WINTER 2005 AMERICAN VETERANS OF ISRAEL ...sklausne/Winter05.pdfHanukkah Contributions (Attendants) 500 Machal Pamphlet Sales 600 Newsletter Subscriptions 1000 TOTAL INCOME –2005

1

WINTER 2005 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER

AMERICAN VETERANS OF ISRAELVOLUNTEERS IN ISRAEL’S WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

UNITED STATES & CANADA VOLUNTEERS136 East 39th Street, New York, NY 10016

President’s MessageI am most grateful to the AVI board

of directors for the honor bestowedon me in electing me as President ofour organization. To the membershipat large I proffer a pledge to do myutmost in fulfilling ourorganization’s agenda and objec-tives.

The major challenge I see thiscoming year is in keeping us unifiedand focused to accomplish our mis-sion, in spite of our ever-diminish-ing numbers. We want to ensure thatothers will perpetuate our legacywhen we are no longer here.

I envision the mission of our or-ganization as ensuring that the Jew-ish community is made fully awareof our role in the creation and de-fense of the State of Israel. That theideals and spirit that led us to fightin the defense of the Jewish peoplebe remembered and emulated when-ever our people are endangered.

In my vision I see a place for AVIin the Conference of Presidents ofthe Major Jewish Organizationswhere we could call on the Jewishcommunities to act vigorously indefending the Jewish People and theState of Israel in these threateningtimes

During my tenure in 2005 I willencourage and provide focus to:

1. Supporting the AVI Newsletterand the Newsletter Website, the prin-cipal means of communicationamong our members.

He Deserted the BritishArmy to Fight for Israel

Kit Wilkes-Chase, a non-JewishBritish serviceman, was assigned toguard prisoners at Atlit in 1947. Ap-palled by the treatment of these Ho-locaust survivors, he abandoned hispost and offered his services to theHaganah. With the formation of theIDF, he was sent to the commandounit, Chayot Hanegev , where hefought to stem the Egyptian advanceon Tel Aviv. Wilkes-Chase also par-ticipated in battles to conquerBeersheba and the skirmishes aroundEilat. He was wounded twice.

President’s Messagecontinued on p. 14) Kit Wilkes-Chase

Gen. Zvika Gendelman of IsraelEmbassy in London presents

certificate to Mrs. Wilkes-Chase

Book Review: Machalin the Eyes of History

Ha’Machal, Mitnadvei ChutzL’Aretz b’Milchemet Ha’Atzmaut(Machal, the Overseas Volunteers inthe War of Independence), by YaacovMarkovitsky, is among the collectionof War of Independence articles by dif-ferent authors in Alon Kadish’s bookMilchemet Ha’Atzmaut. An overviewof the book and reviews of several ar-ticles appeared in the Summer 2004AVI Newsletter. The Fall Newslettercontained a review of Markovitsky’sGachal article.

Markovitsky is also the acknowl-edged author of the Machal booklet,published a few years earlier by Israel’sMinistry of Education. Those who’veread either the English or Hebrew ver-sion may recall that Zipporah Porath,Joe Woolf and yours truly are thankedfor “their contributions” and for “helpin editing.” When trying to comparethe two, I thought the article more akinto his draft of the booklet before theinvolvement of the “contributors,” thanto the finally published product. I alsofound it odd that the Machal bookletis not referred to at all in his article,although it contains references to otherMarkovitsky works - and some of itspassages were apparently taken fromhis booklet almost verbatim.

Also odd is that his article beginswith an obviously non-Machal morsel,which has it that over 20,000 of allthose mobilized in the War of Indepen-dence were “new immigrants whowere trained and organized in Europeand in the Cyprus camps,” and “mostarrived after British rule ended on 15

(Wilkes-Chase continued on p.14)

Book Review (continued on p.15)

WINTER 2005

2


American Veterans of Israel136 E. 39 Street

New York, NY 10016-0914

Officers and Executive BoardPresidentIra Feinberg 201 886 1188

Vice PresidentBill Gelberg 561 278 7392

Executive DirectorSimon Spiegelman 212 685 [email protected]

TreasurerDavid Gerard 631 499 4327

Vice PresidentsCanada: Jerry Rosenberg416 787 7632USA RegionsNortheast: Paul Kaye718 428 2465Southeast: Irving Meltzer561 637 5874West: Bailey Nieder206 722 8197Midwest: Ben Hagai Steuerman773 935 0802

DirectorsNewsletter, Internet and TrusteesCommittee:Samuel Z. Klausner 215 473 [email protected]

Archives and MuseumRalph Lowenstein 352 392 6525352 393 6670 [email protected]

Speakers Bureau:Naomi Kantey 201 489 3809

Activities and MembershipDavid Hanovice (USA)201 224 3551Joe Warner (Canada)416 497 0140Art Bernstein (Museum)978 532 6956

Representative to World MachalZippy [email protected]

Websiteshttp://www.sas.upenn.edu/~sklausne/aviweb.htmlhttp://www.israelvets.com

ANNUAL BUDGET AND CASH FLOW PLANYEAR ENDING 12/31/05

BEGINNING BANK BALANCE-2005 $16,500Machal Pamphlet Reserves 4550Life Membership Reserves 3500Archives Donations 750TOTAL ALLOCATED FUNDS 8,800

BEGINNING BALANCE (1/1/05)- FREE CASH 7,700

PROJECTED INCOME-2005Membership Dues 7000Transfer from Life Membership Reserves 1700Transfer from Machal Pamphlet Reserves 2000Archives Donations (Released from 2004 donations) 750Hanukkah Contributions (Attendants) 500Machal Pamphlet Sales 600Newsletter Subscriptions 1000TOTAL INCOME –2005 $13,550

