Emil Kleber - Commanded the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War

Sidney Shulemson - The most decorated Canadian Jew

Thomas Gould - Won Britain's highest award, the Victoria Cross, in World War 2
Ernest Frank Benjamin - Canadian general who commanded the British Army's Jewish Brigade
in WW2
Yosef Trumpeldor - A military officer who together with Jabotinsky founded the Jewish legion,
…
Charles Strauss - diminutive, goateed, bespectacled, gun-wielding Jewish sheriff of Tuscon,
Arizona
Abba Kovner - Jewish partisan leader during WW2
Sam Dreben - Warrior, Patriot, American Hero
Jeremy Boorda - U.S. admiral, chief of naval operations
Uriah P. Levy - Commodore of the US Navy
Hyman Rickover - U.S. admiral, father of the U.S. navy nuclear submarine
Maurice Rose - Colorado's Fighting General: a truly brilliant American soldier
Morris Bright - The first Jew to rise from the lower deck of the Royal Navy to senior rank.
Ben Dunkelman - A highly decorated Canadian veteran who lead Israel's 7th Brigade during the
War…
Issy Smith - This British infantryman won the Victoria Cross in WW1

Frank De Pass - The first Jew to be awarded Britain's Victoria Cross

Yoni Netanyahu - Commando of Operation Thunderbolt, aka the raid on Entebbe. He was killed
in…
Leonard Keysor - Australian Victoria Cross winner
Wesley Clark - fmr. NATO Allied Commander in Europe
Two-Gun Cohen - an infallible mover and a shaker in Chinese history (b. 1887)
Sir John Monash - Commanded Australian troops in France during WW1
Moshe Dayan - Israeli soldier and statesman, 6-Day war hero
Ariel Sharon - Prime Minister of Israel, Defense Minister
Alfred Dreyfus - Captain in the French army, victim of antisemitism (1894)
David Marcus - Colone David Marcus, American officer who died for Jerusalem in Israel's war
of…
Herschel Grynszpan - assassin of Nazi foreign service officer Ernst vom Rath
Ignác Helfy - Hungarian freedom fighter in 1848-49 liberty war, Kossuth's palatine.

http://www.heebz.com/categories/Military-and-Police
1775–1783 The American Revolutionary War

1. Mordecai Sheftall was a leader in the Revolutionary movement against the British in Georgia
2. Solomon Bush was an officer in the Pennsylvania militia, 1777-87
3. Haym Salomon, (American Revolution), Sons of Liberty, Financier
4. Francis Salvador, (American Revolution),Paul Revere of the South
5. Jonas Phillips (1736-1803), In 1778 he joined the Revolutionary army, serving in the Philadelphia
Militia under Colonel Bradford.
6. David Nudez Cardozo

7. NONES, Benjamin 1757–1826. US soldier. Nones was born in Bordeaux, France, and
came to the United States during the revolutionary period. He served as an aide to
General Washington, with the rank of major, and was cited for bravery in battle. After
independence, he settled in Philadelphia and became a leader of the local Jewish
community. He supported the abolitionist movement and voluntarily freed his own
slaves. [Who’s Who in Jewish History, 1974]

[famous Jewish Soldiers Back to Top]

1792–1802 French Revolutionary Wars

1.

[famous Jewish Soldiers Back to Top]

1812-1815 War of 1812

1. Judah Touro, (War of 1812), civilian volunteer in American Army, Philanthropist

2. Jean Lafitte, Buccaneer leader who aided ???????????Jackson's defeat of British in the Battle of
New Orleans War of 1812.
3. Uriah Phillips Levy ( April 22 , 1792 - March 26 , 1862 ) was the first Jewish Commodore of the
United States Navy and a veteran of the War of 1812. First Jewish Chapel at the United States
Naval Academy named for him.
4. John Ordroneaux a naval commander, sank five British ships in one battle and was raised to the
rank of commodore. In 1814, at the Battle of Fort McHenry,there were 30 Jews in the garrison.
5. Captain Mordecai Myers 13th Pennsylvania Infantry.
6. Levi Myers Harby captain. Elso was involved in the Seminole Indian War in Florida in 1828.
 [famous Jewish Soldiers Back to Top]

1830 July Revolution in France

1.

