Jewish Members of the Armed Services

Jews in the American Military

Because the Jewish population of the United States is only 1.7% of the 325 million American citizens, it is not surprising that Jewish participation in the military is small. Nevertheless, it is remarkable how many Jewish members of the armed forces have distinguished themselves in the service of their country. The military history of Jewish Americans begins before Independence when Jews served in the colonial militias.

Thereafter Jews served in all branches of the American armed forces and in all the many wars in which the United States has been involved. 

Most important is to remember those who died fighting in the many wars of the United States in this century and in the past. From the Revolutionary War to the War of 1812, the Civil War, The Spanish American War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Viet Nam War, and the several wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Jewish casualties, including deaths, have been evidence of Jewish willingness to sacrifice their lives for the sake of America.

A list of “fallen heroes” demonstrates this sacrifice of Jewish men and women in “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” “Enduring Freedom,” and “New Dawn.” These men and Elizabeth Jacobson died at an average age of 24, with some as young as nineteen and a few as old as forty-two.

Elizabeth Jacobson was 21 years old when an explosive device blew up at Camp Bucca in Iraq which killed her. She was the first female airwoman to die in combat “in the line of duty.” She was born in 1984 and died in 2005.

 In addition there are numerous Jewish wounded veterans of these wars.  Although there were only 3,000 Jews in the United States during the Revolutionary War, 160  Jewish men served in the War for Independence. During the Civil War or The War Between the States, Jews served in both armies. At that time some 600 Jews died in both the Confederate States and the Union. About 7,000 served for the Union and 3,000 for the  Confederacy. Jews constituted 0.5% of the population.

Two Jewish companies were raised in the north, made up of Illinois volunteers who were recent immigrants from Europe. Four Jewish generals served in the Union army. Brigadier General Frederick Solomon had been a colonel but was promoted to general and became a major general by the end of the war in 1865.

Brigadier General Leopold Blumenberg fought against General Robert E. Lee at the battle of Antietam, where he was severely wounded. Because of his wounds, he was relieved of the fighting and appointed by President Lincoln to superintendent of warehouses in Baltimore. Brigadier General Frederick Knefler  rose from First Lieutenant to Brigadier General after serving on the staff of General Lew Wallace, having been recognized for bravery and courage after fighting in four campaigns. The 82nd Illinois was command by General Edward S. Solomon. His unit participated in the battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3 , 1863.

In World War I William Shermin ran across the battlefield three times in order to save wounded soldiers. Then, at age 19, he took command of his unit as the commander had been killed. He led the men to safety. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. In 2011, President Obama signed the William Shermin Jewish World War I Veterans Act, ordering the Defense Department to review the actions of  Jewish veterans who had been refused the Congressional Medal of Honor because they were Jewish.

In World War II, 550,000 American Jews served in the armed forces. This constituted 4% of all American service personnel, although the American Jewish community at that time was only 3% of the USA population. 

General Maurice Rose

Among the outstanding American Jewish soldiers was General Maurice Rose. (1899-1945). He was a World War I veteran. He was the highest ranking American killed by enemy fire because, unlike all other generals, he rode in a Jeep in front of the Third Armored Division at the time of the Normandy Allied invasion. General Rose placed his headquarters close to the front line so that he could visit his units without wasting time. By exposing himself, he encouraged his men, as he never demanded anything from them that he would not do himself.

General Rose and the Third Armored Division put an end to the Nazis’ last  offensive and began a relentless drive across northern France. The Third Division defeated the Germans in Belgium by liberating Liege and then advanced to the German border as the lead force of the First Army. General Rose and the Third Division became the first Americans to enter Germany on September 12, 1944, and captured the infamous Siegfried Line. The Third Division was also the key force defeating the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge, and captured Cologne  (Köln) on March 5, 1945. The Division advanced 1010 miles in one day and captured 374,000 German soldiers. General Rose was killed on March 4, 1945 shortly before the German surrender.

As a 19 year old First Lieutenant, Maurice Rose fought with the 89th Infantry Division in France during the First World War. Wounded, he spent three weeks in a hospital. In 1920 he was promoted to captain. In World War II he served in North Africa with the 1st and second armored division and earned a Silver Star at the Battle of Tunisia. Just before the invasion of Sicily, he was promoted to Brigadier General. Assigned to the command of the Third Armored Division,  General Rose fought in Germany, where he was killed only five weeks before the German surrender. Maurice Rose was married twice to non Jewish women. He had two sons, one each from his two wives. He was buried in a Dutch cemetery for American soldiers. Because he pretended  to be a Protestant in order to further his career, he is buried under a cross, although he never converted to Christianity.

