Waffen SS Flag

Mr. Michael Weinstein,
Yes, we knew what that flag meant. We are mainly composed of white people of European descent (blacks can’t swim and it is too tough for jews). We have always acknowledged true fighters and the Waffen SS are an elite brotherhood of warriors, much like we are. More than 99% never saw a concentration camp or participated in Einsaztgruppen actions, much like the vast majority of the USMC has never perpetrated any war crimes. Many of our members are of German descent and not a few have ancestors who were in the Waffen SS. We certainly do not have the combat distinction of your Israeli Commandos (if I were a 12 year old Palestinian boy throwing rocks I may be scared) or the Air Farce. You are correct; we knew what that flag meant.

(name withheld)

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Dear (name withheld),

I was asked to respond to your letter from a Marine POV, since I am a retired Marine with close personal ground combat service. I also come from a military family which goes back to the Revolution and forward through Gulf I that includes 5 generations of Marines.

Usually, I start by saluting the service of a fellow veteran. However, in this case, while I honor your service, I deplore your racism and bigotry which are made quite clear from your racial and religious slurs. It has been truly said that white supremacists are the best proof of the fallacy of their theories. I would modify that to read “supremacists” of any sort, whatever their racial or religious bias.

While it certainly won’t change your views, I feel it is incumbent upon me to provide you with some information which will at least rebut your statements and expose their fallacy.

I must preface my remarks by stating that I am a “white person of European descent” and am not Jewish. (Not that it matters to me, and should not matter to anyone, but I know from experience with racial and religious supremacists that such ridiculous things matter to them.)

In my time on active duty, I served with blacks, Jews, Hispanics, and other minorities (including Muslims) including in my Recon units and in combat in RVN in 1967-68, and generally found them to be excellent Marines, when properly led and motivated. They have in my experience been no different than “white people of European descent” in terms of native ability and performance – i.e., some were excellent, some average, and some below average. Of course, many who had grown up in the inner cities lacked the educational and social advantages of some of the whites — but that applied to some of the whites from deprived backgrounds as well, such as those from the poor classes in the deep South.

As to blacks swimming – you are really showing your bigoted ignorance here. I’ve heard all the “reasons” given for blacks “not being able to swim” such as bone density, body fat, etc. If any of them have any basis in fact, it certainly doesn’t prevent blacks from swimming. The fact that some members of minorities have historically not learned to swim has more to do with cultural norms and social situations including class, culture, poverty, and opportunity, rather than lack of ability.

I don’t know your age, though you seem to write in the present tense leading me to believe that you are currently serving. If so, you grew up in the late 1970s or 80s.
I grew up in the late 1940s, 50s and 60s, and well remember the “Jim Crow” laws (in the North as well as the South) which often segregated or forbade people of color from facilities – including municipal swimming facilities. Also, minority kids had few facilities of any kind in the inner city, nor money to pursue activities as non-essential as swimming. They also didn’t have the leisure or money to go to the beaches or lakes in the summer (which were often also segregated). These factors in turn created a situation where few role models were created, which in turn led to a situation where minorities had little impetus to learn to swim, even after segregation ended. The situation was analogous to golf, which long remained a (privileged) white sport until relatively recent times. In fact, I remember when it was said that blacks couldn’t play golf. With the advent of Tiger Woods, yet another racist myth was blown away.

Your racist theories also ignore inconvenient facts like:

Anthony Lee Ervin – 2000 Olympics Gold and Silver medals and two World Championship golds. (Gold medal in the men’s 50 m freestyle, silver medal in men’s 4×100 m freestyle relay.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Ervin

2008 Olympian Cullen Jones, Olympic God Medallist and World Record holder in the 4×100 Freestyle Relay.

http://www.cullenjones.com

I also refer you to the following:

http://www.ishof.org/pdf/black_splash.pdf

http://minglecity.com/profiles/blogs/why-black-people-cant-swim

http://www.ishof.org/black_history/history.htm

http://www.ishof.org/black_history/videos.htm

FInally, President Obama is a body surfer.

I could go on, but I think I have made my point about blacks and swimming. So much for your racist claptrap in that area.

As to Jews not being “tough enough” — Mister, I never met a Jew in the Marines who wasn’t “tough enough” or who couldn’t fight well. I served with several in infantry, CAP, and Recon units — and while you may think Scout-snipers are “special snowflakes” (as one Marine officer recently wrote), believe me, they aren’t the only “elite” unit in the Corps. Recon was considered an elite unit in my time — though frankly, I don’t really buy into elitist crap. We all wore the EGA in my day, and I knew Marines from every MOS (including office personnel), race, color and creed, who served well in the pinch — and everybody bleeds the same color, in my experience.