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1846-1848 Mexican-American War

1. Alfred Mordecai(1804 -1887) major.Joined the North in the Civl War in 1861.
2. Dr David Camden DeLeon
3. Leon Dyer, Colonel

[famous Jewish Soldiers Back to Top]

1861-1865 American Civil War

There were about 150,000 Jews in the country and about 8.500
of them took part in the war.
North army had:
Generals - 8
Colonels - 21
Lieutenant colonel - 9
Majors - 40
Captains - 205
Lieutenants - 325
Adjutants - 48
Surgeons - 25
Only New York had 2,000 volunteers.
General Oliver O. Howard wrote: "that there were no braver and patriotic men to be found then those
of Hebrew descent" [Seymour Brody., 1995]

Six Jews are recognized by the Jewish War Veterans of America as earning the
Congressional Medal of Honor during the Civil War.

(see Official Website of CMOHS.org: The Congressional Medal of Honor Society ).

 1. COHN, ABRAHAM Rank and organization: Sergeant Major, 6th New Hampshire Infantry Places
and dates: At Wilderness, Virginia, 6 May 1864; At the mine, Petersburg, Virginia, 30 July, 1864
Birth: Prussia Date of issue: 24 August, 1865
2. BENJAMIN LEVY Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 40th New York Infantry Place and
date: Glendale, Virginia, 30 June, 1862 Date of issue: 1 March, 1865
3. LEOPOLD KARPELES Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company E, Massachusetts Infantry Place
and date: Wilderness, Virginia, 6 May, 1864 Birth: Hungary Date of issue: 30 April, 1870
4. DAVID ORBANSKY Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 58th Ohio Infantry Places and
dates: At Shiloh, Tennessee, Vicksburg, Mississippi, etc. 1862 and 1863 Birth: Prussia Date of
issue: 2 August, 1879
5. HENRY HELLER Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company A, 66th Ohio Infantry Place and date:
Chancellorsville, Virginia, 2 May, 1863 Entered Service at: Urbana, Ohio Date of issue: 29 July,
1892
6. GAUSE, ISAAC Rank and organization: Corporal, Company E, 2nd Ohio Cavalry Place and date:
Near Berryville, Virginia, 13 September, 1864 Birth: Trumbull County, Ohio Date of issue: 19
September, 1864

On March 15, 1896, seventy-eight Jewish Civil War veterans of the Union armies gathered and
met in New York City's Lexington Opera House.

From: Jewish Heroes and Heroines of America, © 1996, written by Seymour "Sy" Brody of
Delray Beach, Florida, illustrated by Art Seiden of Woodmere, New York, and published by
Lifetime Books, Inc., Hollywood, FL.

 Edward S. Salomon, Brigadier General(Civil War)

 Louis Leon, North Carolina Tar Heel Confederate Army soldier.

 Moses Jacob Ezekiel, Confederate Army soldier

 Isaac J. Levy, Confederate soldier of the 46th Virginia Infantry.

 Simon Suhler, (Civil War), (American Indian wars), Medal of Honor recipient.

 Phoebe Yates Levy Pember (August 18, 1823 - March 4, 1913) a nurse and female administrator of
Chimborazo Hospital at Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War

 Judah Philip Benjamin (August 6, 1811 – May 6, 1884) - he was the first Attorney General of the
Confederacy on February 25, 1861.
About Jewish Confederates read more in the book: " The Jewish Confederates" by Robert N. Rosen.,
2000 University of South Carolina.
confederate military cemetery

wars with Indians

 Charles Gardner(Simon Shuster) Congressional Medal of Honor for fight with Apaches in Arizona 1866
 George Geiger. Congressional Medal of Honor for Indian Campaign. Medal was issued on October 5,
1878

 Samuel Marguiles(Samuel Gross) was awarded Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery.

