American Jews are not only fully represented in every branch of the armed forces, but have been cited and decorated again and again for bravery in action, speakers told more than 500 men and women at the Hotel Commodore today at a dinner of the National Jewish Welfare Board.
Tribute to the mental and physical health of the men in service was paid by Rabbi Philip Bernstein, director of religious activities for the JWB, who has just returned from a visit to Alaska and the Aleutians, made on behalf of the Board. “The medical care is all that can be desired,” he said. “The life is rugged but so are the men.
Military experience tends to overcome racial and religious prejudice, Rabbi Bernstein found. “In the Aleutians the tendency is to judge men for what they are and for what they do, not for their antecedents,” he said. “I do not mean to imply that donning of a uniform changes men’s hearts. But I did find truth in the reports that there is less prejudice in the theatres of war than in civilian life.”
Rabbi Bernstein lauded the contribution of the American rabbinate in the war. Over 900 Reform and Conservative rabbis throughout the U.S. have offered their services to their country, he stated. Of these, 241 are now serving in the army and navy as chaplains and 45 additional have been endorsed and are awaiting their commissions. There are 94 Jewish chaplains overseas and more will soon be on the way, he said.
Approximately 2,000 Jewish soldiers and sailors have been decorated in the present war, it was disclosed by Frank Weil, president of the JWB. Other speakers included Captain Alfred Retsky, veteran of 57 missions over enemy territory and holder of the Distinguished Service Cross, the Air Medal, a presidential Citation, and other awards; Storekeeper 2/c Jess Kaufman, invalided home after receiving 14 wounds in Pacific naval actions; Carl M. Loeb, national campaign chairman of the Board; and Milton Weill, chairman of the JWB Public Relations Committee.
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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.