PROJECTED EXPENSES-2005Newsletter Printing and Mailing 5000Museum Inauguration and West Point National Events 2000Computer Supplies & Service 500Postage, Printing & Copies 1000Telephone & Conference Calls 800Hanukkah Event 600West Point & Parade 500Contribution to Archives Account (new) 1000Transfer to Archives Account (Members Donations from 2004) 750TOTAL EXPENSES- 2005 $12,500

PROJECTED ENDING BALANCE (12/31/05)-FREE CASH 9,100

PLANNED RESERVES ALLOCATIONS- END 2005Machal Pamphlet Distribution 2550Life Membership Reserve 1800Archives Donations (Estimated for Year 2005) 1000TOTAL ALLOCATED RESERVES- END 2005 $5,350

PROJECTED BANK BALANCE- END 2005 $14,450

Dave GerardSi Spiegelman

1/13/2005

3


NEW YORK AVI HANUKKAH OBSERVANCE 2004On Sunday, December 12, 2004,

AVI in New York held its annualHanukkah celebration at the BnaiZion hall. As in years past, old com-rades got together to exchange fam-ily updates, swap old tales andcommiserate as the years take theirtoll. Nevertheless, nothing stoppedthem from enjoying a great brunch,lighting the Hanukkah candles andjoining in song.

It was also an opportunity to in-troduce our incoming president, IraFeinberg, who spoke about his pro-gram for the coming year. (See Ira’smessage in this issue of the News-letter). He spoke of AVI’s opportu-nity to become more engaged inpersuading other organizations to

take a harder stand in combatinganti-Semitism in the world, particu-larly in view of the deepening threatof countries in the Middle East con-doning terror.

The guest speaker was Ravit Bar-Av, Chief Information officer at theIsrael Consulate General in NewYork, who spoke of the improvedoutlook for negotiations with thePalestinians in view of Arafat’s de-parture from the scene. She wasguardedly optimistic about thepractically nil possibilities of peacewhile he was alive.

Si Spiegelman, Executive Direc-tor, praised Ravit for her supportof AVI and reminded the audienceabout her activities in organizing

the Machal tribute on the Intrepidand her assistance in distributingthe Machal pamphlet. As a tokenof appreciation she was presentedwith the Silver State of Israel medalremembering Clandestine Immi-gration.

Ruth Gruber concluded the pro-gram with a talk about her life andwork as an acclaimed and prolificauthor even to this day. She spokeof the importance of persistenceand dedication as values in life.Two of her books were availableto the attendees.

The guests took leave standingaround and chatting at the door un-til the last minute as another Ha-nukkah celebration came to a close.

THE HANOVICE STORY: DAVID HANOVICE REMINISCES.

For many U.S, and Canadian volunteers who servedin Aliyah Bet and in Machal the essence of their storiesis the theme of a dual commitment. They served theircountry in the Second World War and participated inthe struggle for the creation of a Jewish State. Nowherewere these ties more explicit than in the story of theHanovice family.

PART I. QUIET TIMESIsrael Hanovice was born in Russia, in the Minsk prov-

ince, on Jan.10, 1884. Following the recurring pogromshe emigrated to the United States of America. He landedin New York and settled in York, Pennsylvania wherehe found work in the coalmines and other industries.He married his first wife Sara around 1905 and theyhad two sons. He discovered new opportunities in theWest and resettled the family in Houston, Texas wheretwo daughters were born. Following Sara’s untimelydeath at age 29, Israel traveled to New York where hewas introduced to a young widow, Rebecca Pravda. Hemarried her and brought her to Houston. Rebecca caredfor his first four children and also raised 8 more of theiroffspring in Houston, Texas.

Israel found work in various trades and engaged in

business. He became a U.S. citizen in 1912, and duringWorld War I participated in the war effort by workingas a carpenter and pipe fitter in the Houston area ship-yards. When the war ended and Britain received a man-date from the League of Nations to govern Palestine,Israel, who was an ardent Zionist, left for a visit to theHoly Land. He toured the country from one end to theother on foot and by any means of transport available atthe time. This led to his decision to settle and make ahome for his family in Palestine. Tel-Aviv was in itsinfancy when he brought the family over and bought aparcel of land near Jaffa. Here he constructed his house.It was one of the early buildings in the city and it stillstands today on Geula Street 30 serving as an annex toa school next door. Nine of Israel’s children moved toPalestine with their parents and three more were bornin Tel Aviv later on. Israel worked for many years as aplumbing contractor in the growing city. In 1927 thefamily returned to Houston in order to retain their U.S.citizenship. With the onset of the depression years thefamily left Houston and resettled in Tel-Aviv. This timethe four older children remained with relatives in Hous-ton in order to continue their high school studies. Re-

Hanovice (continued on next page)

4


turning to Tel Aviv in 1930 Israelresumed his occupation as a plumb-ing and building contractor as thenew city was growing by leaps andbounds.