Spanish American war April 21, 1898 – August 1898

About 5,000 Jews served in this war. (30 Jewish Army officers and 20 navy officers, 29 were killed)

 corporal Ben Prager received the Silver Star medal for bravery.

 Sergeant Maurice Joost of the First California Volunteers, was the first man to fall in the attack on
Manila. [Seymour Brody]

[famous Jewish Soldiers Back to Top]

1899-1902 Second Anglo-Boer War

Jews fought on both sides during the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). Some of the most
notable fights during the three years' Boer war — such as the Gun Hill incident before the Siege
of LadysmithSiege of Ladysmith The Siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the
Second Boer War, taking place between 30 October 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith,
KwaZulu-Natal, Colony of Natal.... — involved Jewish soldiers like Major Karri Davies. Nearly
2,800 Jews fought on the BritishUnited Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign
state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe.... side and the London Spectator
counted that 125 were killed. [Jewish Encyclopedia]

Around 300 Jews served among the Boers during the second Boer War and were known as
Boerjode: those who had citizenship rights were conscripted along with other burghers
("citizens"), but there were also a number of volunteers. Jews fought under the Boers' Vierkleur
("four colored") flag in many of the major battles and engagements and during the guerilla phase
of the war, and a dozen are known to have died. Around 80 were captured and held in British
POW camps in South Africa. Some were sent as far afield as St. Helena.

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1904 - 1905 Russian Japanese war

The number of Jews at the front was disproportionately large—it amounted to some thirty
thousand, owing to the fact that, in accordance with the usual military regulations, the Jewish
recruits from the Western governments were generally despatched to Siberia, so that, at the very
outset, they were near the theatre of military operations. Disproportionately large was also the
number of Jewish physicians in the reserves. Out of the thirty physicians who were mobilized in
Kiev twenty-six were Jews. In Odessa, the Jews furnished twenty-one physicians out of thirty.
[Dubnov THE JEWS IN RUSSIA AND POLAND. V3 p 95.]

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1914 - 1918 World War I

When the United States declared war against Germany in April 1917, Jews represented only 3.27
% of the total population, yet they made up 5.73% of the country armed forces. From more than
250,000 Jews served approximately 3,500 Jews were killed. [
Seymour Brody., 1995]

1. Sergeant Benjamin Kaufman – Congressional Medal of Honour and 9 foreign government

awards for bravery.
2. Sergeant Sam Dreben – Distinguished Service Cross, the Croix de Guerre, Militaire medal.
3. Captain Elkan Voorsanger - Purple Heat, Croix de Guerre.
4. Sergeant William Sawelson - Congressional Medal of Honour
5. Sergeant Sidney G. Gumpertz - Congressional Medal of Honour.
6. Corporal Louis Abend - Croix de Guerre
7. Sergeant Benjamin Shapiro - Croix de Guerre
8. Private Abraham Krotoshinsky
9. Major General Milton J. Foremen - Distinguished Service Cross for bravery.
10. Colonel Abel Davis
11. Lieutenant Benjamin B. Prager.

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1939 - 1945 World War II

1. Maurice Rose, Major General, (World War II) Negotiated the unconditional surrender of the
Germans in Tunisia, Commanded 3rd Armored Division: the first division to cross the German
border and the first to breach the Siegfried line, killed in combat.
2. Mark Wayne Clark, Major General, commander of Fifth U.S. Army World War II
3. John B. Oakes, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, World War II; Bronze Star, member of O.S.S.
Office of Strategic Services; also Croix de Guerre, Medaille de Reconnaissance (France), and
Order of the British Empire
4. Robert Rosenthal, lieutenant colonel, USAF in World War II.
5. Sergeant Meyer Levin was killed in 25. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the
Silver Star, Oak leaf Cluster, the Purple Heart and Certificate of Merit.
6.

