War Department Awards Purple Heart to Jewish Writer Wounded in World War I

Twenty-five years after he was wounded in a battle with the Germans on the French front, as a member of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe, Z. Scher, Jewish writer and member of the editorial staff of the Jewish Daily Forward, today received the Order of the Purple Heart from the War Department.

Mr. Scher, who is the author of a book of short stories depicting the participation of American soldiers on the European front in World War I, was wounded while returning from a reconnaissance mission at the front. Despite his wound and heavy enemy fire, he succeeded in carrying out his assignment which resulted in heavy losses for the Germans.

First Lieut, Alfred A. Heyman of Youngston, Ohio, already cited for heroism in this war, has been decorated with the Silver Star it was announced today at General MacArthur’s headquarters in Australia. He was one of the six members of a B-25 bomber crew that made a crash landing while returning from a successful raid on the Japanese seaplane base in the Deboyne Island area and then waited a month for rescue. During the action, the citation said, the flyers shot down one Japanese seaplane, destroyed several others in the water and damaged three more.