I attach below for your information a partial list of the thousands of Jews who have served this country well since before the Revolution. (It’s too long to insert in the body of this E. Please note that they have been awarded many decorations for valor, including the MOH. Sounds pretty “tough” to me.

As far as the Israeli Commandos and IDF — I don’t really know what that comment is apropos of, since to my knowledge, none of us (including Mr. Weinstein) are members of those organizations, or citizens of Israel. However, since you brought it up, let’s look at the IDF.

(And let me here state that I am not in any way defending the bad behavior of some of their soldiers and units, as in Gaza, nor do I appreciate their meddling in our politics. While I support an Israeli state and homeland, I am in favor of a fair and balanced two-state solution which is fair to all parties — as is Mr. Weinstein and most of the MRFF Jews I know of. However, due to the volatile nature of the politics and participants on all sides, I am not sure if it will ever be achievable. You see, the Arabs also believe “god” is with them — and fratricidal wars are always the worst, as witness North Ireland and many others.)

However, since the 1948 War of Independence, they have fought many actions, some large some small. They have won most in a short time, and tied a few. The Six Day War tells its own story – they decisively defeated a combined Arab force in 6 days. Same with the Yom Kippur War and other actions.

In addition, their commandoes are excellent and effective — and not only against “12 year old Palestinian boys.” LCOL Yonatan Netanyahu (who, with his brother Binyamin, the current Israeli PM, attended the same high school I did in PA) led the successful raid at Entebbe. The raid was fairly successful (unlike our own Iranian hostage rescue attempt), and only lost Yoni himself, along with three hostages. Enemy casualties were heavy, and included all of the PLF who had taken the flight hostage, and dozens of Ugandan soldiers. (LCOL Netanyahu also had a sterling record in prior commando ops, as well as tank warfare.)

Their Mossad is also highly skilled at taking out enemies — and their track record is generally better than ours in this regard.

Therefore your argument here is likewise not based on fact. Q.E.D. However, as I said, it is not apropos to the conversation, so I will move on.

As to your juvenile remark about our Air Force comrades – I can only think that you have never been in a situation where an AF plane dropped a much-needed load of bombs or napalm, or sent in a bird to get your ass out of a sling. I have had a number of times when USAF (as well as Army, USN or Marine) pilots came to our assistance — and we greatly appreciated it. In fact, at Khe Sanh, we would have been unable to continue to fight without the USAF support in terms of supplies flown and dropped in, USAF sorties made on enemy targets, and the B-52s with their close-in heavy bomb support in Operation Niagara.

In addition, one of my most esteemed colleagues here at the MRFF is Rick Baker, who flew two tours in RVN as a SOG rescue pilot, extracting SOG crews, USMC Recon teams, and downed aviators. He got two purple hearts in the process and still sets off metal detectors in airports — so your juvenile “service rivalry” comments won’t find a welcome in this quarter — it merely tells me you either haven’t seen enough combat, or lack an understanding of the part different forces play.

Since you admit to knowing the twisted meaning and history of that emblem and flag, I will not bother to detail that. However, it is also quite clear that you have bought into the revisionist lies of the neo-Nazis and other white racists, from your pathetic attempt to white-wash the SS. While some units may have fought well on the Eastern front, and some towards the end may have been just poor schmucks who were stuck into the ranks, they started out as Hitler’s personal army of thugs, who swore allegiance to Hitler, and were responsible for the imprisonment, torture, and murder (including mass murder!) of a vast number of people – both Jews and non-Jews. In fact, they even killed their fellow German Christians and fellow Nazis, as on the “Nacht der Langen Messer.” I damned sure wouldn’t brag about them if I were unfortunate enough to have any hanging from the family tree by their necks, or model on them.

As to the SS and their deeds – in addition to hearing the stories of those who suffered under them (and that included non-Jewish Poles and Slavs, as well as French, and Greek resistance fighters — not to mention some of our own OSS operatives), I actually knew several former SS men. Most repented their parts, but one in particular, a former officer who had been a Hitler Jugend before joining the SS, remained an unrepentant Nazi — and even tried to convert me to his warped beliefs.

I also knew the late Armin Lehmann who lived near me, and who died in 2008. He was a Hitler Youth who became a courier in the Führerbunker towards the end, leaving shortly after Hitler committed suicide. He eventually realized who and what he had been serving, and spent the rest of his life as a peace activist and advocate for tolerance.

It is a shame that you have let ignorance, bigotry, and prejudice warp your life. I can only hope that at some point you awaken. It does happen, as in Lehmann’s case, and that of Pastor Martin Niemöller, another former Hitler supporter who later opposed him — not after his death, but when he was in full power. You might read what he had to say instead of your neo-Nazi propaganda tracts for a change. Niemöller is the man to model on — not Hitler and his SS bastards

In closing, I might add that your racist screed and creed is the antithesis of what America was founded on and is supposed to be about. (Not that we always live up to our ideals.)