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1948, May - 1949 June, 20 Israeli Arab War

1.

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1950 and after

Jewish Heroes of the Korean War

Melvin Garten
Joseph I. Gurfein
Abraham Geller

 Tibor Rubin, (Korea) Medal of Honor for actions in battle and in Chinese POW camp.
Jewish Vietnam War Heroes
Colonel Jack H. Jacobs: Medal of Honor
Major General Stanley H. Hyman
Major General Robert B. Solomon.
Stewart S. Burr, private first class, was killed. Silver Star Medal.
Jewish Vietnam War Heroes from Museum in Washington, D.C.

Roger Steven Briskin, corporal Fred Zedeck, captain Joseph Ira Goldstein, lieutenant

1. Joseph Liebgott, served in Easy Company, 506th Battalion, 101st Airborne Division in the
Second World War, Technician (T/5)
2. Robert Magnus, Former Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, Retired July 17, 2008
3. Sam Dreben, served in the in the United States Army in the Philippines, Panama Canal Zone
the Pancho Villa Expedition, and World War I, also fought in Honduras Guatemala, Nicaragua,
and the Mexican revolution. Noted for his prowess with machine guns.
4. Edward Ellsberg, finished first in his class at the United States Naval Academy (1914),
ultimately rose to rank of Rear Admiral.
5. Jack H. Jacobs, Colonel (United States) Medal of Honor recipient
6. David "Mickey" Marcus, (World War II), Army lieutenant colonel, West Point graduate,
Divisional Judge Advocate, Division Commander, attended the Big Five meetings, volunteered
to join D-Day airborne assault without formal training. Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze
Star, and British decorations. Volunteered to Israeli Army to defend against Transjordan Arab
Legion. Became first Israeli Brigadier General, and served as Commander of Jerusalem front.
7. Mark Polansky, NASA, USAF (Ret.), Space Shuttle Commander
8. Hyman Rickover, United States Navy Admiral, Father of the Nuclear Navy.
9. Marvin A. Sibulkin, Sergeant Major U.S. Army 1958-1983; Legion of Merit, Bronze Star (9th Inf
Div), Bronze Star 1st Oak Leaf Cluster (Vietnam), Defense Meritorious Service Medal; 3 Army
Commendation Medals.
10. Michael Yury Tarlavsky, Captain, US Army 5th Special Forces Group; Killed in action during
Operation Iraqi Freedom
11. Norton A. Schwartz, 1973 graduate of the "Air Force Academy", 19th Air Force Chief of Staff

[famous Jewish Soldiers Back to Top]

War

1.

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Jewish Soldiers
Search for Jewish Soldiers.

Bibliography:

 "Jewish Heroes Of America", by Seymour Brody., 1995

Please send me email with famous Jewish Soldiers that are not in our list, and I will add it to Jewish
Soldiers directory.(this page)

Learn about Military Loans

http://www.jewishsphere.com/Directory/JewishWarHeroes.html

Jews in the German Army (back to top)

In the story Europa Europa, Shlomo Perel tells an extraordinary tale of how he survived the
Nazi Holocaust. After escaping the German occupation of Poland by fleeing to the Russian
side, he was later captured by the Germans as they advanced into Russia. Once captured, he
pretended to be German and was recruited as a German soldier. The commander of his unit
liked him so much that he was sent to a prestigious Hitler Youth program, keeping his identity
secret until the end of the war. It is a tale of survival at the cost of disowning one’s own
heritage and of helping those who ultimately persecute your relatives. My question is, was this
a single case? Did other Jews join the ranks of the army or deny their heritage in order to
survive? In his book Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers, Bryan Rigg looks at the particular
case of the Mischlinge (the half-Jews and quarter-Jews), and how they lived
and were treated during the Nazi Regime. His book gives new insight into how
this large ethnic population was viewed during the Holocaust, and how they
viewed themselves. In focusing on the Mischlinge who served in the Nazi army,
we come to a realization of how deep personal beliefs in one's heritage will go,
as well as what others will do in order to survive.