Alexander D. Goode

On February 3, 1943, the American  troop ship Dorchester was hit by a German torpedo in the north Atlantic. The torpedo struck the engine room, leading to a massive explosion. The ship capsized and sank within 20 minutes. There were four Army chaplains aboard. Father John T. Washington, Rev. Clark D. Poling, Rev. George Fox, and Rabbi Alexander D. Goode. As the ship sank, the four chaplains assisted the wounded and frightened sailors in boarding life boats. The four chaplains also handed out life preservers taken from locked boxes on deck. When the life preservers gave out and there were no more to give to the frightened sailors, the four chaplains gave their life preservers to four sailors. Then, locking hands, the four, including Rabbi Goode, prayed together as the ship sank. They were among 670 passengers who died that day with them.

Rabbi Alexander Goode was born in 1911 in Brooklyn, New York. He became a rabbi like his father before hm. In 1944 the four chaplains received the Distingushed Service Cross posthumously. In 1949 a U.S. postage stamp was issued with the inscription “The Immortal Chaplains” and Congress designated February 3 “Four Chaplains Day”.

Admiral Hyman G.  Rickover (1900-1986)

Rickover is known as “The Father of the Nuclear Navy.” He has been designated as “the Navy’s most important officer.” He served as a four-star admiral from 1953- 1982. He spent 63 years in the U.S. Navy, making him the longest-serving naval officer as well as the longest-serving member of the US Armed Forces in history.

Rickover was born in Portland as Chaim Godalia, of Jewish parents who came to the United States in 1900. His father was a tailor. The family lived in Chicago, where Hyman graduated from high school. He then worked as a telegraph boy delivering Western Union telegrams. His acquaintance Congressman Adolph Sabath nominated him for appointment to the United States Naval Academy. He graduated in 1922 and was commissioned as an ensign. In 1923 he was promoted to engineer officer. He then came on board of the parent ship Nevada, and earned a Master’s of Science in electrical engineering from Columbia University. He married a Christian woman in 1931 and converted to the Episcopal religion as he believed this necessary in order to have career. Religious  bigotry was then well entrenched in the American Armed Forces. Despite this conversion, he was regarded as a Jew.

There were several reasons for anti-Jewish conduct in the armed forces during the 1930’s and beyond. When Germany under Hitler persecuted the German Jews and even burned down all synagogues (Greek for assembly), many Americans claimed that those who wanted to attack Germany were only seeking to fight the Nazis on behalf of the Jews. It was even said that President Roosevelt was a Jew or that the Jews were telling him what to do. A second reason for anti-Jewish hate in the United States during the 1930’s and later was anti-Jewish propaganda distributed by the German Nazi embassy in Washington and by such “personalities” as the radio priest Father Coughlin and by the “hero” Charles Lindbergh. In addition, German language newspapers fueled hate of Jews and agreement with Hitler among the numerous German—Americans who at that time were subscribers to German language newspapers. Finally, the Ku Klux Klan was active, and had many members who promoted religious hate, as did the American Nazi  Party, which ceased to exist only after the United States entered the Second World War in December of 1941.

From 1929 to 1933 Rickover volunteered for submarine duty. During that time, he translated a German book concerning submarines, which became the basic text for the US submarine service. In 1937, Rickover was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and assigned to the Bureau of Engineering in Washington, DC. After the United States had entered the Second World War, he was sent to Okinawa, an island in the Pacific. In December 1945 he was appointed Inspector General of the 19th fleet on the West Coast. He was then sent to Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Rickover was then appointed by Secretary of the Navy, John L. Sullivan,  to build the world’s first nuclear powered vessel.

In 1955 Rickover was promoted to Rear Admiral after he was at first rejected because he was seen as Jewish despite his conversion to Christianity. As an admiral, Rickover oversaw the Shippingport Atomic Power Station. In 1958 he was promoted to Vice Admiral ad received a Gold Medal from Congress. In 1973 he was again promoted to four star admiral.