David Hanovice recalls his boy-hood years in Tel-Aviv, “When I wasa child and came home from schoolat midday, my mother would sendme to deliver lunch to my father athis work site. While he had his mealI waited to take back the utensils. Myfather detailed jobs for me to dowhile he was eating. In this way Iacquired my mechanical skills fromhim. Among my childhood memo-ries of Tel-Aviv, I vividly recall theschool years as I entered the firstgrade without knowing any Hebrew.I recall the special efforts of myteacher, Rachel, to have me keep upwith the class. I kept close ties withher for many years. Mr. Maravi wasour music teacher. He taught me toread notes and to sing on any occa-sion. Geula Street branched off fromAllenby, a main thoroughfare of Tel-Aviv at that time. North of DizengoffStreet was sand dunes. Westward onthe Mediterranean Sea was a veryshallow beach where we spent a lotof time swimming in the summer-time and building sandcastles. Thelifeguard at the beach was known asMullah. On the holiday of LagBa’Omer we would light bonfires onthe beach till the early-hours of themorning, sitting around and relatingstories. There was an opera singerin our neighborhood who practicedfor his performances and all day ourstreet was filled with opera music.On the Sabbath, when there was notraffic on the street, we would playsticks, a game similar to baseball,played with a short stick instead ofa ball. We went on special outings

to the Yarkon River that required afull day’s hike back and forth. Forpopular entertainment there wereseveral movie houses in Tel Aviv,including the Mograbi, Armon,Achad Ha-Am, Gan-Rina, andOphir. There was also the HabimaTheater.”

In 1935 Israel decided to leave Tel-Aviv and live on the Land in thespirit of the Zionist pioneers. Witheight children in the family helpingout, he saw the possibility of oper-ating a farm of moderate size. Hebought a citrus grove in Tel-Alon,near Pardess-Hanna. At that time cit-rus exports to Europe were rising andthe future looked promising for thatindustry. He sold the house in TelAviv and aided by bank loans hepurchased a ten-acre citrus grove. Hebuilt a new house on the hill over-looking the grove and had the entirefamily help to finish it and make itlivable.

David Hanovice recalls those days,“We were isolated, since the closestcommunity of Pardess-Hanna wasfive miles away. There were onlythree families nearby and they livedmiles apart. with hundreds of acresof citrus groves covering that area.Beside the citrus grove where all ofus worked every day after school, wehad a barn with several horses, cows,donkeys and a chicken coop. Eachof us had prescribed chores assignedvarying with the seasons. There alsowere hired laborers who workedalongside our family memberswhenever more hands were needed.We grew our own fruit and veg-etables and that was one of mychores for many years. All yearround we had vegetables that werein season. We had a surplus of pro-duce and eggs, which my fatherwould sell to a grocer in Pardess-Hanna. To get to school we rode our

donkeys, as was the custom on theland. There were no paved roads andriding a bicycle was impossible onthe sandy roads in the region. Atschool I studied music and sang inthe choir, but then I switched toclasses in the school’s carpentryshop and worked on class projectsthat were displayed at the end of theschool year. In the evenings, excepton Friday nights, my parents wouldtake a buggy ride to Pardess-Hannato visit and have tea with relativesand friends from their country oforigin. They would talk about the“old times” while we, children, re-mained at home to do our schoolhomework assignments. On Sab-bath, our only day off, I would ac-company my father to the Syna-gogue in the morning. In the after-noon my older brothers played withthe local soccer team, and we wouldattend the matches. I also partici-pated in the local Maccabi sportsgroup and Zvulun Sea Scouts inHadera. On Saturday evening therewas usually a new movie at the lo-cal theater including news shortsfrom around the world. In the newsat that time we saw the rise of NaziGermany, of Fascism in Europe andthe outbreak of World War II.”

PART II. WAR YEARSBefore the war broke out, five of

the Hanovice children were living inthe U.S. The remaining children,consisting of five boys and two girlslived on the family homestead in Tel-Alon. In 1936, Arab terrorist gangsbegan to ambush residents of theJewish communities and settle-ments, engaging in wanton killingsand destruction. The British admin-istration permitted the strengtheningof the police forces in the Jewishvillages, townships and settlements


Hanovice (continued)

5


as well as in the large cities. As aresult, the Haganah, the Jewish un-derground defense organization,called on able-bodied Jews to par-ticipate in its defense activities. Jew-ish men joined the British PoliceSpecial Forces called Notrim,Gafirim, or Supernumerary Police.This was followed by a variety ofclandestine training and maneuversin weapons use and field tactics aspart of the Haganah activities. In1939, when World War II broke outand as news spread about the atroci-ties perpetrated against the Jews inEurope, a large number of volunteersjoined the British Armed Forces andserved in the Jewish Brigade, andother units.

Israel Hanovice was not a politi-cal person. His life’s focus had beenon daily mundane matters related tohis trade or working the land. As itbecame clear that war was imminenthe encouraged his sons to join theHaganah and later on the U.S.Armed Forces in which they servedas U.S. citizens. Without speeches,he simply told them, “It was the rightthing to do.”

Life in Tel-Alon changed drasti-cally with the start of the war andwork on the family homestead cameto a standstill as the export of citrusfruit to Europe was halted and fourof the Hanovice sons went off to war.

Harry HanoviceHarry joined the Northern Fence

Security forces, a Police unit thatpatrolled the Lebanese and Syrianborders. When America entered theSecond World War he enlisted in theU.S. Army Air Corps from Tel-Avivand served in Abadan, Persia. Afterthe war, he re-enlisted in the U.S. AirForce where he served as a career

soldier until his retirement.

Sam HanoviceSam was active with the Haganah

and trained under Orde Wingate,head of the ‘Night Brigades’ com-bating the Arab terrorists in Pales-tine from 1936 to 1939. DuringWWII his Haganah unit was at-tached to the British Royal NavyCommandos and trained as seals inunderwater demolition. In May1941, the 23 members, under thecommand of British Major, Sir An-thony Palmer, were sent on a mis-sion to destroy refineries and fuelstorage installations in Lebanon andSyria. These were under the controlof the French Vichy government,which collaborated with Nazi Ger-many. To this day they are MIA andtheir boat “Sea Lion” has not beenfound. In 1957 a monument waserected on Mount Herzl in theirmemory.

