A Jewish Chaplain in FranceLevinger, Lee J. (Lee Joseph)
Religion
A Jewish Chaplain in France
Levinger, Lee J. (Lee Joseph)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Jews
There were over 500 majors, 1,500 captains, and more than 6,000
lieutenants in the American army, with a full share of each in the A. E.
F. Over 900 Jews were officers in the navy, the most conspicuous of them
being Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss, in command of the mine laying work in
the North Sea during the war. In addition there were one captain, five
commanders and twelve lieutenant commanders. The marine corps included
among its personnel over a hundred Jews as officers, among them three
majors, one colonel, and Brigadier-General Charles Henry Laucheimer of
Baltimore, Md., who died in January 1920.
The latest estimates of casualties run from 13,000 to 14,000, including
about 2,800 who died in the service of America. This can be inferred
easily from the branches of the service in which our Jewish boys were
found, as well as from the number of honors they received. After all,
for every brave man whose acts were noted and rewarded, many others just
as heroic fought and bled unseen.
The number of Jews decorated for conspicuous courage is attested, not
only by the Office of War Records, but also by the Jewish Valor Legion,
an organization of American Jews who received such awards during the
World War. Fully 1,100 citations for valor are on record. Of these, 723
were conferred by the American command, 287 by the French, 33 by the
British, and 46 by other allied commands. The Distinguished Service
Cross is worn by 150 American Jews, the French Medaille Militaire by
four, and the Croix de Guerre by 174. The Congressional Medal of Honor,
the rarest award in the American or any other service, which was
conferred on only 78 men in the entire service, is worn by three
American Jews, one of them killed in the act for which he was rewarded.
I add their official citations, not only for their personal interest,
but as an added tribute to these three heroes, a glory both to Jewry and
to America.
"Sydney G. Gumpertz, first sergeant, Company E, 132nd Infantry.
Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity
above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy in the Bois
de Forges, France, September 26, 1918. When the advancing line was held
up by machine-gun fire, Sergeant Gumpertz left the platoon of which he
was in command and started with two other soldiers through a heavy
barrage toward the machine-gun nest. His two companions soon became
casualties from a bursting shell, but Sergeant Gumpertz continued on
alone in the face of direct fire from the machine-gun, jumped into the
nest and silenced the gun, capturing nine of the crew. Awarded January
22, 1919."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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