Admiral Jeremy Boorda

Jeremy Boorda (November 26, 1939-May 16, 1996) was an admiral who served as the 25th Chief of Naval Operations, which is the highest rank in the navy. The son of Jewish parents who immigrated from the Ukraine, he was the only Chief ever to rise to that position from having begun as an enlisted man.  He was awarded 15 medals during his career, which ended when he shot himself in the chest or was murdered, although he did leave a suicide note to the effect that he had tarnished the reputation of the Navy. The media, ever ready to attack all successful Americans, claimed that Boorda had worn two service ribbons containing a “V” for Viet Nam to which he was not entitled. Boorda therefore may have killed himself. However Admiral Zumwalt, the previous Chief of Naval Operations and other high ranking officers, repeatedly confirmed that Boorda was entitled to wear the “V.”

Those who believe that Boorda was murdered point out that Boorda was the only admiral who did not graduate from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, earning him a great deal of animosity from the other naval officers. The media claimed that Boorda left two suicide notes behind, although only one has ever been found and that note was not signed. The navy never released the results of his autopsy. Witnesses claimed they saw two bullet holes in Boorda’s body. IF Boorda shot himself then he would not have been able to fire a second shot. Boorda has a favorable reputation not associated with a suicidal personality. Moreover. He repeatedly remarked how he was looking forward to retire that year. Since the theory that Boorda killed himself because he wore an unauthorized insignia seems absurd in view of the assertion by all naval authorities that he was entitled to wear this device. Therefore an explanation for Boorda’s death is tied to the so-called the Tailhook Scandal. This label referred to a series of assaults on women performed during a drunken convention of Navy and Marine pilots who allegedly assaulted 83 women and seven men, and otherwise engaged in indecent conduct at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. Some of the men wore T -shirts with the legend “Women Are Property.”

Women were forced to “walk the gauntlet” in which drunken officers lined both sides of a hallway and assaulted women attempting to go to their rooms. A subsequent investigation led to some officers being demoted and others dismissed. Further investigation of the Tailhook Scandal included testimony from the wife of a divorced Marine Corps Colonel, Kay Griggs, in which she testified that her ex-husband George Griggs  was probably involved in the murder of Admiral Boorda. She also claimed that it is nearly impossible for an officer to attain the rank of colonel or above without participating in homosexual activities. According to Mrs. Griggs, Admiral Boorda “made the mistake” of firing numerous men involved in the Tailhook scandal. This infuriated several generals who had participated in the Tailhook Scandal. That , according to Glen MacDonald, an army major, led to Boorda’s murder.

Jeremy Boorda dropped out of high school and entered the U.S. Navy at the age of 17. He finished high school while in the navy and was promoted and served on aircraft carriers. In 1962 he was admitted to the Officer’s Candidate School. He was commissioned at Lieutenant Junior Grade. In 1965 he commanded a destroyer during the Vietnam war. Later he attended the US Navy War College and also earned a B.A. degree from the University of Rhode Island.  After commanding a number of ships, Boorda was assigned assistant to the Secretary of the Navy. In 1984 he was assigned Executive Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations. He then became Chief of Naval Forces in Europe and in 1994 became the 25th Chief of Naval Operations. He was the only enlisted man eve to rise to the highest rank available to a navy officer.

Admiral Claude Charles Bloch

Admiral Bloch was a veteran of both World War I and II. He received the Naval cross for bravery.  He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1899 and commanded the USS Plattsburg. Later he commanded the US Battle Force and became Commander in Chief of the US fleet 1938-1940. He commanded the Naval Air District when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. Admiral Bloch served in the navy for 46 years. 

Congressional Medal of Honor Heroes

Jewish members of the armed forces have also distinguished themselves by extraordinary acts of courage which won them the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest decoration available to an American fighting man or woman. Of all those who have been awarded the Medal of  Honor, Tibor Rubin is no doubt the most amazing recipient.  Tibor Rubin was born on June 9, 1929 in a small Hungarian town inhabited by 120 Jewish families. His father was an employee in  a shoe store. At age 14, Tibor and his family were sent to the Mauthausen death camp by the Germans who had invaded Hungary. He survived while his mother and father were murdered. On May 5, 1945, American soldiers liberated the death camp inmates. A very religious Jew, he promised God that he would join the U.S. army if he survived the death camp. In 1948, he succeeded in coming to the United States. In 1950 he joined the army and was told that he did not have to fight in the Korean War because he was not a citizen. He insisted that he wanted to fight for the United States in gratitude for admitting him to the country. His sergeant, a man called Watson, hated all Jews and sought to have Rubin killed by assigning him he most dangerous missions. This included one situation in which he singlehandedly held off a wave of North Korean soldiers for 24 hours, securing a safe route of retreat for his own troops. As a result, Rubin was recommended to receive the Medal of Honor, but his sergeant, Artice W. Watson, refused to fill out the paperwork because he did not want a Jew to receive the medal.