Aaron HanoviceIn 1941 Aaron joined a British Na-

val unit and was stationed in Haifa.He enlisted in the U.S. Army andserved in Egypt during WWII return-ing to Tel-Aviv after hisdischarge.Based in Camp Russell B.Huckstep in Egypt for the durationof WWII. Camp Russell B.Huckstep was a center hub of trans-porting GI’s and war suppliesthroughout the Near East, MiddleEast Europe, the Far East and theUSA. He was killed at the hands ofan Arab mob in August 1947 whiledriving a truck in a convoy from TelAviv.

David HanoviceAfter graduating from public

school, he worked in the family or-ange groves and became active inHaganah activities. He was involved

for four years in K-9 training as as-sistant instructor for local groups ofdog owners. This involved trainingdogs in attack and defense as wellas mine detection and using dogs asmessengers between local posts andpatrols in the field. He served in theBritish Air Force supernumeraryPolice around Tel-Nof /Aqir and asthe U.S. entered the war he trans-ferred to the U.S. Army unit basedat Tel-Litvinsky. He served with the404th Q.M. Trucking unit made upof US citizens who resided abroad.The company included six Chris-tians from Lebanon and about 50Jews from Palestine. The unit trans-ported supplies and personnel dur-ing the battles of El Alamein andSulom Pass, Tobruk, Benghazi, Tri-poli all the way up to Sfax in Tuni-sia. David returned to the U.S. forhis discharge and studies. He gradu-ated from the School of Technologyof the University of Houston thatprepared him for a career in marineengine repair and maintenance. Hesubsequently volunteered for servicein Israel’s War of Independence. Hewas among the U.S. Machalniks thatbrought the Yucatan (Noga K-26)from New Orleans to Haifa for de-livery to the Israeli Navy and laterserved as its Chief Engineer. TheNoga (Kuf-26) took part in all navalengagements during the War of In-dependence, including the sinking ofthe Egyptian flagship Emir Farouk.Upon his return to the U.S., Davidwas involved in refitting and deliv-ery of two other vessels to the IsraelNavy; the K-28 corvette and the K-22 that became part of the Shayetet13 operation. (See AVI Newsletterof Spring, 2001 for the full Yucatanstory). David returned to the U.S.and made a career in the marine en-gine industry. Subsequently David



6


resumed sailing US Merchant shipsas a US Coast Guard Licensed Ma-rine Engineer till retirement at age65 during a continuance period of 23years, serving in all EngineeringRatings all the way to Chief Engi-neer on a verity and types of US Flagships , Oceanography Research,Bulk Grain and Coal Carriers, Tank-ers , General Cargo and ContainerShips.

Yitzhak HanoviceThe youngest brother, Yitzhak,

enlisted at age 17 and served in thePalmach under Yitzhak Sadeh in theWar of Independence. He later

served in the Tank Corps, Gedud 82.In 1954, while, serving on IsraelArmy Reserve duty, Yitzchak lostthe use of his legs due to polio andwas confined to a wheel chair. Tak-ing account of the shortage of wheel-chairs in Israel because they wereimported, he started a factory to pro-duce them locally. He returned tocivilian life to run the business pro-viding employment in the commu-nity of Pardess Hannah and ex-panded into various other businesssectors. In 1956 he trained as aswimmer on Lake Kinneret and par-ticipated in the Paraplegic Olympiadin England, where he won the Goldmedal for the State of Israel.

This is a “Beau Geste” story of ourtime relevant to many of the Machalvolunteers who came from NorthAmerica and other regions whereJews live free and peaceful lives.They found a way to maintain anallegiance to their countries of ori-gin while engaging in the creationof the Jewish State and serving inits defense.

Si Spiegelman(Based on material provided by

David Hanovice)

Editor’s Note: Israel Hanovice passedaway in 1966 at the age of 82. Todaythere are 77 or more of his descendantsliving in the U.S. and Israel.

Yitshak Hanovice Harry Hanovice Aaron Hanovice

Sam HanoviceDavid Hanovice


7


Middie to Machal:The Israeli Odyssey of Paul Nachman Shulman

If anyone can “bottle” historical research, the bottleshould contain a label: “Warning: historical researchcan be highly addictive.” Such is the nature of my re-search for a book about Paul Shulman, the graduate ofthe U.S. Naval Academy who in 1948 established anacademy in Haifa to train officers for Israel’s new navy.

After two years of duty as en-gineering officer of the USSHunt, Shulman resigned hiscommission. He volunteered forthe Haganah’s mission to getJewish Holocaust survivors toPalestine, the Jews’ promisedHomeland.

Of the estimated 1,500 Ameri-cans who served as volunteerMachal, some 250 were veteransthat crewed the surplus vessels,purchased by cover corporationssupplied by funds from wealthyJewish interests, which formedthe “Jews Secret Fleet” of AliyahBet –clandestine immigration.

David Ben-Gurion made sev-eral trips to the United States in1945 and 1946 to press the casefor the state of Israel. When inNew York City he would some-times stay at a small hotel at 14 East 60th street, knownas “Hotel Fourteen,” which was above the trendyCopacabana nightclub. More than once he was ahouseguest of Rebecca and Herman Shulman – Paul’sparents – at their apartment overlooking Central ParkWest, or at their elegant country home in Stamford,Connecticut. It was at one of these visits that “BG”impressed the 24-year-old Lieutenant,

(Junior Grade) that Israel could use a man with hisengineering skills.