And before you start trying to tell me that we are a “White European” and / or “Christian” nation, and that the Founders were all Christians and never expected us to tolerate other religions and cultures, let me remind you of the words of Mr. Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence on just that subject. Writing in his Autobiography about the passage of the Bill Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia, he said:

> “…a singular proposition proved that it’s protection of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word ‘Jesus Christ,’ so that it should read ‘a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion,’ the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.”

James Madison, the principal author of, and known as the “Father of the Constitution” expressed a similar sentiment when describing the same incident.
( How’s that for “original intent”? )

Semper Fidelis,

F. J. Taylor
USMC (Ret.)

Jews in the military

Jews have served and served well, in every conflict both before and since the Revolution. In every conflict until the present, they have always had a higher percentage of men in the service than their numbers in the general population. If the numbers seem small, it was because they were a small part of the US population. (They still are a relatively small segment.)

In 1654, Asher Levy, one of the original twenty-three Jewish settlers in New Amsterdam, demanded and secured for himself and fellow Jews the right to stand guard at the stockade. From Colonial time to the present, Jews have played an important role in the defense of the United States of America. . One hundred and twenty years later, in 1896, a group of Jewish Civil War veterans organized the Hebrew Union Veterans, an organization that was later to become the Jewish War Veterans of the USA. The Hebrew Union Veterans was founded as a direct result of slander that Jews had not participated in the military during the War Between States.

During the American Revolution an unusually high percentage of Jews were elected to be commissioned and non-commissioned officers by the men in their companies. Almost every Jewish male of military age who was physically fit served in the armies of Gen. George Washington during the American War of Independence. Col. David Salisbury Franks distinguished himself at the Battle of Saratoga, and his brothers Isaac and Moses, also served bravely.

Lt. Col. Solomon Bush, who was decorated for bravery in battle. He received a near-fatal wound at Brandywine, and his brother, Captain Lewis Bush was mortally wounded.

Francis Salvador was nicknamed the “Paul Revere of the South” because on July 1, 1776, he mounted his horse and rode 30 miles to warn the settlers that the Cherokee Indians, incited by the British, were attacking the frontier. He was killed on either July 31 or August 1 (source dates differ), 1776, as he led 330 men in defending the frontier settlers against the Cherokees.

Other Jews who distinguished themselves on the battlefield, including Sheftall Sheftall and Benjamin Nomes.

Mordecai Sheftall acquired the reputation as the “great rebel” in fighting the British in the South. The Revolutionary Government appointed him Commissioner General of Purchase and Issues to the Militia of Georgia. Many times he used his own funds to purchase supplies for the troops.

Haym Solomon was known as the “Financier of the Revolutionary War.” During the war, he used his profits in business to buy food and arms for the armies of Generals Washington, Lafayette, Von Steuben and others. He negotiated many loans for the colonies from France and Holland, as well as the Jewish communities in the West Indies.

Joseph Simon and Levi Andrew Levy, saw action in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.

Levy’s son, 4th Infantry Sgt. Simon Levy, served under Gen. Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in Ohio on Aug. 20, 1794. For his actions, he was appointed as a member of the first class to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1802. (The first class was thus 50 percent Jewish – there were two graduates.)

In the War of 1812 there were entire Jewish companies. Gen. David Emanuel Twiggs, son of Revolutionary War hero Gen. John Twiggs, served from the War of 1812 through the Mexican War and was the highest-ranking officer to leave the U.S. Army for the Confederacy a year before his death in 1862.

At sea, Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy served as a sailing master who directed the line of fire during battle. His ship disrupted the flow of the British merchant ships, which carried supplies for the British. They destroyed 21 ships before they met their match.

Although Texas was not yet part of the US, there were four Jews at the Alamo. One of them, an English Jew named Anthony Wolf, was among the very last men killed, fighting to the end

In the Mexican War, Jewish Gen. David de Leon led the three cavalry charges that won the Battle of Chapultepec. He later became the highest ranking Jewish general in the Confederacy.

When Abraham Lincoln made his call for 75,000 volunteers, only 54,000 responded – and 6,000 of them were of Jewish. The total Northern Jewish population in 1860 was less than 100,000.

During the Civil War there was an unusually high percentage of regimental commanders from the Jewish population. These included Col. Marcus Spiegel, 120th Ohio Infantry Volunteers, and Gettysburg hero, Col. Edward S. Salomon, 82nd Illinois Infantry Volunteers, a close friend of Gen. U.S. Grant.

