JWV successfully petitions for removal of Nazi pilot print at Texas Air Force Base

The Jewish War Veterans of the USA called for the immediate removal of a lithograph of Nazi war hero Wolfgang Schenk from a NATO office at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas.  In his letter calling for the removal, National Judge Advocate Peter Nickitas wrote:

“With members who vanquished the fascists in World War Two, with members whose relatives perished in combat in World War Two, with members who survived the Holocaust, and with members descended of Holocaust survivors, the JWV sees no place for an image of a hero to Nazis in a military installation of the United States.”

Air Force officials have since confirmed that the lithograph has been removed from display.

JTA article –NATO office on Texas Air Force Base removes print of storied Nazi combat pilot and his plane

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The Fight JWV Must Lead

By Marc Liebman

Make no mistake about it, our freedom to practice Judaism without fear is again under attack. Antisemitism is on the rise in the United States as well as in most of the free world. Traditionally, antisemitism in the U.S. came from members of the far right who wanted the country free of the diversity that makes our society unique and successful. Members of the KKK and Neo-Nazis have been discredited and few take them seriously. Attacks are also coming from the left, and we have members of Congress making antisemitic remarks.

Every member of the Jewish War Veterans has held up his or her right hand and said, I < fill in your name > do solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic… While most of us don’t think about the implications of those words which end with, so help me G-d, Jewish members of the U.S. Armed Forces are also affirming that the First Amendment of the Constitution begins with the words, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

The oath we take ties us morally and professionally to the Constitution. As American Jews who have served this wonderful country, we have the right to practice our religion without fear.

Synagogues and temples are being attacked. There were five in 2019, and one each in 2020, 2021, and 2022 (which is half over). This doesn’t include graffiti spray painted on walls and the defacing of graves in Jewish cemeteries.

Google antisemitism and you’ll easily find the four traditional tropes. One, Jews don’t fight for their country. Two, Jews are only interested in money.

Three, Jews are only interested in Israel. Four, Jews want to control the world.

The sad part is none of these concepts are new. They were already in the minds of the immigrants who came to the 13 colonies before the American Revolution. Those individuals were raised in a world where Jews could not own land, were limited in which professions they could pursue, and were unable fight for their duke or king.

Sadly, we, as veterans, have possibly faced antisemitism in our military careers and in civilian life. So, the question is what do we do about it?
One, we must educate our own community about the significant contributions Jews, especially our members, have made on the battlefield. Few American Jews know that the founder of the Green Berets was Aaron Bank or that the man responsible for the design and building of the infrastructure that enabled the United States to fight effectively in Europe and in the Pacific was Ben Moreell. He is also considered to be the founder of the SeaBees. The man George Washington entrusted to bring the signed copy of the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution and brought us independence from England was David Franks. The director of strategy for the U.S. Navy during World War II was Ed Taussig. Thirteen of the more than 140 U.S. astronauts, both mission specialists and pilots, are Jewish.

Second, we have a different perspective than the Anti-Defamation League and others who denounce antisemitism. Jewish veterans have taken the sacred oath to support and defend the Constitution and must be more vocal and share their perspective about antisemitism.
Many of us have risked our lives in defense of the United States. The experience has forever changed us and our perspective as defenders of the Constitution needs to be shared.

Third, we must share this view and our legacy throughout JWV and the larger Jewish community. Press releases, tweets, and emails help, but will not get the job done. We must speak with state and local representatives when antisemitism rears its ugly head.

In February of this year, there was an attack on a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. Immediately, the two representatives whose districts comprised the areas where most of the members lived, condemned the attack. A month later, religious leaders, along with the mayors of Colleyville and neighboring cities, and these members of Congress, gathered to discuss ways to deal with such attacks as well as antisemitism. The event made the local TV news on all the major Dallas/Forth Worth networks.

Sadly, we, Jewish veterans, who have expressed our willingness to defend the Constitution were not invited. Why? Because few in the Jewish community, much less the rest of American society, know who we are or what we stand for.

Fighting antisemitism is in the JWV mission statement which makes actively combating antisemitism our fight. Our National Vice Commander Nelson Mellitz has taken on this task. We, both individually and as an organization, need to find ways to make sure our voice and message that antisemitism cannot be tolerated is heard loud and clear.

Volume 76. Number 2. 2022

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Our Community Salutes 2022 Update

By Larry Jasper, National Editor

Our Community Salutes-USA (OCS), recently completed two major initiatives to honor our nation’s Class of 2022 high school enlistees and their parents/guardians. It held High School Enlistee Recognition Ceremonies across the country, as well as America Salutes 2022.

OCS is a national nonprofit organization that honors and supports high school seniors enlisting in the U.S. Armed Services following graduation. JWV member Dr. Kenneth Hartman founded the organization.

OCS Ceremonies were conducted across the country this year in more than 40 locations, including Atlanta, Dallas, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Detroit, Boston, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

OCS ceremonies were attended by tens of thousands of supporters, including college/university admissions recruiters, senior military leaders, local and national elected officials, and veterans organizations, including JWV.