Shulman’s engineering skills served the Haganah inNew York and Italy where he helped ensure the sea-

worthiness of Aliyah Bet vessels. Soon after May 15,1948 Ben-Gurion called Shulman to Israel to set up thenaval academy, in Haifa. The staff included former U.Snaval officers Richard Rosenberg, Marvin Broder andSaunder Finard, and British ex-officers Allen Burke,David DeLange and Harvey Miller. Training texts in-

cluded the U.S. Navy’sBluejacket’s Manual

Himself trained at Annapolis,Shulman often found it a chal-lenge to instill the same regardfor classical learning in theformer PalYam (Sea Service)students. “Paul would make apoint about seamanship,”Marvin Broder recalled, “and astudent might reply, “Oh, yeah?Prove it!”

Shulman’s limited sea-goingexperience in combat was no se-cret, recalls Richard Rosenberg.“Still, he did a creditable job oforganizing the navy…given theopposition of the PalYamniks…”Dual-hatted as the Navy’s Com-mander-in-Chief, Shulman wasnot content to command merelya desk. He took part in several

naval operations. In the most celebrated, in commandof Kuf-24, Ma’oz, he led a group of naval commandosfrom Shaytet-13 on a mission to attack the Egyptiancorvette Emir Farouk off the harbor at Gaza on October22, 1948. Although a truce with Egypt was not struckuntil 1949, it is believed that the loss of their flagshipthat night was in Hebrew – the straw that broke thecamel’s back.

J. WandresJ. Wandres is writing a book about Paul Shulman.

He would enjoy hearing from anyone who served withhim in the Israeli navy or during his long life as acivilian in Israel. Contact Mr. Wandres at<[email protected]>

Shulman with Ben Gurion

8


Irving J. BlockHonored and Memorialized

Rabbi Irving J. Block, who passedaway in October 2002, was a veteranof the Haganah defending Jerusalemin the early days of the War of Inde-pendence. He was a member of theAVI Executive Board and served asAVI’s Chaplain. He founded theBrotherhood Synagogue in NewYork in 1954 and then served as itsRabbi and Rabbi Emeritus until hisdeath.

The Brotherhood Synagogue hasestablished the Rabbi Irving J. BlockMemorial Lecture as an annual pro-gram. The first lecture took place inNovember 2003 with AbrahamFoxman National Director of theAnti-Defamation League. The 2004lecturer was Rabbi David Ellenson,President of the Hebrew Union Col-lege-Jewish Institute of Religionwhere Irving was ordained in 1953.

A monument has been erected inIrving’s honor in Israel.

FELLNER’S “SAM’S QUEST”PRODUCED IN NEW YORK CITY

Irv Fellner, a member of AVI, whoserved in the Israel Army in 1948, nowof Mesa, Arizona has written a play,“Sam’s Quest,” which was produced byThe Theatre-Studio, Inc., of New YorkCity in December. Irv and his wifeEileen were at the December 11opening.

“Sam’s Quest” is about a disabled,older man who is desperately seekinga way to make his existence meaning-ful. His wife, Beverly, is bitter abouthaving all the responsibilities of day-to-day living thrust upon her and con-stantly demeans him. Sam is planning a drastic solution to his dilemmawhen he unexpectedly finds a solution to his quest. This is Irv’s second playto be produced. The American Theatre of Actors produced “Bitter Herbs,”a drama about a family conflict during a Passover Seder, in New York Cityin 1997.

Irv Fellner

Yom HaZicharonin Israel

Wednesday May 11, 2005Machal Monument

Contingents are expected fromthe United States, Canada,

France and the United Kingdomas well as Israel

[email protected]

An American delegation is information.

For information contact IraFeinberg

[email protected]

MUSEUM OF THE JEWISH SOLDIEROF WORLD WAR II AT LATRUN

Accompanied by Colonel (ret.) David (Migdal) Teperson, a South AfricanMachal brother, I visited the Latrun Armour Museum where the Exhibittitled “The Jewish Soldier of World War II” is displayed. This exhibit por-trays one the close-kept secrets of World War II: “The Forgotten Ally” i.e.,the Jewish People.

Displays representing Jewish fighters who served in the armies of manycountries (regular and partisans) and who made a major contribution in de-feating the Third Reich, fill and entire room. One and a half million Jewishsoldiers fought to free the world of Nazism; many of them distinguishedthemselves and were highly decorated. A number rose to the top echelons ofcommand in their respective army and navy. This vast number representsalmost 11% of the total Jewish world population remaining at the end of thewar. The casualty rate of the Jewish fighters was very high; sixteen per centof the total number who served gave their lives. In the United States, 500,000Jews served in all branches of the armed forces and 52,000 were decoratedfor bravery.

Sadly, the victorious Allies did not recognize this contribution to the wareffort. Instead the Jews were rewarded with a British blockade and a weap-ons embargo as the Jews struggled to resettle the holocaust survivors andcreate a State of their own. The story of the Jews from many allied nationsin World War II is a compelling one; of courage, dedication, and distinctiveservice rendered toward Allied victory and the defeat of fascism.

Ira Feinberg

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

9


Obituaries

Dov Mills passed away on the 23rdof October, 2004, and was laid to restin the cemetery of the City of Be’er-Sheva‘, situated about mid way be-tween Kibbutz Hatserim and the“Old City”. His plot is on the samepath he took in his PALMAH jeepon the 21st of October, 1948, as amember of the 9th Battalion of theNegev Brigade, which liberatedBe’er-Sheva‘. The Israeli forcesadvanced from the West, from Kib-butz Tse’elim, passed KibbutzHatserim and attacked the town fromdifferent sides. Eight years after theWar of Independence ended, Dovsettled in Be’er-Sheva‘, where hespent most of his mature life.