Maj. Gen. Frederick Knefler, 79th Indiana Infantry, who distinguished himself at the Battle of Chickamauga, was the highest ranking Jewish Union Army general.

The Medal of Honor was established by Congress during the Civil War. It is the highest award given for bravery. Six Jews in the Union Army were recipients of this prestigious award:

Sgt. Leopold Karpeles was entrusted with his regiment’s flag during the Battle of the Wilderness. While the Confederate bullets went by him, Karpeles kept waving the flag as it was the only object that the Union soldiers could see. General Wadsworth kept riding up and down the Union lines telling the troops to “rally around the flag.” He recommended Sgt. Leopold Karpeles for the Medal of Honor.

Benjamin B. Levy was a drummer boy in Co. H, 1st New York Infantry Volunteers, rescued two standards which were dropped by their wounded bearers in the Battle of Charles City Crossroads. He unfurled them and carried them throughout the battle, preventing the colors from being captured by the Confederate soldiers. He was awarded the Medal of Honor, and promoted to Color Sgt.

Henry Heller was in a party of four under heavy fire in the Battle of Chancellorsville. They voluntarily crossed the enemy lines to capture and bring back to the Union lines a wounded Confederate officer from whom valuable information was obtained concerning the battle. He was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Isaac Gause was awarded the Medal of Honor for capturing the colors of the Confederate Army’s 8th South Carolina Infantry in hand-to-hand combat.

David Orbansky (Urbansky) received the Medal of Honor for exceptional gallantry and heroism in many actions which included the Battles of Shiloh and Vicksburg.

Abraham Cohn received the Medal of Honor for heroism in two battles. At the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864, he rallied and reformed the disorganized fleeing Union troops from several regiments and established a new defense line that held. At the Battle of Petersburg, Virginia, July 30, 1864, he bravely carried orders to the advanced Union line while under severe fire from Confederate troops.

Simon Suhler enlisted in the Army many times under different names. He used the name Charles Gardner when he enlisted in the 8th Cavalry, on October 15, 1866, in California. His outfit was sent to fight the Apaches in Arizona. His bravery earned him the Medal of Honor, and his citation commends him “…for his bravery, in scouts and action.” Suhler was born in Bavaria in 1844 and came to America in 1866. His brother, Aaron, was the first Reform Rabbi of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Waco, Texas.

George Geiger was a sergeant in Company H, 7th United States Cavalry. For his actions on June 25, 1876, at the Little Big Horn, his bravery was later rewarded with the Medal of Honor.

When the U.S. Battleship was sunk by an explosion on February 15, 1898, in Havana Harbor, Cuba, 15 Jewish sailors were among those killed. The executive officer and later a Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, was Adolph Marix, a Jew. Marix was later appointed chairman of the board of inquiry to investigate the sinking of the Maine.

When the United States declared war on Spain on April 21, 1898. There were 30 Jewish officers in the Army and 20 in the Navy. About 5,000 Jews served in this war.
Jews likewise served in the Confederacy, as noted above.

Col. Theodore Roosevelt’s Spanish-American War memoirs give special praise for the actions of a Jewish colonel in the Regular Army who served on the left flank of the Rough Riders. The first of the Rough Riders to be killed in action was Trooper Jacob Wilbusky, a Jewish cowboy from Texas. The first to fall in the attack on Manila was Jewish Sergeant Maurice Joost of California.

In 1915, Samuel Marguiles enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps using the name of Samuel Gross. His unit was sent to Haiti to protect American lives and property during the Caco Wars.

The Marines attacked Fort Riviere, an old French fort, to cut off the avenues of retreat for the Cacos. There was a breach in the wall, which was the only entrance into the fort. Gross was the second man to pass through the breach in face of constant fire from the bandits. After ten minutes of fierce fighting, the Caco bandits were defeated. Samuel Gross was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery.

In World War I, there were more than 250,000 Jews who answered America’s call to action: over 3,500 were killed; over 12,000 were wounded; and they received over 1,100 decorations for bravery.

Benjamin Kaufman responded to America’s call to arms and quickly rose to the rank of sergeant. While serving in an advance detail in the Argonne on October 4, 1918, Kaufman and his men came under heavy fire from a German machine gun.

Two of his men were wounded, and Kaufman realized that he had to silence the machine gun.

As he moved toward the machine gun, he was hit by a bullet in the right arm. With his shattered arm bleeding and hanging limp, he advanced on the enemy. He used his left arm to lob hand grenades into the German machine gun nest. He silenced the machine gun and captured a German soldier.

For his bravery, Kaufman was awarded the Medal of Honor and received awards from nine foreign governments. After the war, he joined the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. and served as national commander in 1941-42 and thereafter as its National Executive Director.

