Among the thirty Medal of Honor men who will be the special guests of the American Legion’s annual convention opening today in Boston is Captain Sydney G. Gumpertz of New York, one of the Jewish heroes of the World War. He enlisted in the 132nd Infantry 33rd Division from Illinois in 1917. In 1919 he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
His notable achievement “of desperate and extreme courage above and beyond the call of duty” was performed in the Bois de Forges, September 26, 1918. To permit the advance of a platoon of which he was in charge he found it necessary to silence machine gun fire. Single-handed he killed two gunners with pistol fire and captured the remaining 14 members of the machine gun crew. Later in the same day he advanced alone on a machine gun nest, threw in hand grenades, killing several members of the crew and capturing 16 in addition to two heavy machine guns.
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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.