Dov was multi-talented, self-edu-cated, and had many diverse inter-ests: Zionism; the sea, navigation,astronomy; the land, agriculture,camping; psychology; and evenpainting, poetry and short-story writ-ing were all part of his life. He wasborn in Brooklyn N.Y. on the 6th ofAugust 1925, to Jewish immigrantswho had come as children with theirparents from Poland and Romania.He spent his childhood in Brooklyn,and, later in life, warmly recalled thepublic library, playing handball inthe streets of his neighborhood, hisfriends and, of course, his family.Dov studied agriculture in the onlyhigh school in the city that had thiscourse of study. As a youth, Dovjoined the Hashomer Hatsa‘ir Move-ment.

In 1943, Dov joined the U.S. Armyand, after Basic Training, he was sentto fight in the Far East. He was sta-tioned in the Philippines and later inOkinawa, when the atomic bomb

Dov Mills: Exodus Crew and then Palmach

wiped out Hiroshima on his 20thbirthday. Ever since, his birthdayswere mingled with sadness, as heremembered the multitude who diedthat day or carried their terriblewounds for the rest of their lives. Hiscommemoration reached a fatefulpeak during the last year of his life,when a young group of Japanesemissionaries for peace knocked onhis door. They visited him often andbrought him much happiness duringhis sickness. He told them about hisexperiences and feelings regarding“the bomb”, and that he had writtena poem about Hiroshima, which theythen translated into Japanese andsent to the Mayor of Hiroshima. Areply from the Mayor brought Dovmuch excitement and some sense ofclosure.

A brief leave from the Army, to-wards the end of the War, broughtDov to Shanghai, changing his lifeentirely. There he met Jewish refu-gees who had survived W.W.II. Hebecame aware, for the first time, ofthe tragedy of his people in Europe.Later, he used to say that this had asignificant impact on his decision tohelp with the establishment of ahome for the Jewish People. Afterreturning to New York in 1946, helooked for a way to do this. ThroughHashomer Hatsa‘ir, Dov heard thatthe Haganah was seeking youngJewish men to volunteer for ‘AliyahBet.’ So Dov volunteered to serve asa crew member on the ship “Exo-dus”. The story of the “Exodus” andthe agony of the 4,500 refugees hasbeen told many times. Dov was anoiler during the voyage to Israel, andspent most of the transit in the en-

gine room down below deck. On theway back to Europe, on board the“Empire Rival”, he served as amiddleman between the undercoverHaganah people and the British of-ficers. He was also on an organizingcommittee that dealt with the fre-quent problems of the refugees. Be-ing a pivotal figure, many came toknow him: activists and refugeesalike. On board the “Empire Rival”,in order not to be recognized by theBritish as a crewmember from the“Exodus”, he changed his namefrom Bernard Miller to Dov Mills.Later, he managed to escape from thedetention camp at Popendorf, Ger-many, with other “Exodus”crewmembers, posing as a memberof a soccer team. When passingthrough France, he was the onlymember of his group to meet thehead of Haganah. He finally made‘aliyah in January, 1948. After onlya month or so, Dov had already vol-unteered for the PALMAH andjoined the Negev Brigade. He par-ticipated in battles against the Egyp-tians in Gaza, the northern Negev,

British Aboard the Exodusphoto from the Aronoff Collection

Obituaries (continued on next pg.)

10


Be’er-Sheva‘ and Bir Asluj. Thoughhe did not have a license, he was ajeep driver and shot a machine gunduring the battles. His jeep com-mander was Corporal Mota Gur,later Commander-in-Chief of theI.D.F. After one year of fighting, atthe end of the War of Independence,he was discharged. First, Dov joinedKibbutz Sasa (Hashomer Hatsa‘ir),but he left after several months.Then, looking for a job using his ag-ricultural experience, Dov foundwork at the Smuckler Farm inMoshav Rishpon, where he also metthe farmer’s daughter, Shula, whohad come for a visit from the U.S.A.They fell in love, got married, andsettled in Moshav Habonim, beingamong the first settlers. His son,David, was born in Haifa, when theyoccupied one of the rooms in theCrusaders’ Fortress. After two years,Dov and his family moved toMoshav Orot, near Be’er Tuviyah,where his second son, Ilan, was born.In 1956, difficulties in land cultiva-tion and financing drove him awayfrom Orot. Having returned tempo-rarily to the Rishpon area, he startedworking as an agro-meteorologist atthe Meteorological Service in theQiriyah in Tel-Aviv. In 1957, Dovdid not hesitate to move South to

Be’er-Sheva‘, still a small town atthe time, when a job was offered tohim - to head the MeteorologicalStation. This station was located atthe Negev Institute for Arid ZoneResearch (later named: the Institutesfor Applied Research of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev).

