Fallen Jewish Service Members, From Civil War to Iraq, Honored on Memorial Day Weekend
June 1, 2021 | Virginia
Leading global Jewish organizations and Jewish veterans on Memorial Day honored the soldiers who have fallen while serving in the United States armed forces.
“Among them are thousands of American Jewish service men and women who paid with their lives to protect their country,” said the World Jewish Congress (WJC).
According to the WJC, 550,000 Jewish soldiers served in the US armed forces during the Second World War and 11,000 were killed in combat. Among them was war hero Meyer Levin, a bombardier and pilot, who fought 60 combat missions and is remembered for being the first American to blow up a Japanese warship and for saving the lives of three crew members. His plane fell into the ocean near New Guinea in 1943 during a combat mission.
Major General Maurice Rose — the highest-ranking Jew in the US army during the Second World War, and the son and grandson of rabbis from Poland — fell in 1945 while fighting in Germany. Rose was the highest-ranking American killed by enemy fire at the European front…
(Excerpts from the Algemeiner)
