While engaged in battle, he advanced too far along with his group. They were caught in a pocket that was surrounded by the Germans. Conditions were getting worse with food and water in short supply and shells falling on them.

A message runner’s bravery

Major Charles Whittlesey had assigned Private Herschkowitz as a message runner on the 29th of September 1918. His job was to report to headquarters the position of the battalion. Herschkowitz also had Lieutenant Arthur McKeogh and Private John Joseph Monson with him.

They had to break through the German lines while at risk from the enemy’s dominant position and shelling. During their efforts, a small group of Germans attacked them. However, they killed one of them and drove the others off. At night, Herschkowitz and his fellows crawled unknowingly into a German camp’s center.

They lay there undetected for three hours. Finally, when the Germans discovered them, they made an attempt to escape. Private Herschkowitz drew the fire of the enemy to himself deliberately in order to protect his fellow officer. This gave the officer an opportunity to escape.

Herschkowitz tried to get back to his regiment all night long. He only had a piece of bread in his gas mask to eat. Fortunately, he saw some Frenchmen in blue uniforms who helped him get back to his headquarters. Once there, he delivered his message.

McKeogh’s contempt

Herschkowitz narrated his experiences to author Henry Berry nearly seven decades later. He believed McKeogh disliked him. Herschkowitz said that he had this belief from the fact that McKeogh called him a button hole maker. That means a tailor, which Herschkowitz wasn’t.

He also believed that when the mission was successfully completed, he might’ve at least earned the officer’s respect. Herschkowitz was the one who killed the German soldier who had spotted all of them.

Croix de Guerre

Another extraordinary fact about Herschkowitz’s heroism is that he endured all this while suffering from flu. His body temperature had reached the level of 105. He collapsed right after completing his mission and reaching the headquarters successfully. He spent the remaining part of the war in hospitals.

Unfortunately, his battalion continued to advance after they received his message. In doing so, they cut themselves off from the rest of the 77th Division even farther. On the 19th of April 1919, he boarded a ship to the United States from France.

Before the ship left for its destination, Colonel Maurice Laurent from the French Army hopped on board. He gave the Croix de Guerre award to Herschkowitz along with Major George McMurtry and Benjamin Kaufman.

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He obtained his degree from the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University. This was after his honorable discharge in 1919. Later, he raised three children and started a landscaping and greenhouse business in the city of Bronx.

Military valor

William Shemin had enlisted in the United States army on the 2nd of October 1917. He completed his basic training at North Carolina’s Camp Greene. Following the completion of his training, he was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division of the American Expeditionary Forces.

He served in France under Company G of the 47th Infantry Regiment. During his service as a rifleman between 7th and 9th August 1918, he showed exceptional bravery. Shemin had left the cover of his platoon to rescue the wounded. In this process, he was repeatedly exposing himself to the firing from rifles and heavy machine guns.

As many senior non-commissioned officers and several other officers had been killed, he took command of the platoon. He took all this initiative while under fire and was wounded on the 9th of August.

The Distinguished Service Cross

As a result of the wounds he had suffered while rescuing the wounded, he was hospitalized for three months. The injuries included the ones from a machine gun bullet and shrapnel. The bullet had pierced his helmet before getting lodged behind his left ear. After his recovery, he served on light duty in Belgium and Germany until the completion of his tour.

For his combat wounds, he received the Purple Heart. His valor in France won him the Distinguished Service Cross on the 19th of December 1919. The Distinguished Service Cross award was upgraded about 96 years later to the Medal of Honor.

Elsie’s efforts

Shemin died in the year 1973. About three decades after his death, his daughter came to know about a new review process for veterans. This was for the veterans from the Second World War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. They were the ones who might have been denied the Medal of Honor because of race or religion. Elsie Shemin-Roth wondered why the same process was not included for the veterans of World War I.

She then worked for years to expand the review process and get the case of her father revisited. Owing to her efforts, the William Shemin Jewish World War I Veterans Act was signed by President Barack Obama. This was done in the year 2011. Four years later, Elsie Shemin-Roth and her sister Ida Shemin traveled to Washington along with their other family members.

In a ceremony held at the White House, President Obama presented the posthumous Medal of Honor for William Shemin. Sergeant William Shemin’s story has been shared in museum exhibits since then. His story was also shared in a book about the winners of the Medal of Honor.

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When the United States entered the First World War, he volunteered for military service. As a captain in the Army Medical Corps, he was assigned his duty station at Carruthers/Benbrook Field. Its location near Fort Worth meant that he was serving in his home state. He was one of the first clinicians who got to treat and work with aviators and related personnel.

At the hospital

The hospital had a staff of five officers and twenty-three enlisted men. It had a capacity of fifty beds and got 261 patients on an average every month. During their time spent at the airfield, Dr. Schwarz and his staff treated a total of 1,686 patients. About 1095 of them returned to duty and twenty eight soldiers died at the hospital.

A typical day for Dr. Schwarz began with sanitation inspection. He also conducted in-patient rounds at the hospital ward. This was followed by a sick call. It involved treating patients suffering from minor injuries and illnesses. Their illnesses ranged from common cold to pneumonia.

Later he would have a quick lunch. After this, he attended a clinic for aviators’ flight readiness evaluations and wellness examinations for all the other personnel.

Rescue and recovery work

When a DH. 9 fell to the ground, all the routine activities had to cease immediately. The entire focus of the medical team would then be on the rescue and recovery of the airmen involved. Stopping all his other duties, Dr. Edwin would rush to accident sites in an ambulance.