Working among animal and plantphysiologists, chemists and engi-neers, he flourished. Self-educatinghimself in climatology and meteo-rology, he reached very high levelsof expertise in these fields. Besidescarrying out the routine meteorologi-cal observations, he providedweather forecasts for farmers allover the northern and southernNegev and participated in differentresearches that needed his skills andknow-how in climatology. He alsotaught a practical laboratory courseon climatology at the Ben-GurionUniversity of the Negev. In 1964,Dana, his third child, joined the fam-ily. Dov loved his country, so dur-ing holidays he would travelthroughout Israel. Camping was hisfavorite activity in the late sixties andseventies. Dov’s mind was alwaysstirring, always looking for new in-terests. Psychology caught his fancyin the late seventies. He completedhis B.S. in Behavioral Sciences atBen-Gurion University of the Negevand continued with an M.A. in Psy-chology at the Hebrew University inJerusalem. Dov always loved as-tronomy. An autodidact also in thisarea, he became the beloved as-tronomy teacher of kids from aroundBe’er-Sheva‘ for several years; heloved those kids and they loved him.Dov retired from work in 1989, af-ter 32 years of governmental service.Then, he returned to his lifelongdream—the sea. Dov bought a smallyacht and spent the rest of his life

living on it in the Tel-Aviv Marina.Not forgetting where he had beenbefore, Dov named his boat “DesertDream”. He taught himself naviga-tion and often sailed along the coastsof his beloved country. Dov had twohomes: one was the place he sleptand had his meals (for the last 15years—his boat) and the second wasthe Aranne Library in Be’er-Sheva‘,where he spent much time nourish-ing his mind. Painting and shortstory writing occupied Dov in hislast years. His final project was todevelop a simple method of naviga-tion, using neither a sextant nor aGPS, but his illness prevented himfrom completing this. About sixmonths before he passed away, hecould no longer live on his yacht.This was very hard for him. Decid-ing not to sell it, Dov gave it as agift to Giora of Moshav Habonim,who loves sailing, loves the sea, andhas “good hands” to make it sea-worthy and keep it ship-shape. Dovdid not live to see his boat go backinto the water. On October 25, 2004,Dov’s family, friends fromHashomer Hatsa‘ir, from the “Exo-dus”, from Kibbutz Sasa, MoshavHabonim, Moshav Orot, and fromthe Ben-Gurion University of theNegev, and others, came to pay theirfinal respects and take their leave ofDov. May he sail the heavens inpeace!

Received from David BaumCondolences toDana Oumat

Kehelat Solaniki 4/869513 Tel Aviv

Memories from Dov’s FriendsOur chaver and former shipmate,

Dov Mills(born Bernard Miller)passed away in Beersheva, Israel on

Obituaries (continued on next pg.)

Dov Mills, Oiler

11


Saturday, Oct. 23rd, at 78 years ofage. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. heserved in the U.S. Army duringWWII. He was a crew member ofthe Aliyah Beth ship “Exodus” andwas among those who accompaniedthe maapilim on their forced returnvoyage to Hamburg, Germany. TheAmericans later escaped from theBritish Zone while posing as a soc-cer team and managed to make theirway back to Palestine (Israel). Dur-ing Israel’s War of Independence,Dov served as a member of thePalmach’s Ninth Battalion and par-ticipated in the capture of Beershevaand taking of Eilat (Um elRashrash). He was an early mem-ber of Kibbutz Sasa and MoshavHabonim. For many years he livedin Beersheva and served as a meteo-rologist for the Ministry of Transpor-tation at the Arid Zone Research In-stitute. He enjoyed teaching chil-dren about the stars, wrote poetry,and maintained a small sailboat atthe marina in Tel-Aviv.

Avi and Batsheva LivneyKibbutz Barkai ISRAEL 972-4-6387254

Encounters With DovI first met Dov (Miller then) when

both he and I were visiting theHechalutz training farm atHeightstown N.J. I didn’t get muchof a chance to get to know him but Ido remember him as a very popularand likeable character with a remark-able baritone voice. He especiallyenjoyed singing Negro spiritualswhich was enjoyed by all.

We met again years later when Icame to Kibbutz Sasa .He had al-ready made up his mind to leave thekibbutz so once again we did nothave much of a chance to know oneanother It was clear that Dov’s leav-

ing was very much regretted by thekibbutz members.

Our third encounter was in BeerSheva where I joined the Negev In-stitute for Arid Zone Research. Dovwas in charge of the local office ofthe Government’s MeteorologicalServices which maintained weatherobservation facilities at our InstituteHe was responsible for measuringthe various meteorological param-eters for Israel’s southern region andtransmitting them over the world-wide weather network. I noticed thatdespite very little previous trainingDov was able to explain to me thebasics of atmospheric physics & howto decode weather charts. We spentmany hours during those years por-ing over weather maps & observingcloud formations. Dov fit in wellwith the staff of the Institute. His sonDavid is now a professor at the In-stitute & the associated Ben-GurionUniversity.

Dov was always ready to explainwhat he was doing. Hardly a daypassed when there was not a groupof young pupils from the nearby highschool eagerly listening to Dov’s en-thusiastic lecture & patient demon-stration of how equipment is used tomeasure and predict the weather.Especially the measurement of up-per atmospheric winds by followingthe flight of a helium filled balloonwould attract a big crowd of kids. Avisit to his station was very popularin Beer Sheva high schools. His in-terest in people led him to study psy-chology in later years.

Our forth meeting with Dov wasin Tel Aviv where we had gone tolive after retirement. Dov still main-tained his connections with BeerSheva but established a second homein a little sail boat which he named“Desert Breeze” We visited eachother from time to time. Dov enjoyed

Dov Mills

We regret to reportthe death of

Ida Chertoff

90wife of

Mordecai Chertoff

New York CityOctober 21, 2004

We regret to reportthe death of

Miriam Gardner

79widow of

Leo Gardner

Boca Raton, FLJanuary 20, 2005

talking about the use of the sun &stars for navigation. He seemed al-ways to be working on a new method& claimed that he was close to anew solution.