I had the privilege of attending the ceremony on May 23 in Orlando at the House of Blues. More than 140 graduates/enlistees were honored and presented with a challenge coin as well as other gifts. There were over 350 people in attendance, including several dignitaries.
One of the guest speakers at the event was Representative Bryan Mast, who is not only a veteran, but a double amputee as a result of an IED. Others who spoke included Hartman, US Army Signal School Commandant Col. James Turinetti, and retired Command Sgt. Maj. Michelle Jones of the Army National Guard.

OCS also held its third annual America Salutes 2022, which is a star-studded tribute to the high school enlistees of the Class of 2022. Actor Gary Sinise hosted the event, and it also featured journalists, actors, professional athletes, musicians, and senior military leaders. The American Forces Network broadcasts the tribute to more than 160 different countries. You can watch a recording of the tribute at https://bit.ly/3PUQ2OE
Finally, to honor all 150,000 of our nation’s Class of 2022 high school enlistees, OCS has created a virtual Thank You card. Everyone is invited to sign it by the fourth of July. The goal is to get one million Americans to sign the card so that the nation’s newest and youngest service members know their country stands behind their decision to serve. You can find the card at https://www.ourcommunitysalutes.org/thank-you-card
For more information on OCS programs and events, please contact Dr. Ken Hartman at Ken@ocsusa.org.

Volume 76. Number 2. 2022

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X Troop: The Secret Jewish commandos of World War II By Leah Garrett

By Sheldon Goldberg, PhD

“X Troop” is an eye-opening war story about young Jewish refugees from Germany, Austria, and Hungary who came to England with one desire – to return to the continent to fight and kill Nazis and save their families. “X Troop” is the result of the author Leah Garrett’s extensive research at the Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Imperial War Museum in London, and the British National Archives in Kew, England. It is also a biography of a small number of X Troop members, personal interviews with those still alive, and a narrative of the author’s own personal insights.

Unlike the Jewish refugees in America’s Ritchie Boys who enlisted or were drafted into the U.S. Army, and who were trained in intelligence, counterintelligence and interrogation methods, the initial group of 87 X Troopers followed a different path. Initially arriving in England on many of the Kindertransports that brought young Jews to England, they lived and worked like everyone else until the war broke out in 1939. Once this occurred, they were considered enemy aliens, arrested, and sent to internment camps in England and the Isle of Man. Others were sent to Canada and 1,450 of them were sent on a traumatic two-month voyage to Australia, stuffed below decks in a filthy hold and treated horribly by the anti-Semitic officer in charge of the internees and the guards he commanded.

In early 1940, some of the internees in England were able to enlist in the Royal Pioneer Corps. In uniform but unarmed, they built bridges, dug trenches, and cleared bomb damage, but longed to be able to fight. The internees were finally released in 1942 after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and those in Australia were offered immediate transport back to England if they joined the Pioneer Corps. That same year, following a suggestion from Lord Mountbatten to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, a special unit composed of displaced nationals was created as part of No. 10 (inter-Allied) Commando. Among the separate national units, all of whom would be highly trained, Unit 3, originally called the British troop, would be composed of German-speaking refugees. This unit, Garrett writes, would become “Britain’s secret shock troop in the war against Germany.” Like the Ritchie Boys, they were trained in intelligence, counterintelligence, and interrogation, but unlike them, they also became highly trained commandos, trained to kill or capture Nazis on the battlefield. Because of the dangers these Jewish commandos would face and the missions they would undertake, should they be captured, Churchill named them, saying: “Because they will be unknown warriors…they must be considered an unknown quantity. Since the algebraic symbol for the unknown is X, let us call them X Troops.”

Having provided biographies of a few of the Jewish refugees who became X Troopers, Garrett turns to a brief biography of Brian Hilton-Jones, the Welsh officer who became X Troop’s commander and father figure who won their undying loyalty. She also highlights a key turning point in the lives of the X Troopers when, after being interviewed by Hilton-Jones, each was given five minutes to select an English name that many kept for the remainder of their lives, and a background story. Claus Asher, whose father was murdered in Dachau, became Colin Anson, Peter Arany became Peter Masters, Manfred Gans became Fred Gray, and Hans Ludwig Hajos became Ian Harris, an X Troop sergeant who single handedly convinced the entire German garrison of Osnabrück to surrender.

Using personal interviews and her own in-depth research, Garrett follows the X Troop into the war from a landing on Sword Beach in Normandy through the Netherlands and into Germany as Field Marshall Montgomery led the 21st Army Group into battles across northwest Europe. She follows individuals and small groups of X Troopers into the disaster at Dieppe, the capture of the Pegasus Bridge, the fight for Walcheren Island that opened the Scheldt Estuary allowing the Allies to be resupplied, and short diversions to Sicily and Italy before returning to Germany.

Following the Allied victory in May 1945, some of the X Troop’s mission turned to capturing Nazis and gathering intelligence and documentation that was used at the Nuremburg trials. Among other individual post-war stories, she describes the arduous journey made by Manfred Gans through a devastated Germany to finally find his parents, still alive in the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

The book’s 18 very readable chapters closes with Afterword: The Legacy of X Troop, and following some acknowledgements, an appendix that details the principal figures in the book and briefly describes their war service and what they did after the war.

“X Troop” is a must read for anyone interested in World War II history and/or the key roles played by German-speaking Jews who were able to escape Nazi Europe and return to help liberate the continent.

Volume 76. Number 2. 2022

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