Colonel Shoshana Gershom, commanding officer of Chen, the women’s army of Israel, arrived in the United States for a six–week speaking tour of American and Canadian cities on behalf of the Israel bond drive. She will be the guest of honor at a score of Israel bond rallies in celebration of the tenth anniversary of Chen, which will be marked officially in Israel on June 4th.
Colonel Gershom, a heroine of the Sinal campaign and of the War of Liberation has long been active in Jewish defense. She was a pivotal figure in Haganah, the defense army of the Jewish community of Palestine in the days of the British Mandate. During that period, she was also a research worker in science at the Hebrew University. During World War II, as one of the first four to graduate a British Army officer’s course for women, Colonel Gershom led a unit of women drivers in Egypt. Later, as a member of the Jewish Brigade, she was sent to Italy.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.