Jewish Welfare Board Supplies U.S. Marines in Lebanon with Kosher Food

The naval task force of the U.S. Sixth Fleet that landed American marines in Lebanon carried supplies of kosher food and religious materials and literature furnished by the National Jewish Welfare Board, it was announced today at JWB headquarters here. The food supplies and religious materials are part of the stocks shipped by JWB to all American naval vessels for use on the high seas during Rosh Hashanah, the announcement said. JWB is the government-authorized agency for serving the religious and welfare needs of Jewish personnel in the U.S. armed forces.

The Jewish Welfare Board also reported that Chaplain Manfred Rechtschaffen, the only Jewish chaplain with American forces in the Mediterranean, who is on duty with the Air Force at Ankara, Turkey, has received an emergency shipment of Jewish religious materials and kosher food supplies. Chaplain Allan Blaine, on duty with the Army at Munich, from which point an airborne battle group of the 24th Infantry Division, was airlifted to the Middle East, sent along with the Jewish men in the unit a large portion of his own Jewish religious and kosher food supplies.

Jewish personnel among the Marines who embarked from bases in North and South Carolina and Virginia to reinforce those already in Lebanon were also supplied with religious materials and kosher food supplies by Jewish chaplains in those areas. Navy Chaplain Charles D. Mintz at Norfolk bade Godspeed to men taking off from Norfolk and auxiliary chaplain Jerome Tolochko did the same for those who left from Camp LeJeune and Cherry Point. JWB Armed Services Committees at Norfolk, Jacksonville, N. C., New Bern, N.C., and Greenville, S. C., mobilized quickly to aid the families of men called to active overseas duty on a few hours’ notice.