Sergeant William Sawelson was born in Newark, N.J., and entered the Army, serving in Company M, 312th Infantry, 78th Division. It was in Grand Pre, France, on October 26, 1918, that Sawelson heard a wounded man in a shell hole cry out for water.

Sawelson left his protective shelter to crawl through heavy machine gun fire to bring him a canteen of water. He returned safely to his shell hole to obtain more water. He was returning to the wounded man when he was killed by machine gun bullets. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery.

The third Jewish soldier to receive the Medal of Honor in World War I was First Sergeant Sydney G. Gumpertz. It was on September 29, 1918, at Bois de Forges, that he displayed his heroism. His outfit was advancing against the Germans when it was held up by machine gun fire. An American heavy artillery barrage failed to destroy the machine gun nest. Using the barrage as a cover, Gumpertz and two men went out to silence the enemy position.

The artillery shells killed the two men with Gumpertz. Alone, he zigzagged through the enemy bullets until he reached the machine gun nest. He jumped into the nest and captured nine German soldiers. For his bravery, Sydney G. Gumpertz was awarded the Medal of Honor.

One of the great stories in World War I was that of the “Lost Battalion” of the 77th Division and how Private Abraham Krotoshinsky, a Jew, saved the day. It was on November 2, 1918, in the Argonne Forrest, that his battalion found itself in trouble.

His commander, Col. Whittlesey, had led the battalion into the forest to clear it of German machine gun nests. The Germans pulled back and then encircled them. Private Krotoshinsky and another soldier were sent out to make contact with their Maj. Gen. Milton J. Foreman division. As soon as they started out, the other soldier was killed. Krotoshinsky slowly made his way through the German lines and reached his division, which moved forward to save the “Lost Battalion.” Major General Milton J. Foreman, of the Illinois National Guard, received the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery while serving as a colonel in France. When his unit came under heavy German artillery and machine gun fire, he crept through the German gunfire laying out telephone wire so that he could tell his artillery where the enemy had gun positions. Through Foreman’s information, the American artillery was able to destroy them.

General Foreman was one of the organizers of the American Legion, and he was chairman of its executive committee at the Paris Caucus. During the American Legion’s third national convention in 1921, he was designated as a past national commander by resolution.

The finest tribute paid to the Jewish fighting men in World War I was given by General John J. Pershing: “When the time came to serve their country under arms, no class of people served with more patriotism or with higher motives than the young Jews who volunteered or were drafted and went overseas with our other young Americans to fight the enemy.”

As study of Jewish participation in the military during World War II clearly indicates Jews served in the Armed Forces beyond their numerical proportion to the general population. the Jews were only 3.5 percent of the total population, yet more than 550,000 Jews served in the U.S. military (including my late father-in-law). 11,000 were killed and more than 40,000 were wounded.

1600 Jews received the Silver Star for gallantry in action (3rd highest award for valor), 157 received Distinguished Service Medals, the Army or Navy Cross (2nd highest for valor) and three received the Medal of Honor. Altogether, Jews received over 52,000 combat decorations, citations and awards

Jewish Maj. Gen. Maurice Rose, Patton’s favorite tank commander, was the highest ranking U.S. officer killed in action during World War II.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, Jewish men stationed there quickly responded to repulse the enemy.

Ensign Moldane and Ensign Asher, both Jewish, were having breakfast when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Their orders were to take their destroyer out to sea. Ensign Asher directed the crew, while Ensign Moldane took charge of the forward machine guns. He described the action as the ship battled its way out to sea: “I could see Japanese planes coming about 30 to 40 feet over our heads, dropping bombs and shooting at anything that happened to come along. Our ship kept firing at the planes as it headed out to sea. I went to the bridge to help Asher when we both saw a Japanese plane, that the guns had hit, go into a pineapple field. The men gave out a cheer when they saw the plane burst into flames. It took the Blue one and a half hours to reach the open sea.”

Private Louis Schleifer was at Hickam Field when he saw the Japanese planes dropping bombs and strafing American planes. He went outside to help get the planes into hangars when he saw a Japanese plane heading toward him. He drew out his revolver and kept firing at the plane until he was mortally wounded. There is a memorial fountain for Private Louis Schleifer in the garden of Temple Beth Shalom, Livingston, New Jersey. Every year on December 7, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association holds services at the fountain.

Lee Goldfarb, of Jersey City, New Jersey, was a 3rd Class radioman. He was preparing to get some sleep when he heard sounds of planes. He looked out the porthole and saw the Japanese planes attacking the seven ships tied up at Ford Island. He was at his battle station when his ship was struck by a torpedo and sank.