Many people assume that there were no Jews in the Wehrmacht . Rigg
adequately proves that this is far from the truth. "Although the exact number of Mischlinge
who fought for Germany during World War II cannot be determined, they probably numbered
more than 150,000." (Rigg, Mark. Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers, University Press of Kansas, 2002)
Rigg came to this number by searching through hundreds of German documents which listed
names of men in the army with ‘half-Jewish’ ancestry, as well as lists of exemptions for these
Mischlinge. If this number is correct, the question arises as to why these Mischlinge would
help to fight for a regime that openly persecuted them? Rigg tries to answer that question by
answering other questions and issues such as, who is a Jew? Who is a Mischling? Jewish
assimilation in Germany, a history of German and Austrian Jews who served in their
countries’ armed forces, the regulations for Jews and Mischling in the Wehrmacht, and
official exemptions from racial persecution offered by Hitler himself.

The Nazi regime had sole control in deciding who was Jewish and who was not when it came
to their documentation in identity, as well as who was a Mischlinge. However, an individuals
definition of what it meant to be Jewish may be different. For instance, Hitler argued that the
Jewish father passed as much Jewsihness to a child as a Jewish mother (Rigg, 16). However,
the Jewish tradition of Hekel states that they inherit their Jewishness from the mother’s side
(Rigg, 7) Mischlinge, was an even more confused definition, as it implied that one was also
half German. It was in determining which half was more "prominent" that determined one’s
identity.

One answer to why some "half-Jews" joined the army may be that some of the Mischlinge did
not think of themselves as Jewish. Rigg summarizes what one "half-Jewish" survivor, Helmut
Kruger, had to say about his ancestry:

He struggled for twelve years to convince the Nazis he was not Jewish but
rather a loyal German Patriot…Kruger insists that he had nothing to do with
his mother’s Jewishness. He was born German and raised as a Christian.
Kruger dislikes being called a Jew, not because he is anti-Semitic, but because
he does not feel Jewish. Kruger believes that he is just Helmut Kruger, born a
German not by choice but by chance to a German-Jewish mother who, like
many Jews, assimilated and shed her Jewishness to integrate fully into the
dominant society. Krguer’s opinion is common among Mischlinge. (Rigg, 11)

Apparently many Mischlinge did not feel that half of their ancestry should be reason enough
to be considered a Jew over being a German. Moreover, they were truly passionate Germans.
Many like Kruger joined the ranks of the Wehrmacht in order to prove their "Aryanhood," and
be considered normal. One German Mischling wrote this to his grandmother, "Don’t you
realize how much I’m with my whole being rooted in Germany. My life would be very sad
without my homeland, without the wonderful German art, without the belief in Germany’s
powerful past and the powerful future that awaits Germany." (Rigg, 28) These Mischlinge
thought of themselves as fully German, they were not trying to hide their ancestry, but mainly
trying to show that they did not believe in it. One "half-Jew," Hans Pollack, learned of his
Jewish ancestry in 1935. Rigg writes:

He had read about Jews in school and the press and felt upset to be associated
with the. ‘I tell you honestly, I don’t like Jews…That’s correct. I would never
do anything to a Jew, I must also tell you that, because the Jew is also a human
 being…When I get to know a Jew, he’s no longer a Jew, but a mensch like you
and me. (Rigg, 24)

Hans, like so many others, did not identify himself as being Jewish. They went to join the
ranks of the Wehrmacht to prove their loyalty to the German people as faithful Germans, not
to escape the fate of being Jewish.

Many Mischlinge, however, followed the same path as Shlomo Peril, that is, hiding by
disowning their religious affiliation.