In 2002 Congress passed the Kravitz Jewish War Veterans Act, named after a fallen Jewish hero who was denied the Medal of Honor because he was Jewish. That led Presidnt Bush to order a review of 137 Jewish veterans’ records. At that time, the Jewish Journal of Southern California published Rubin’s record and the conduct of Watson. Rubin spent 30 months as a prisoner of war in North Korea. His fellow prisoners have testified that Tibor Rubin risked his life for the good of others. He stole food from the enemy’s supplies, which he shared equally with all American prisoners. He did this at night. He knew that if he had been caught by the enemy he would have been killed.   Because he was born in Hungary, the Koreans offered to release him by sending him to Hungary, then a communist  country. He refused unless all other Americans were also released. He carried sick American prisoners to the latrine and nursed others. Nothing was more important to him than to help his fellow men.

Among those who received the Congressional Medal of Honor is Florent Groberg, a native of France, born in 1983, who was decorated by President Obama in 2015. Groberg had been promoted to Captain in the 4th Infantry Division.

Groberg had received The Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. In 2012 he was severely injured thwarting a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. Raised by his mother and stepfather, he never met his biological father. His family moved to Potomac, Maryland when Florent was in middle school. He became a US citizen in 2001. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 2007. In 2008 he entered the Army and became an officer after graduating from the Fort Benning Officer Candidate School.  Assigned to the action in Afghanistan, Groberg risked his life and suffered considerable wounds on seizing a suicide bomber before the bomber could kill a patrol consisting of two brigade commanders, three battalion commanders and two sergeants major. Groberg tackled the suicide bomber, who then detonated his device, blowing Groberg 20 feet away. Thereupon a second suicide bomber also detonated a bomb which killed several Americans, although Groberg survived with a brain injury, significant nerve damage, and blown eardrums.

Leonard Kravitz earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his action in the Korean War. Years later he was awarded The Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously. No one saw Kravitz die. He was found in a foxhole surrounded by a large number of enemy soldiers. He had only 6 rounds of ammunition in his machine gun. His unit was surrounded by enemy soldiers who launched a fanatical “banzi charge,” forcing the Americans to withdraw, except for Kravitz, who volunteered to cover his retreating comrades by firing the machine gun at the enemy. The citation for his Distinguished Service Cross reads “Pvt. Kravits poured devastating fire into the ranks of the onrushing assailants. He swept the hostile soldiers with deadly accurate fire, killing the entire group.” He was so effective that the enemy was forced to concentrate their fire to his position. Pvt. Kravitz would not be ignored. And while the enemy was trying to take out the lone brave soldier, his unit safely withdrew. Kravitz put up one heck of a fight which saved his entire unit, although he could not save himself.

After the Korean War, one of Leonard Kravitz’s friends campaigned to have Kravitz’s Distinguished Service Cross upgraded to a Congressional Medal of Honor. In 2004 they succeeded when Representative Robert Wexler introduced a bill in the House H.R. 606 called “The Leonard Kravitz Jewish War Veterans Act of 2001.” 

John Levitow was born in Hartford, Connecticut on November 1, 1945. From 1966 to 1970 he served in the U.S. Air Force in Viet Nam. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor because he saved the lives of the entire crew of a plane which was hit by a missile. Levitow was severely wounded and in great pain. When he saw that a flare was about to fall into the ammunition on the plane, Levitow threw himself on the flare and pushed the flare through the open cargo door an instant before it would have destroyed the aircraft. Levitow received the Medal of Honor from President Richard Nixon. Since Levitow died of cancer in 2000, the Air Force Academy has given the John Levitow Award to cadets ranking in the top 1% of their class. 

Jack Jacobs was awarded the Silver Star and the Congressional Medal of Honor for his amazing courage and actions while fighting in Viet Nam. Severely wounded by heavy mortar fire, he took command of his company when the commander was disabled. Risking his life, Jacobs repeatedly ran across open rice paddies through heavy fire to evacuate the wounded. He saved the lives of fourteen men. Jacobs also received 15 other medals for outstanding actions in combat.