Second Lieutenant Raymond Zussman was a tank officer in France. In a street-fighting battle at the Village of Noroy-le-Bourg, in the Rhone Valley, his tank became disabled and he took a carbine and on foot proceeded in front of another tank and guided it through the village streets. He fired his carbine and killed 19 enemy soldiers, took 93 prisoners and captured two antitank guns, a flak gun and two trucks.

Zussman guided the tank through German-made booby traps and directed its fire to destroy an enemy machine gun position. When his carbine ran out of ammunition, he picked up a Tommy gun to use. Fearing a trap at an intersection, Zussman went in alone to look for the enemy. When the tank rounded the corner of the intersection, he had 30 prisoners and two anti-tank guns that they were using. LT Zussman was killed a few days after the engagement which earned him the Medal of Honor.

Sgt. Isadore S. Jachman had come from Germany when he was two years old. After Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Army. He was a paratrooper, and saved his company from annihilation at Flamierge, Belgium. He received the Medal of Honor posthumously. The citation read: “Sergeant Jachman, Company B, 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity, above and beyond the call of duty at Flamierge, Belgium, on the fourth of January, 1945 when his company was pinned down by enemy artillery, mortar, small arms fire and two hostile tanks that attacked the unit, inflicting heavy casualties. Sergeant Jachman, seeing the desperate plight of his comrades, left his place of cover with total disregard for his own safety, dashed across open ground through a hail of fire, and seizing a bazooka from a fallen comrade, advanced on the tanks, which concentrated their fire on him. Firing his weapon, he damaged one and forced both of them to retire. Sergeant Jachman’s heroic action, in which he suffered fatal wounds, disrupted the enemy attack, reflecting the highest credit upon himself and the Parachute Infantry.”

Captain Ben L. Salomon was a dentist in the Army in World War II. He was in the Marianas Islands on July 7, 1944, in the 2nd Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Division. The Regiment’s 1st and 2nd Battalions were attacked by an overwhelming force estimated between 3,000 to 5,000 Japanese soldiers.

They penetrated the American lines and inflicted heavy casualties. Captain Salomon’s aid station had about 40 wounded. He saw a Japanese soldier bayonet a wounded soldier. Firing from a squatting position, he killed the enemy soldier. He turned to take care of the wounded when two more Japanese soldiers appeared at the entrance of the tent. As he killed them, four more crawled under the tent walls. Rushing them, Captain Salomon kicked the knife out of the hand of one, shot another, bayoneted another and butted another in the stomach. A wounded comrade shot and killed the butted Japanese soldier.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Captain Salomon ordered the wounded to make their way back as best as they could. He grabbed a rifle from one of the wounded and rushed out of the tent to confront the enemy. He found four dead American soldiers slumped over their machine gun. He took control of the machine gun and started firing it. The next morning, he was found dead over the machine gun with 98 Japanese dead in front of his position. He received the Medal of Honor posthumously – after 50 years, because it was thought that “medical people couldn’t get” this award. However, it was subsequently determined that a medical person can receive it if defending a position.

General Mark W. Clark, Commander of the Army, said, “Thousands of Americans of the Jewish faith are serving under my command, carrying their share of the burden in battle in Italy. Many of them have been killed in the service of their country. To American soldiers of the Jewish faith go my most sincere thanks for their
faithfulness, diligence and bravery in battle. To those who have passed on must go a nation’s gratitude.”

Admiral Harold R. Stark, Commander, United States Navy in Europe, said, “The officers and men in the United States Naval Forces in Europe, join to honor those gallant Americans of the Jewish faith who, during the past year, have laid down their lives for their country…We mourn them as brothers—brothers who cannot be with us to share this European triumph toward which they gave their lives.”

During this period, though Jews were only approximately 3.5 percent of the total U.S. population, they constituted about 4.23 percent of the U.S. Armed Forces.

About 60 percent of all Jewish physicians in the United States under 45 years of age were in service as military physicians and medics.

Many Jewish physicists were involved in the Manhattan Project, the effort to develop the atomic bomb. Many of these were refugees from Nazi Germany or from antisemitic persecution elsewhere in Europe.

In addition, over 200 Jewish women enlisted to serve in our country’s Armed Forces. One of them was Lt. Frances Slanger, an Army nurse.

Slanger was short and petite and was one of the first nurses to land in France, wading ashore with the hospital platoon. She had to hold on the backpack straps of a GI in front of her to keep from being swept under by the high waves of the ocean. When she landed, she started taking care of the wounded on the beach. She felt so proud of the GIs that she wrote a letter to Stars & Stripes extolling their heroism.

That evening, a German shell landed near her and four other nurses. As she lay dying, she wanted them to take care of the other wounded nurses. She was buried in a military cemetery in France, next to the GIs that she admired. Years later, she was taken from her burial site to a Jewish cemetery outside of Boston.

