Heroes Among Us
Heroes Among Us
By Michael Golden
As I was following the news last night about whether President Trump will join Israel’s fight against Iran in a material way, I was also watching the Stanley Cup pregame. The Florida Panthers do a “Hero Among Us” segment before the anthem, and on this night they honored a 98-year-old veteran who fought in World War II.
Herbert Schwartz was a private in the Army 276th Infantry Regiment who was sent to Europe immediately after the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, he served at the U.S. Army Base in Frankfurt, Germany. Then he came home and built a beautiful life.
As Mr. Schwartz doffed his cap and the American crowd gave him a massive ovation, I got curious about Jewish service in and to the U.S. Military. Then I went right down the rabbit hole…
I knew Jewish Americans had fought for their country all the way back to the Thirteen Colonies. What I didn’t know was that a man named Haym Salomon, a friend of George Washington’s, played a huge role in actually funding the Revolutionary War. As early as 1781, Salomon raised $600,000 in bills of exchange to fund the Continental Army. When Congress ran out of money a few years later, Washington turned to Salomon again. He raised the $20,000 it took to win the critical Yorktown Campaign — which clinched American victory and independence.
Jews have fought in every American military conflict hence. In World War I, 225,000 served as Marines, soldiers and sailors. That number more than doubled to half a million by World War II, and 52,000 of them were honored for their bravery and valor. At the same time, Robert Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman and Edward Teller were among the dozens of Jewish physicists working on the Manhattan Project.
Unsurprisingly, there were times in U.S. history when Jewish Americans were accused of being unwilling to serve. Never a dull moment. The perception became so prevalent in the 1890s that Mark Twain wrote an essay in Harper’s, labeling Jews as “unpatriotic.” When people presented some facts to Twain about hearty Jewish service in every single American war, he wrote a new article, “The American Jew as Soldier,” admitting this his own libelous words were a “slur.”
No sour grapes, though. Only pride and gratitude to all of the American heroes from so many different backgrounds who’ve made the same patriotic sacrifice.
There is one aspect of this history that I particularly love: The fact that Jewish American soldiers were in Germany to liberate the Nazi death camps. Because they spoke Yiddish, they could provide immediate comfort, support and understanding to Jewish survivors. They could wrap their arms and hearts around their own.
You might think that I’m making a case today for why the U.S. should step up and strike Iran’s underground nuclear sites. That I’m making an argument for why America should defend our ally Israel, home to more than seven million Jews. But I’m not that naive.
If the President decides to deploy our bunker-busters and finish off the Iran nuclear program, the biggest reason will be because Iran is an enemy of our country that has repeatedly threatened to take action against the entire Western way of life.
Still, a little history never hurts.
Not only do Jewish Americans have a deep and abiding love for their country, they’ve consistently backed it up.
MICHAEL GOLDEN is the Editor-In-Chief of JEWDICIOUS and The Golden Mean.
From navigating the nuances of family and relationships to unpacking history and politics to finding the human angle on sports and entertainment — plus our unsparing take on what’s happening in the Jewish world — the canvas at JEWDICIOUS is limitless!
I can testify to three generations of Jewish combat soldiers in our family. My father was a Liberator of Buchenwald. I wrote about his experiences here:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/rosh-hashanah-in-purgatory/
His father was a decorated soldier in WWI in the Austro-Hungarian Army.
Perhaps nothing would bring them greater pride than to know that my husband, son, sons-in-law and three daughters have all served in the IDF.
My father joined the Army during WWII. He was slightly older, had graduated from Law School, and was assigned to OCS. After that, he was sent to Fort Benning, where his colonel said he would not tolerate Jewish officers.
Pulling himself up to his full 5'5' inches, my father asked "Sir, would the Colonel sign his orders for overseas duty, SIR." The "sir" story is mil-speak for fuck you. Dad wound up in the Santa Fe under the general who said "Nuts." He was a captain in combat infantry at the Battle of the Bulge. His colonel at Fort Benning was a bigot. My father was the only hero I ever needed. He was a good officer and, after the Bulge, he joined the JAG Corps.
He was often the first Jew people in rural Ohio met. After failing to see horns, they saw only the combat vet and attorney, and said he was "one of the good ones." No, said my Dad, he was the worst kind of Jew possible. They ought to meet the good ones. Dad was wrong. He was the best.