Monthly Archives: June 2020

Military

Operation Benjamin Coordinates Renaming Ceremony for Jewish POWs

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Based in New York, Shalom Lamm has an extensive real estate leadership background and has overseen a variety of successful property rehabilitation projects. One of the founders of Operation Benjamin, Shalom Lamm is part of an organization that recently coordinated successful efforts with the American Battle Monuments Commission in burying fallen Jewish American World War II soldiers under the Star of David.

The five service members honored at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in February 2020 served in the Pacific theater during the war. They included one who died of typhus, one who was a victim of enemy shell fire, and another who succumbed to a gunshot wound. In addition, two prisoners of war died of hardship and starvation within Japanese prison camps.

A common thread among these men was that they shared a strong sense of patriotism, as well as a robust Jewish faith, and gave their lives for principles of democracy and freedom. They were among a Jewish contingent that made up approximately 2.7 percent of the total number of soldiers who served in World War II. What Operation Benjamin’s research revealed was that only 1.5 percent of American WWII graves bore the Star of David.

With personal omission and clerical mistakes two major reasons why Jewish Americans might be buried under a Christian cross, the aim of Operation Benjamin is to ensure that this situation is rectified as much as possible. Coordinated with the American Battle Monuments Commission, the ceremony in the Philippines included a Mourner’s Kaddish recitation and provided a sense of closure to the families of the deceased.

It represents just one part of an ongoing process that requires ample proof to be provided of each soldier’s Jewish identity before the renaming ceremony.

the Star of David

Milton Feldman’s Tale of Imprisonment

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Shalom Lamm’s career as a real estate developer spans more than two decades, including managing more than 9,500 properties. Shalom Lamm, also a military historian, successfully petitioned the government to have the grave markers of Jewish-Americans reflect their heritage through the Operation Benjamin project.

Operation Benjamin culminated in a program that would change the grave markers of Jewish-American soldiers who served in WWII to the Star of David instead of the Christian cross. The importance of honoring these soldiers is conveyed through Milton Feldman’s tale of imprisonment in the POW camps in Germany.

While Mr. Feldman was not a fatality of the war, the conditions of his capture highlight the sacrifice that many Jewish-Americans made-even in the face of Nazi aggression. In what would become the Battle of the Bulge, the troops set out on an orchestrated and organized march to defeat the enemy. The army of men were prepared to fight, even in miserable winter conditions and the low cloud cover.

However, one mistake led to complete chaos. The generals misunderstood the German retreat, and the soldiers soon were barraged by a counterattack. The once unified unit had unraveled, becoming a loose band of soldiers. A day or so later, Mr. Feldman and a few other soldiers walked upon a camp of German soldiers. Outnumbered and out rifled, the troops were captured.

The next couple of days they trekked through the German countryside. After a train ride, the soldiers were dropped off in front of German barracks run by both Allied and German soldiers. Faced with possible extermination, Mr. Feldman admitted to the officer checking him in that he was in fact Jewish. Although he did not suffer the brutality that most of the Jewish descent, his tale is a harrowing illustration of why honoring Jewish-Americans who served is very relevant, even almost 75 years later.