Jewish women veterans returning after the war honored her by forming the JWV Frances Slanger Memorial Post, a post which has only women veterans as members.

Charles Feuereisen was with the 511th Parachute Infantry Division and rose through the ranks to become a sergeant. He made 39 jumps in combating the enemy. On one of his jumps in Leyte, Philippines, his outfit found maps of a California invasion in a dead Japanese officer’s briefcase. Feuereisen and P.F.C. Ralph Merisiecki were assigned to take it to their headquarters near Buraueng.

They delivered the documents and proceeded to Tacioban for an airlift to their base. General Douglas MacArthur had his headquarters there. Feuereisen decided that they should go to where MacArthur had his office and possibly get to speak to him. They went through a maze of officers and reporters and finally they met Lt. Col. Roger O. Egeburg, the supreme commander’s personal physician and aide, and explained why they were there. Before long, General MacArthur appeared and warmly greeted them with a smile and a handshake. He took them into his private office to talk about the military actions of his parachute group. Feuereisen was very pleased to find out how much information General MacArthur knew about his outfit.

On April 6, 1945, he led a patrol to find the enemy. A landmine killed the lead man, and Feuereisen was shot in the back by a sniper. He was paralyzed for nine months before returning to good health.

Feuereisen’s bravery earned him the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the Asiatic-Pacific Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters. At the JWV convention in August, 1968, Charles Feuereisen was elected National Commander.

COL David “Mickey” Marcus graduated from West Point in 1924.

Marcus went back into the Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was appointed a divisional judge advocate and later a division commander. When the Allies decided to invade Normandy, Marcus volunteered to join the D-Day airborne assault. With no previous training, he joined the paratroopers and parachuted into Normandy.

In 1945, Marcus joined General Lucius D. Clay’s staff to help oversee a military government in Germany after the Nazis’ defeat. Marcus was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze Star and British decorations.

He couldn’t forget entering the Dachau concentration camp, at the head of a tank column, seeing the living and the dead Jews. He resolved that he would help Israel survive so that Jews would have a place to live there if they chose.

When he retired as a colonel, the Hagganah contacted him and asked him to build up their fledgling army. He accepted the offer and they gave him the rank of alluf (brigadier general). While inspecting the Israeli security lines, he was accidentally shot and killed. He was buried in the West Point Cemetery with full military honors.

General Maurice Rose was a hero of World War I and World War II. He was a second lieutenant in the American Expeditionary Force that fought the Germans on French soil in World War I. When the war was over, he decided to make the Army his profession.

In World War II, he served as chief of staff of the 2nd Armored Division and was promoted to brigadier general, in 1943. His division was shipped to Africa, and Rose was involved in many tank battles with the Germans. He negotiated the unconditional surrender of the Germans in Tunisia. He was given the command of the 3rd Armored Division in Europe. In 1944, he was promoted to major general. He led his tanks in combat against the Germans through France, Belgium and into Germany, and in a fierce battle General Rose was killed. GEN Rose was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, and the Purple Heart. The French Army bestowed upon him the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre.

(General Rose’s 3rd Armored Division was the first division to cross the German border; the first to breach the Siegfried line; the first to shoot down an enemy plane on German soil; and the first to fire an artillery shell into German soil.)

Many Jewish veterans of World War II rejoined to fight in the Korean War.

One of these men was Major Melvin Garten. Garten was a highly decorated hero of World War II. He had been awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, a Presidential Unit Citation and the Purple Heart with three Oak Leak Clusters for having been wounded four times in battle.

Garten was the captain of K Company, 312 Infantry Regiment, U. S. Army, when he was hailed for extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy. This action took place on October 30, 1952 near Surang-Ni, Korea. He observed that companies F and G were pinned down by withering fire on a dominant hill.

He voluntarily proceeded alone up the rugged slope to help them. When he reached the besieged troops, he found that the key personnel had been wounded, and the men were without a commander. He took command of the remaining troops. He assigned men to the machine guns and distributed hand grenades. Garten led these troops in attacking the enemy positions and routed them.

Garten was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. “Major Garten’s inspirational leadership, unflinching courage under fire and valorous actions reflect the highest credit upon himself and are in keeping with the cherished tradition of the military service.”

Tibor Rubin’s bravery during the Korean War is probably unparalleled in the history of America’s fighting heroes. He was an Hungarian Holocaust survivor who lost his parents in a Nazi concentration camp, and he managed to stay alive until he was liberated. He came to the United States and enlisted in the Army to fight in Korea.

While in Korea, he broke his leg and was shipped to an Army hospital in Japan. With his leg not completely healed, he returned to his unit in Korea. On November 1, 1950, he received shrapnel wounds in his left hand and chest. He was captured by the Chinese and, along with other American prisoners of war, was marched to a fortified camp where they were confined.

