The late Sgt. Meyer Levin, bombardier for Captain Colin Kelly in the famous attack on the Japanese battleship Haruna, was honored today in ceremonies at the Pentagon at which Secretary of Defense James Forrestal praised the unity of all faiths and creeds symbolized by Sgt. Levin’s service with Capt. Kelly. Air Force Secretary Symington and Army Secretary Royall attended.
An oil portrait of Sgt. Levin, presented to the War Department by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Levin, of Brooklyn, was unveiled by Secretary Symington and hung in the Pentagon’s Gallery of Art. Secretary Symington at the same time presented to Mrs. Levin a Gold Star Pin and to Mr. Levin a Gold Star lapel button.
The Air Force Secretary praised Mr. and Mrs. Levin, who were born in Europe, “as true Americans in the highest tradition of the word: It is not where you were born that counts,” he said. “The Indians are the only Americans who are not immigrants or of immigrant stock. Nor is it a matter of religion,” he continued. “The armies of Washington, and Lee and Grant, and Pershing, and MacArthur and Eisenhower, had Catholics and Protestants, and Jews, who fought side by side as Americans and acquitted themselves with courage and distinction.”
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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.