Field Marshal and State Secretay of Aviation Erhard Alfred Richard Oskar
Milch’s "Aryanization" was the most famous case of a Mischling falsifying a
father. In 1933, Frau Clara Milch went to her son-in-law, Fritz Heinrich
Hermann, police president of Hagen and later SS general, and gave him an
affidavit stating that her deceased uncle, Carl Brauer, rather than her Jewish
husband, Anton Milch, had fathered her six children.… In 1935, Hitler
accepted the mother’s testimony… (Rigg, 29)

This testimony of incest was accepted as a means to save her son’s life, thus making him pure
Aryan and able to serve the Luftwaffe. Ironically, Brigg later says that there was suspicion
that Milch’s mother was also Jewish, making the Field Marshal and Secretary of Aviation a
full blooded Jew. It is also interesting to note that incest was seen as more socially acceptable
then being a Jew. Through his mother’s own testimony Milch was able to hide his ancestry,
and thus survive the war as a top commander.

Many more Mischlinge soldiers had to hide their ancestry in order to stay in the army and
avoid persecution. Many Aryan mothers would testify that they had affairs with other Aryan
men instead of their Jewish husbands. Others, like Joachim Lowen, decided to attack their
mother’s virtue in order to hide their blood. "My own brother went to the Gestapo and claimed
that our mother was a slut and had been a prostitute. The Gestapo reviewed our case and
declared us deutschblutig (of German blood)." (Rigg, 31) These two brothers were then able
to hide their ancestry by defaming their mother and continuing to serve in the army.

Other Mischlinge went to serve in the army not to save or hide themselves, but rather to save
their Jewish relatives. Three Mischlinge brothers joined the army in order to save their Jewish
mother, whom their Aryan father had divorced her because she was Jewish and he might have
lost his business. "He (Unteroffizier Gunther Scheffler) hoped that as long as one of them
served in the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo would leave their mother alone. Helena survived the
war." Through proving themselves as strong soldiers and valuable to the German people, these
three brothers were able to save their mother.

In the end there are numerous examples of Mischlinge who decided that the best way for
survival was to prove their Aryanhood. The army, for many, was one successful way to prove
their worth to society, and consequently, to survive.
 References (back to top)

 Europa Europa. Dir. Agnieszka Holland. Perf. Michael Hofschnieder. 1990.

This movie is based on the novel by Salek Perel in which he tells his story of how he survived
the Holocaust. By deceiving the German forces into thinking that he himself was German, he
was able to escape detection by joining the Hitler Youth.
 Laura Pritchard. Review of Hitler's Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and
Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military, by Bryan Rigg. Mendell Fellowship Book
Reviews, 2002.
This review gives an overview of all of the points that Bryan Rigg talked about in his book. It
gives him an excellent review and recommends it to others.
 Rigg, Bryan Mark, Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of
Jewish Descent in the German Military. University Press, Kansas, 2002.
Bryan Rigg spent ten years of research studying those of Jewish descent who served in the
Wehrmacht army. His research gives new insight into the Nazi regime and their attitudes
toward Mischlinge and the policies to them, specifically towards those that served in the
army.
 Rigg, Bryan Mark, Lives of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers (University Press, Kansas, 2009), 314 pages.
[added 6/5/10]
o University of Kansas Press book page; $24 & searchable at amazon
o review on H-German, June 2010 by David Yelton
o review on HistoryToday.com by David Cesarani

About the Author (back to top)

Mark Enmeier
I am a senior history student at UCSB graduating in the spring of 06. My emphasis is on
Medieval and Renaissance Europe. I was recently given the opportunity to study abroad in the
eternal city of Rome. There I visited a Nazi holding cell for Jews before they were deported.
This sparked another interest in World War II as well as the Holocaust. After I receive my
bachelors degree I plan to become a high school history teacher.

http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/projects/jewishlife/JewishSoldiersMark.htm