movies to an Army chaplain. “Chaplains don’t sell them,” he said, and they fan out among the troops. “The distribution is great.” Strachman now spends up to 60 hours a week copying discs at his home in Massapequa, N.Y., and has been flooded with letters, photos, and American flags from grateful soldiers. “Every time I got back an emotional letter, I sent them another box.” But with the war in Afghanistan in its final stages, he knows he’ll soon have to find a new hobby. “It’s all over anyways—[the troops are] all coming home in the near future.”

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