Benjamin Salomon was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1914. He was killed by the Japanese on Saipan Island in the Pacific on July 7, 1944. A dentist, he was assigned as a front line surgeon. He went ashore with the 105th Infantry and volunteered. In 1944 the Japanese started to overrun his hospital. He therefore stood a rear guard action without any hope of surviving.  His action allowed the evacuation of the wounded. Salomon killed 98 of the enemy troops before he was killed. In 2002, Salomon received the Medal of Honor posthumously.

Isadore Jachman was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1922. His family came to America when Isadore was two years old. He grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. His relatives were murdered by the Germans. Jachman joined the U.S. Army in November, 1942, and became a member of the 513th Parachute Regiment. When his company was pinned down by enemy machine guns, mortars, and artillery, two German tanks also attacked Jachman’s unit. Then Jachman dashed across open ground, leaving his concealed place, and through a hail of fire grabbed a bazooka with which he advanced on two enemy tanks, firing his weapon. Both tanks left, but Jachman was fatally wounded and died at age 22 in 1945. Later a statue of an American soldier was erected in the village where Jachman died. An armory bearing his name is located in Owings Mills, Maryland. He was honored posthumously when his family were given his Medal of Honor.

Raymond Zussman was killed by German fire on September 21, 1944 in France. He was 27 years ld. Zussman, a native of Michigan, was a second lieutenant in the 756th tank battalion. He was awarded The Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously. His citation describes how Zussman was in command of two tanks operating with an infantry company town in France. Armed only with a carbine, Zussman walked ahead of the tanks alone and returned to the tanks to designate targets for the tank crews against the Germans. He stood by the tanks, directing their fire. After a number of Germans were killed, he continued to walk ahead of the tanks, leading them to shoot at a number of houses occupied by Germans and bringing about the surrender of numerous Germans. He then captured 39 Germans alone using his carbine. Ninety-two Germans were captured that day because of Lieutenant Zussman’s courage. He died in a mortar attack.

Sydney Gumpertz was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by General John Pershing at a ceremony at Chamont, France, on February 9, 1919. The citation for the medal reads: “When the advancing lines were held up by machine gunfire, 1st Sargent Gumpertz left the platoon of which he was in charge and with two soldiers threw a heavy barrage toward the machine gun nest. When the two soldiers with him were wounded, Gumpertz continued alone, and in the face of direct fire from the machine guns, jumped into the nest and captured nine enemy soldiers single handed.

Benjamin Kaufman was born in Buffalo, New York in 1894. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Croix de Guerre from France. He was blinded by a gas shell while helping in the rescue of several other soldiers. Sent to a hospital, he returned to the fighting without entering the hospital. Returning to the front, he took on a machine gun which had prevented the advance of his company. A machine gun bullet shattered his right arm. Nevertheless he advanced on the gun alone, throwing grenades with his left hand. He charged with an empty pistol. He took prisoners and scattered the rest of the German crew and then brought the German gun and the prisoner back to the American lines.

William Sawelson was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1895 and died at age 23 on October 26, 1918. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. According to the citation, he heard a wounded man in a shell hole some distance away calling for water. Sgt. Sawelson left shelter and crawled through heavy machine gun fire to the wounded man, giving him water from his canteen. He then returned to his own shell hole with no more ammunition when he was killed by German fire.

Not all military heroes received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Three Jewish heroes of World War II illustrate this. The brothers Asher and Milton Moldane were on board the destroyer U.S.S. Blue when the Japanese  attacked Pearl Harbor on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The Blue was docked for refueling, as the captain was ashore. This left Ensign Milton  Moldane, a graduate of the Washington University Law School, and his brother in charge. Ensign Asher Moldane had graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis. At breakfast both were informed that the Japanese had attacked the battleships anchored at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. Asher therefore directed the crew to head the Blue out to sea while Milton took charge of the forward machine guns, witnessing the sinking of the Arizona. As the Blue headed out to sea for one and a half hours, the Japanese kept flying  over the ship, bombing everything visible to them while the Blue crew shot  machine gun fire at the Japanese planes, shooting down at least one of them. At that same time, Private Louis Schleifer was walking to breakfast when he heard the sounds of Japanese planes attacking Hickham Field. As the Japanese dropped bombs on the field and strafed American planes, Schleifer grabbed his helmet and his revolver and kept firing at the planes until he was mortally wounded. There is a memorial to Louis Schleifer in the garden of temple Beth Shalom (House of Peace) in Livingston, New Jersey. Every year on December 7, the congregation holds memorial services at the memorial fountain.