Rubin, who had learned to survive in a Nazi concentration camp, applied his experience to sneak out during the night to steal food from the Chinese. He would give this food to the other prisoners, especially the sick and dying. Every time he went out for food, Rubin was risking his life. He felt that this was his way at getting back at the enemy as they were short on food themselves.

Rubin was a prisoner of war for two and one-half years. His fellow prisoners credit him with saving 35 to 40 lives during his daring, almost nightly ventures of stealing food for his comrades. Many organizations campaigned to have Tibor Rubin receive the Medal of Honor, which was finally awarded to him.

Congress also passed legislation to have the military review the records of 35 Jewish recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross to see if anti-Semitism was responsible for many of them not being awarded the prestigious Medal of Honor.

Vice Admiral Hyman George Rickover took the Navy into the atomic age with his persistence that U.S. Navy build the first atomic-powered submarine. In 1946, he was assigned to Oak Ridge, the site of the development of the atomic bomb. He also visited other nuclear research centers and became convinced that ships could be powered by nuclear energy. Almost alone in his belief, he finally convinced the Navy to begin to develop a nuclear submarine in 1947.

The first atomic-powered submarine was launched in January, 1954. Admiral Hyman George Rickover is considered to be the father of the atomic-powered Navy.

The Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s was long and protracted. The heroism and casualties of the Jewish combatants reflected their participation in this war. There were two Jewish recipients of the Medal Honor in the Vietnam War: Col. Jack Jacobs, U.S. Army, and Sergeant John L. Levitow, U.S. Air Force.

Colonel Jack Jacobs received the Medal of Honor in 1969 for saving the lives of 12 soldiers and stopping an ambush of his unit in Vietnam. On March 9, 1968, in the Province of Kien Phong, in the Republic of Vietnam, Jacobs’ actions in combat were beyond the call of duty and at the risk of his life. His citation is as follows: “Sergeant John L. Levitow, His gallant actions and extraordinary heroism saved the lives of one U.S. adviser and 13 allied soldiers. Through his efforts, the allied company was restored to an effective fighting unit and prevented defeat of the friendly forces by a strong and determined enemy. Jacobs by his conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action, has reflected great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.”

Sergeant John L. Levitow, of the 3rd Special Operations Squadron, received the Medal of Honor and the citation reflects his heroism: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty, Sergeant John L. Levitow (then Airman First Class), U.S. Air Force, distinguished himself by exceptional heroism on February 24, 1969, while assigned as a loadmaster aboard a AC-47 aircraft flying a night mission.”

Corporal Roger Steven Briskin was in the Marine Corps and was in the thick of battle in the Da Nang Quong Nam Province, Vietnam, with the enemy. While attempting to rescue a wounded Marine, Briskin was killed by Mortar fragments. He received many medals for his bravery.

Captain Fred Zedeck in the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, U.S. Air Force flew 165 missions and logged more than 450 combat hours. His decorations included the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with ten Oak Leaf Clusters. He retired from the Air Force as a colonel.

Lieutenant Joseph Ira Goldstein was in the U.S. Navy Squadron VF154. He was in Vietnam and flew 110 combat missions. He received the Navy Unit Commendation Medal, the Vietnam Gallantry Cross and five air medals.

Brisken, Zedeck and Goldstein are three of the thousands of Jews who fought for our country in the Vietnam War. Some were killed; some were wounded; some brought back with them the mental scars of combat. Again, as in America’s past wars, Jews responded to their country’s call for fighting men.

Judith A. Resnik was the second Jewish woman to die for our country and the second woman astronaut in space.

On her first trip into space, Resnik was a mission specialist on the maiden voyage of the space ship. Resnik was born on April 5, 1949, in Akron, Ohio. She received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University of Pittsburgh in 1970, and a Doctorate of Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, 1977.

On January 28, 1986, millions of people saw Resnik on television as she went aboard the shuttle. Resnik and the crew were subsequently killed at 11:39 a.m. when the spaceship exploded, seconds after it was launched. Judith Resnik will live in the legacy of Jewish women and men who contributed to our country and those who were wounded or died in its service.

For centuries, Jews have given of themselves to protect and fight for our country, as well as enriching us socially, culturally and artistically. Over one million Jews have served in our military from colonial times to the present. Jews have always had a higher percentage in the military than their percentage of the total population until the present war. They have been in every major battle, war and action.

In defending our country, many Jews have been killed and wounded. Today, Jewish men and women are again in the military fighting terrorism and tyranny. They have never shirked their responsibilities when serving in the military—in war and peace.

I have been to war with them, and I can tell you, they lacked nothing in patriotism and love of country.