Tribute to Jewish and other chaplains in the U.S. armed forces was paid by General Eisenhower in a message sent to a dinner tonight at the Walderf Astoria honoring 100 graduates and members of the Rabbinical Assembly of America who served during the war as chaplains in the American and Canadian armies all over the world. The dinner, attended by more than 1,500 persons, was arranged by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
Gen. Eisenhower emphasized that the work of the Army chaplains has been of “inestimable value” to the American forces in Europe. “Their selflessness and their unaltering devotion to the spiritual and material welfare of millions of Americans have won for them the admiration, respect and affection of all commanders,” he said. “I’m delighted that your seminary is taking special cocasion to honor its graduates who have served in the armed forces of the United Nations during this war.”
Messages of commendation were also received from Gen. Arnold, Gen. Somerrell, and Admirals Nimitz, Halsey and King. Gen. Arnold stressed that in the U. S. Air Forces alone there were 70 Jewish chaplains. The speakers at the dinner included Rebert D. Workman, District Chaplain of the Third Naval District; the Reverend Crawford W.Brown, Chief of the Chaplaincy Service of the Veterans Administration; Doctor Bavidde Sola Pool, chairman of the Committee on Army and Navy Religious Activities of the Jewish Welfare Board; and Dr. Louis Finkelstein, president of the Jewish Theological Seminary.
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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.