The road was bumpy and ridden with holes. As the ambulance passed through the rough roads and fields, it kicked up massive clouds of dust. At times, the fliers were set free using axes and wire cutters. As the second-seat aviator didn’t wear any seat belt, he often fell from the plane.

He’d stay balanced on a railing when he was manning a machine gun. The doctor would prevent further bleeding with tourniquets. Motion would be limited with the use of splints, thus preventing additional orthopedic, spinal cord, or neck injury.

Discharge from service

Dr. Edwin Schwarz discharged from service in the year 1919. He then went into private practice and became the first pediatrician of Fort Worth. He helped in establishing the first day nursery of the city. Dr. Schwarz also organized the children’s clinic of John Peter Smith Hospital. He later became the president of Fort Worth Pediatric and Texas Pediatric Societies.

Due to his excellent service to children and his community, he received many awards. They included the Gold Headed Cane Award. He also got recognition from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. This was for his contributions to various people of Fort Worth.

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He had taken many US soldiers to safety while serving in France during World War I. While commanding the remaining unit, he had to suffer from wounds caused by shrapnel and machine gun bullets. There have been many such solders in the American army who showed exceptional courage during wars. Here are some of the best books about Jews who served in the US military:

1. Goldfish – Silver Boot

Harvey S. Horn was a former Air Force flight officer. He had enlisted in the Army Air Corps to serve his country. The book talks in detail about war and the resilience of a human being. It also talks about the body’s ability to adapt to certain conditions that are beyond one’s control. This is a story that many prisoners of war would resonate with.

Flight officer Harvey S. Horn had endured some truly extreme situations. Every day was a harrowing experience for him. He was the part of 772nd Bomber Squadron based in the Italian city of Foggia. On the 20th of March 1945, he was assigned along with several others to Flying Fortress B-17G. Their mission was to bomb the marshaling yards located south of Vienna in Austria.

They got hit by flak over Zagreb in Yugoslavia. As a result, they landed in Quarnero Bay. The German Navy took them away as prisoners of war. During those times, being captured by the Germans itself was a great misfortune. Being a Jew among those captured was even worse. This book documents the 36 days of author, which he spent as a prisoner of war.

2. Admiral Boorda’s Navy

This is a biography of Jeremy Michael Boorda, who was the Chief of Naval Operations in the US Navy. He had served from April 1994 to May 1996. He was also a grandson of the Jews who had escaped the Czarist Russia. Admiral Michael Boorda was born in Indiana’s South Bend city. After dropping out of high school, he enlisted and was sent to officer candidate school after six years.

Later, he became the first Jew to become the Chief of Naval Operations. He had years of experience at sea and on shore during combat as well as peacetime. In this biography, author Malcolm Steinberg chronicles the history and politics during Admiral Boorda’s career. He was a caring and brilliant man who loved his family, country, and his country’s navy.

3. Jewish Aviators in World War II

During the Second World War, more than 150,000 Jewish personnel in US Air Force had served their country. Despite such great contributions, they had to face scorn and bigotry from their fellow servicemen. The Jews were seen by some as cowardly and disloyal. They had to face the accusations of taking up relatively easy assignments and thus sitting out the war.

In the book, author Bruce Wolk interviews over a hundred Jewish air veterans. The oral history detailed in this book features some intriguing recollections. They are from the Jewish air force personnel from all branches of service. The book also contains recollections from Jewish women who served in Women Airforce Service Pilots or WASP.

All of them talk about their combat experiences and the anti-Semitism that prevailed in the ranks. Among these aviators were the ones who had to endure some extremely tough times as prisoners of war.

4. Single Handed

Author Daniel M Cohen presents a highly inspiring story of Tibor Rubin in this book. It is based on eyewitness accounts and extensive interviews. The book gives the reader a stirring portrait of this true hero called Tibor ‘Teddy’ Rubin. He was a thirteen-year-old Hungarian Jew in 1944, when the Nazis captured him. He found himself in the notorious Mauthausen concentration camp.

For over a year, this teenager endured the concentration camp’s horrors. He did survive the Holocaust, but arrived penniless in the United States, barely able to speak English. He volunteered for the Korean War in 1950. During the war, he single-handedly defended a hill against enemy soldier. In another act of heroism in the war, he braved sniper fire for rescuing a comrade who was wounded.

He got captured and had to spend more than two years as a prisoner of war. Based on his experience in Mauthausen, he also helped his fellows survive this period of captivity. He returned to his home country in 1953. However, it wasn’t until 2005 that he got an invitation to to the White House. He was 76 at the time. President George W Bush presented him the Medal of Honor.

It took more than half a century for the United States to recognize Tibor’s contribution. His acts of bravery went beyond the call of duty. He became the only Holocaust survivor to have earned the highest military distinction of the United States.

5. Hope and Honor

This is the autobiography of Sidney Shachnow. A highly decorated Vietnam War veteran, Major General Sidney Shachnow had survived some terrible days as a child. He was sent to the notorious Kovno Concentration Camp when the Nazi forces occupied Eastern Europe. It was heavy manual labor that helped him survive the horrors of the concentration camp. He managed to escape from there and eventually journeyed to the United States.

Shachnow was able to work his way through school and enlisted in the US Army. He volutneered for the US Special Forces, serving for 32 years. It was his aim to save others from the terrible conditions he had endured. From Vietnam to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Shachow served in many special operations.

As the Special Forces grew, he rose to the position of Major General. Wherever he served, the lessons that he learned at Kovno always stayed with him. His will to live helped him get through the death camp in Kovno. In the end, it gave him immense strength of the body, mind, and soul.

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