Jewish and Veterans Groups Ask for Arlington Memorial for WWII Rabbi

[The Straight Story]

Jewish and Veterans Groups Ask for Arlington Memorial for WWII Rabbi

When the USS Dorchester was hit by a German torpedo and sunk off the coast of Greenland on February 3, 1943, during World War II, the ship’s four chaplains helped the men aboard find lifejackets, gave away their own, preached courage to those trying to escape, and prayed for the dead, before they too died in the freezing waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Eventually 672 died and there were 230 survivors. Some of the survivors in rafts recalled their last view of the four chaplains, linked arm in arm and praying as the ship went down.

Three of the chaplains—George Fox (Methodist), John Washington (Roman Catholic) and Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed)—were later memorialized on Chaplains Hill at Arlington National Cemetery on monuments honoring the service of Protestant and Catholic chaplains killed in the line of duty.

But the fourth chaplain, Alexander Goode (Jewish), was not. That oversight has prompted veterans advocates and Jewish organizations to lobby for a monument to honor Goode and other Jewish chaplains who have not been honored at Arlington.

Since World War I, 13 Jewish chaplains have died while serving their country. The new monument would recognize them and any others that follow.

http://www.allgov.com/Controversies/ViewNews/Jewish_and_Veterans_Groups_Ask_for_Arlington_Memorial_for_WWII_Rabbi_110514

[Behind the Aegis]

1. ....

By ADAM KREDO
WASHINGTON (Washington Jewish Week)–A campaign to memorialize 13 fallen Jewish military chaplains with a monument in Arlington National Cemetery is back on track after hitting a demoralizing snag.

“I think that this will correct an injustice of history,” said William Daroff, the Jewish Federations of North America’s vice president of public policy and head of its Washington office. “This is a fitting way to recognize these brave servicemen who gave their lives for our country and our people”



The logjam broke in late January with the introduction of a congressional resolution endorsing the effort to honor the memory of the Jewish chaplains in the same way that fallen chaplains of other faiths have been honored at Arlington. The legislation—companion measures are pending in both houses of Congress—enjoys the firm backing of more than 30 Jewish groups that JFNA organized into a coalition.

Arlington’s overseers originally had told organizers that to erect the monument, they needed only to raise sufficient funds ($30,000) and secure approvals from each of the military’s chief of chaplains. Acting on that, the organizers mounted a vigorous fundraising effort early last year, and assumed that ground soon would be broken.

more: http://jewishworldnews.org/2011/02/23/arlington-memorial-to-jewish-chaplains-back-on-the-right-track/

So was it only the Jews?

[Adsos Letter]

2. Sounds right to me. Fair is fair.