Leo Goldfarb was a third class radio man on the U.S.S. Oglala. At 7 a.m. he had finished his watch as he heard the sounds of aircraft motors. He saw Japanese planes attack the seven battle ships as one ship after another was hit with torpedoes. As he went to his battle station to defend his ship, it was hit by a torpedo and sank with him. Additionally, radio mechanic Rosenthal died aboard the California, as did Alex Sherman, on the New Orleans, Ben Lichtman on the USS West Virginia, Stan Levitt on the USS Rigel, and Bernard Rubin on Hickam Field. All these Jewish fighting men died at Pearl Harbor.

Meyer Levin was a sergeant in the US Air Force and served as a bombardier in the Pacific flying against the Japanese. On the first day of the war against Japan, Meyer Levin was flying along the coast of the Philippines under the command of Captain Colin Kelly when they saw the biggest Japanese battleship, the Haruna. Captain Kelly flew over the Haruna. At that moment Sergeant Levin sent a bomb which scored a direct hit and sank the Haruna. Levin later participated in the battle of the Coral Sea. There he launched the bombs that destroyed a large transport filled with enemy troops. In January 1943 Levin had flown more than 60 missions. Now he flew through a severe thunderstorm with a near empty fuel tank. When the pilot could not gain altitude, he landed the plane in the rough sea. Then Levin climbed out of the bomb bay and unhooked the life rafts for the men to use, when the plane was hit by a large wave, breaking it in two. The men were already in the life rafts but Levin could not escape and died as the plane went down. Meyer Levin was only 25 when he died. He had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Silver Star with Oak Leave Cluster, the Purple Heart, and the Certificate of Merit.

Barney Ross was not only an all-time great Jewish boxer but also a military hero. He was born in New York City in 1909. His name was Dov-Baer Rosofsky . His father was a rabbi and shopkeeper. The family moved to Chicago into the Jewish ghetto. Barney, as he was later called, wanted to become a rabbi and Talmud scholar like his father, but his father was murdered as he resisted a robbery in his store.  Barney was then 13 years old. His mother suffered a nervous breakdown, so that his siblings were sent to orphanages or to relatives. Left alone, Barney lived in the streets, where he associated with Jack Ruby or Rubenstein, the man who later killed President Kennedy’s assassin, Oswald. Seeking to earn enough money to reunite his family, Barney Ross became a boxer. He changed his name to Barney Ross because his mother had returned and was ashamed that her son was a boxer. In 1929, Ross won the Chicago Golden Gloves tournament, having fought over 200 amateur fights, winning almost all of them. In 1929 he turned professional. In 1933 he defeated the world lightweight champion Tony Canzoneri. This was a shocking victory for the boxing world. Later he defeated Jimmy McLane, considered the greatest fighter in his class. Calling himself “Pride of the Ghetto,” he attracted crowds of 70,000 fans. His last fight was in 1938, when he lost and retired from the ring.

In 1941, the year the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Ross enlisted in the U.S. Marines, although he was too old to be drafted. He demanded assignment to combat, although he was to be a boxing instructor. He was therefore sent to Guadalcanal Island, where a brutal battle with the Japanese was in progress. On patrol with three other men, they were attacked by a Japanese force. His three fellow soldiers were wounded. He moved the three wounded  men into a shelter, and from there he fired over two hundred rounds at the enemy. When his bullets ran out, he hurled 22 grenades at enemy machine gun positions. During the night he killed about 20 of the enemy. By morning, two of his colleagues had died. He then carried the one survivor to safety. This feat earned him the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, and a Presidential Citation. He had been wounded during that night and was sent to a hospital, where he was treated with morphine. This led him to become a drug addict for a number of years, until he recovered and traveled throughout the United States campaigning against drug use. He died of cancer at age 57. He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.   

General Norton A. Schwartz

General Schwartz was Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from 2000 to 2008, when he retired. While Chief, he was responsible for 700,000 active duty men and women. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he was a military adviser to the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and the President.

Schwartz grew up in New Jersey, the son of a Jewish typewriter salesman. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a degree in political science. He also earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Central Michigan University. He then attended the National War College. He was commander of the Pacific Special Operations Command, Alaskan Aerospace Command, and the 11th Air Force. He piloted a variety of aircraft and had more than 4,400 flying hours, and took part in the 1975 Viet Nam airlift. Prior to becoming Chief of Staff, he was assigned to numerous tasks in several US states and Germany.

