The Jewish War Veterans Want You!
By Stuart Israel, Post 474
I recently became a life member of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America. JWV is “a Jewish voice for veterans and a veteran’s voice for Jews.”
Whether or not you served in the military, you can join and support JWV.
JWV “defends the rights and benefits of all service members and veterans, fights anti-Semitism, and supports the State of Israel,” provides educational scholarships for veterans and family members, participates in memorial events and educational activities, and in other ways “affirms that Jewish men and women serve honorably and heroically in the military forces of the United States during peacetime and war.”
My younger son, Nick Israel, recruited me to JWV membership. He is a U.S. Army Armor and PSYOP veteran. He enlisted after college, completed basic training and officer candidate school, learned to operate tanks, speak Russian, and jump out of airplanes, and deployed to the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Nick eventually returned to Michigan and now serves in the Air National Guard.
Before Nick recruited me to JWV, I didn’t know I was eligible.
I was in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1969 to 1975. I became adept at typing with two fingers and driving a Jeep and won a medal for exemplary attendance. During basic training at Fort Knox, I achieved the distinction of getting KP—“kitchen police” duty—four times. The average basic trainee got KP twice. Nick may be an accomplished soldier, but he never learned to peel potatoes, scour pots, empty grease traps, and mop up mess halls. The Army did away with KP and mess halls. They now have culinary contractors and DFACs—“dining facilities.”
It turns out that I was eligible for JWV membership. In fact, everyone is eligible—those who serve or served on active military duty in any branch, or who serve or served in the reserve or national guard, and anyone else who wants to be part of JWV’s good works. There are veteran and non-veteran JWV membership categories and various participation and support opportunities.
Jews serve in the military in numbers well above their percentage in the U.S. population. Jews have made immeasurable contributions to the American military before and since the Revolutionary War. Two (of many) cases in point: Raymond Zussman and Sidney Shachnow.
Raymond Zussman (1917-1944) was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for valor in France during World War II.
Zussman graduated from Detroit’s Central High, attended Wayne, studied metallurgy at DIT, and was a Teamsters Local 337 steward. He joined the Army in 1941, became a tank commander, and saw combat in North Africa, Italy, and France. His selfless and heroic actions against the Germans on September 12, 1944, detailed in his Medal of Honor citation, were “above and beyond the call of duty” and saved American lives. He was killed by German mortar fire days later, on September 21, 1944. He is buried in Machpelah Cemetery in Ferndale.
There is a Zussman playground in Detroit and a Zussman park in Hamtramck. My reserve unit was based at the Raymond Zussman United States Army Reserve Center in Inkster. Nick trained at the Zussman Urban Combat Range at Fort Knox.
Sidney Shachnow (1934-2018) was a highly-decorated Vietnam veteran and a legendary special operations commander. He retired as a major general in 1994 after almost 40 years of Army service as an enlisted soldier and later as an officer, as a paratrooper, ranger, and green beret.
Shachnow was born in Lithuania. When the Germans invaded in 1941, Shachnow and his family, with all 40,000 local Jews, were confined to the Kovno concentration camp. Shachnow was seven. Against all odds, he and family members escaped after three years and survived. Most Kovno Jews were murdered by the Nazis and Nazi-collaborators. Shachnow came to the U.S. as a teenager in 1950, attended school for the first time, enlisted in the Army, and went on to a storied military career.
Shachnow died in 2018 at 83. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His autobiography—Hope and Honor (2004)—tells his inspiring life story.
My wife Cheryll and I met the gracious Shachnow at Nick’s graduation from the JFK Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg in 2014. Shachnow was at one time the JFK commandant and maintained a connection with the center and school after his 1994 retirement.
Shachnow posthumously received the U.S. Special Operations Command’s highest honor, the award named for Col. Arthur “Bull” Simons (1918-1979), a celebrated special forces pioneer, also a Jew. Simons is memorialized by a 12-foot bronze statue on a granite base facing the JFK center. The statue depicts Simons in action in Vietnam, pressing forward. One side of the statue’s base is inscribed with the passage from Isaiah 6:8 which ends with this answer to a call to service: “Here I am; send me.”
JWV was founded in 1896 by Jewish veterans of the Civil War to honor and support service members and veterans and, in particular, the many American Jews who, before the Revolutionary War and since, have answered the call to military service.
For information about JWV membership categories, support opportunities, and activities, go to jwv.org, mharrison@jwv.org, or call (202) 265-6280.
JWV wants you!
Volume 77. Number 4. 2023
