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SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
For SOUTHERN JEWRY
(III Land, In
(In 1 Air, (In the Sea
ll\ Ben Swm ei.
A ' \viEKI< W Jews celebrate th«* fir**l R«#sh
Hashanah since this country’s entrance in
. the War of Survival, it is well to review
briefly the accomplishment* <>f the Jewish com
munity in connection with the war effort.
It has been a year in which Jewish young men
have swarmed to recruiting centers, hundreds each
da\ leaving the security of their jobs and homes to
don l ncle Sam’s uniform and fight for their free
dom. I he past year lias produced an impressive list
of Jewish servicemen who have distinguished them
selves on the field of battle, or given their lives in
their countrv's service. At home, it has been a year
marked hv the unstinting cooperation on the part
of the civilian community which has bent its ener
gies toward the achievement of victory and made it
clear to our fighting forces that those who remain
behind are backing them by every human means.
The New ^ ear was scarcely two months old
when, on the 7th of Kislev, in the Hebrew year
.”>701 the date corresponding so significantly to
the 7th of December on the standard calendar
that the enemy struck at Pearl Harbor. Many were
killed, while others loomed into view on the screen
of history- to become American heroes overnight.
Jap bombs killed Private f irst (das- Louis Schlei-
fer. of Newark. V J.; Private Jack Feldman, of
Philadelphia; Knsign Ira Jeffrev. of Minneapolis,
gave their lives in action that day. Corporal Theo
dore Lewis gave his life while in the act of saving
men under his command who were in danger of
enemy machine gun fire. In the press, over the air
waves. the stories of these men were told repeated
ly in the months that followed. Their names have
become immortal.
Each day. as American troops became engaged
in a widening theatre of war. in the Philippines,
the eastern Pacific, and later, over the verv skies
of Europe, the honor roll grew longer. In the cas
ualty lists, in the lists of those cited for heroism in
action, in the stories that told of \mericans taken
prisoner, of bombardiers and signalmen, gunners
and radiomen, commissioned officers and non-
coms. privates and seamen, who had somehow dis
tinguished themselves, the names of Jewish serv ice
men were conspicuous. \\ ith thousands of Jews in
all branches of the armed forces before Pearl Har
bor. and the large numbers enlisting thereafter, the
Jewish communitv proved its willingness and abil-
itv to help fight this war. Moreover, backing these
men at home were all the resources, the manpower
and womanpower that the Jewish community could
offer them.
Corporal Meyer Levin. Colin Kelly's bombar
dier. became a national hero. According to infor
mation compiled bv the Jewish Welfare Board’s
Bureau of War Records, organized to maintain
complete and accurate records of Jewish partici
pation in the war. scores of Jewish men in uni
form have been decorated for valor since America
went to war. Many times that number have been
reported killed in action, missing in action,
wounded in action.
11IIE X
On Land, In the Air, On the Sea
By Ben Samuel
Page
. 3
New Responsibilities
By Frank L. Weil
5
Jews in a Post-War World . .
By Abraham G. Duker
. 6
Priorities for Good Will . . .
By Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer
. 7
Palestine and America's
War Aims
By Edward A. Norman
8
Jews of the Far East
By David C. Gross
11
Should the Artist Be
in Uniform?
By Melvin Salzman
12
Rome and Jerusalem ....
By Edward D. Kleinlerer
14
Southern Welfare Drives . . .
. 18
For their part in the hazardous formation flight
to Manila in an air flotilla commanded by Major
Emmet O’Donnell, Meyer Levin. Sergeant lister
Kramer and Lt. Morris Friedman were awarded
the Distinguished Flying Cross. Lieutenant Henry
Mark, of Los Angeles, who was killed in action in
the Philippines while attempting to throw hand gre
nades at enemy tanks in the face of Jap machine
gnn fire, was posthumously awarded the Distin
guished Serv ice Cross. Radioman David Goodman,
of Brooklyn, won the Silver Star for his part in
operating the mosquito boat which brought Mac-
Arthur from the Philippines to Australia. He was
also awarded the Oak Leaf Cluster for a daring at
tack made by Lieutenant John I). Bulkeley's squad
ron, of which Goodman wus a member, which re
sulted in severe damage to a Japanese cruiser in
the Mindanao Sea, off the islund of Cebu. Goodman
was recently reported missing in action. Lieutenant
Commander Solomon S. Isquith received the Navy
Cross for his part in saving 90 per cent of the crew
of the sunken target ship I’tah during the Pearl
Harbor attack.
It was a Jewish lad Sergeant Irving Strobing,
of Brooklyn who tap|>ed out the last message from
Corregidor one hour before the Jajw took over. It
was a Jewish mother, Mrs. Abraham Kratn, of the
Bronx, who became the first Gold Star Mother of
this war, after her 18-year-old son, I,eotiard, died
in action as a gun crew member of a tanker which
w as torpedoed by the enemy off the Jersey coast. It
was a Jewish ensign Stanley Caplan. of Elmira,
N. Y.—who, with three other naval ensigns, took a
destroyer to sea which helped shoot down four
Japanese planes and depth-bomb two Japanese sub
marines. Caplan was recently cited by Navy Secre
tary Knox for directing operation of that ship “in
a most oustanding manner.” “The young officers,"
Knox said, “met all emergencies and operated the
ship like veterans.” One of these officers was En
sign Milton Moldafsky, of St. Louis—a Jew ish boy.
And the war is but seven months old in this coun
try. America has “just begun to fight."
I Please turn to [tage 10 i
Entered a* second-class matter at the post office at Atlanta. Ga., under the Act of March 3. 1879. 1’ublinhed weekly by the Southern Newspaper Enterprise*, Inc. Subscription rates: $3.0® per year
in advance. The Southern Israelite invites correspondence and literary contribution*, but the editor i* not to be considered a* sharimt the view* exp reused by the writer* except thoee enunciated
in the editorial column*. Established 1925. M. S. Millet. Editor; M. Stephen Schiffer. Publisher; Willy Pel*, liusine** Manat'er. Executive offices. Palmer Kuilding. Suite 217-18, Atlanta. Georgia.