And Washington, D.C. In January 2000 he became  Deputy Commander in Chief and in in 2008 he became the first Jewish Air Force Chief of Staff.

General David L. Goldfine

General Goldfine was born on an airbase in France where his father was stationed. His father was a colonel in the U.S. Air Force. David flew combat missions during the Gulf War, where he commanded the 555th Fighter Squadron. In May 1999 his plane was shot down in Serbia by a missile. He ejected and was rescued by an American helicopter crew.

Goldfine was executive officer to the commander of the US Air Force in Europe and a National Defense Fellow of the State Department in Arlington, VA, from 2000 to 2001. Thereafter he became commander of the US Air Force Central Command, Vice Chief in 2005, and, in 2016, Chief of the US Air Force.

David Berger is the first Jewish Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. Considering the reputation of the Marines as the toughest, most aggressive American fighting force, it is significant that a Jew commands this unit in view of the European and Arab opinion that Jews can’t fight and are cowards. The truth is that European Jews could not fight because they had no weapons, which was also true of the Jews in Muslim countries until the Israelis achieved independence in 1948.

General Berger holds a degree in engineering and two Master’s degrees from Tulane University. He was commissioned in 1981 and has since then served as company commander and in Operation Desert Storm and served on the Joint staff as policy planner. He commanded the 3th battalion, 8th Marines from 2002 to 2004 in Okinawa and Haiti. As a colonel he also commanded troops in Iraq. Appointed to Brigadier General, he deployed to Kosovo where he served as chief of staff. For the next two years he was assigned to Marine Headquarters. Then he was deployed to Afghanistan as commanding general of a Marine division. He then became commanding General of Marine Air-Ground Task Force and later became commanding general of Marines in the Pacific. He is a graduate of several military schools. In 2019, President Donald Trump appointed him Commandant of the United States Marines.

Another Marine Corps general is Robert Magnus, who retired in July 2008 after 38 years of service.  Magnus was born in Brooklyn, New York, the child of a Jewish bookkeeper and seamstress.  He was sent to a Conservative Hebrew school and celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at the Long Island Jewish Center. Ben Morrell graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. degree and a commission a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. In 1993 he earned a Master’s degree in business administration. In addition he was sent to an engineering school in Paris, France to study the European military techniques of engineering. He also trained as a naval aviator at the National War College. After a short stint on Wall street, Magnus returned to the Marines as a weapons instructor. He was then given numerous assignments leading to Deputy Commander, Marine Corps, Pacific. Later he became executive assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and promoted to General on November 1, 2005, and became  assistant Commander of the Marines. He retired in 2008 after also serving in the Viet Nam war.

The Jewish Chaplains

     In 1917, during the First World War, the Jewish chaplains council was formed. It includes Jewish chaplains drawn from all denominations including Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Judaism. The Council consists of sixteen rabbis. Four from the Central Conference of American Rabbis (Reform), four from the Rabbinical Assembly (Conservative), four from the Rabbinical Council of America (Orthodox), and four active chaplains . The council serves not only thousands of Jewish military personnel, but also  deals with Jewish veterans at Veterans’ Administration medical centers. Jewish chaplains served in World War I and World War II and in all subsequent wars of the United States.  Outstanding examples were Rabbi Isaac Klein and Rabbi Herschel Schacter. Rabbi Klein later wrote a book The Anguish and the Ecstacy of a Jewish Chaplain, which describes his experiences in Europe during the liberation of the countries occupied by Germany and the encounter of Rabbi Klein with the Jewish survivors of the concentration camps. Rabbi Schacter was the first rabbi to enter and participate in the liberation of the notorious Buchenwald camp. Both rabbis participated in the resettlement of the displaced persons, Jews who had no home and no place to go.

Rabbi Klein served for four years. He was promoted to major when he became advisor to the high commissioner of the occupation government in Germany. He was promoted to Brigadier General during special assignments concerning Jewish soldiers. He described his experiences in his book The Agony and the Ecstacy of a Jewish Chaplain. 

There were three hundred and eleven Jewish chaplains in service during World War II. One hundred and forty-seven were Reform, ninety-six were Conservative, and sixty-eight were Orthodox. This reflected the size of these three denominations.

Before they could serve, chaplains were trained at a number of different universities, where they met members of various Christian denominations. They shared rooms with one another to become closely acquainted.

Shalom u'vracha.

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