Essentially Dov was a loner. Hewas a free spirit that could not beheld down for very long in conven-tional frameworks You felt this whenyou spoke to him or when you readhis poetry We shall miss him.

Yoel & Chela Schechter

12


ObituariesIrving Weingarten:Normandy Veteran

and Aliya BetIrving Weingarten passed away on

July 25, 2004. Irv served on theHayim Arloseroff, the Pan Crescentand the Pan York. Irving was bornin Flushing New York on May 23,1924 and soon after moved with hisfamily to Buffalo. His Jewish edu-cation was modest and his familyobservance hardly went beyondHigh Holy Day attendance at syna-gogue.

Irv had served with the UnitedStates Merchant Marine and was partof the Normandy invasion duringWWII. Upon returning to the UnitedStates after the war he met recruit-ers for aliya bet. He was drawn tothe effort more for the adventurethan out of a sense of Jewish ideol-ogy. However, the sight of the DPschanged his life and his attitudes. Hebecame devoted to the Zionist cause.

The British boarded his ship. In ashow of daring he attempted to savethe Zionist flag on the ship and was

Murray Kaplan: Serviced IAF Flying FortressesRegretfully, our old buddy, Murray Kaplan, has

passed away after a protracted illness.We will al-ways remember him as a faithful servant to Israel.Murray was born in New York City on June 5, 1926of parents who had immigrated to the United Statesfrom the former Austrian-Hungarian Empire.Despite never belonging to a Jewish or Zionist or-ganization, Murray considered himself Orthodox. Hecelebrated his Bar Mitzvah and was proud of hisJewish Heritage.

Upon graduating from De Witt Clinton HighSchool in The Bronx in 1943 at the age of 17, heobtained permission from his parents to enlist in the U. S. Navy “to fight theNazis.” He spent close to a year transferring from one aircraft and enginemechanic school to another before being shipped to Guam, where he servedout the rest of the war as an aviation machinist mate.

shot in the leg and arrested. Placedon a bus to the Athlit prison he man-aged to hide under a seat where heremained when the other prisonerswere deboarded. In cooperation withthe bus driver he was spirited away.

For seventeen years Irving workedas a bus driver for the New York CityTransit Authority. His wife Sarahand his son Michael survive him.

Condolences to: Sarah Weingarten

5801 NW 62nd Ave. #205Tamarac, FL 33319-2227

954 726 1401

In 1948, however, his lifelongdedication to the newly created Stateof Israel was about to begin in ear-nest. Answering a random ad for anoverseas aircraft and engine me-chanic, he found himself face to facewith a recruiting agent for the fledg-ling Israeli Air Force. Before long,he was heading to Israel, where hespent 1948 and ’49 with 69 Squad-ron at Ramat David servicing Israel’ssquadron of three reconstituted Fly-ing Fortresses.

What made the whole experiencemost interesting was his meeting upwith Jim Fuller, a gentile former U.S.Air Force aircraft mechanic work-ing alongside him on the “forts.”Fuller went through the same expe-riences as he did but, this time it wassupposedly with a fledgling IsraeliAirline (that then did not exist).

Jim’s parents, with whom he livedat the time in Cleveland, suggestedhe ask the advice of a relative innearby Geneva, Ohio, who, they re-membered, was married to a Jew.The relative recommended Jim con-sult with a Cleveland Rabbi whoknew something of Israel’s set up.Unbeknownst to Jim at the time, therabbi, who recommended Jim acceptthe position in Israel was Abba HillelSilver, popular president of the Zi-onist Organization of America.

Murray is survived by his wife,Elaine Strauss, and two daughters,Shoshana and Bat-Ami, both ofwhom received their initial, pre-highschool education in Israel. Eugene Blum, AVI, IAF, 1948-’49

Condolences toElaine R. Strauss

828 Oakton, Apt. 2FEvanston, IL 60202

Irving Weingarten

Murray Kaplan

13


Obituaries

We re-m e m b e rSol Free-man withg r e a tpride. Solwas a li-c e n s e dmechanicw h os e r v e d

first in the Ordinance Corps andthen in the Infantry Corps of theCanadian Army in World War II.He was sent home from Belgiumin 1944 for training as a FlameGunner on Carriers.

Sol volunteered for the Haganahin late 1947 and eventually sailed

for France on the Marine Swallow.Arriving at the Grand Marinas DPCamp he assisted the residents withday-to-day arrangements and pre-pared them for aliya. He accompa-nied some of them to Palestine onthe Pan York and was assigned to amilitary base in Samaria. He wasassigned to the 72 nd Battalion,Company B and saw action a scantfour days after his arrival. He par-ticipated in an attack on a hill des-ignated as Tamara. Fighting therewas severe and at close quarters andthe Jews were heavily outnumberedby the Arabs. A bayonet charge wascalled for. The B Company lost anumber of men and many werewounded.

Being the great mechanic that hewas, he was able to gather parts ofthree or four damaged trucks andbuild one that worked. He per-formed this service with the 72nd inthe Galilee.

Sol’s first wife Betty passed away25 years ago. He married Bea Es-trin 17 years ago. He is survivedby Bea, a son, Brad, a daughter,Aviva, grandchildren Norina,Rebecca and Veronica and a step-daughter, Marilyn Rosen and herdaughter Jessica.

His family and friends who lovedhim dearly miss him.

Condolences toBea Freeman

55 Skymark Dr. #206Toronto, ONT, 2H3 2N4

Canada

Sol Freeman: Mechanic with 72nd Battalion

Sol Freeman

In establishing the Codes-and-Cipher Section ofthe Israel air force, in Tel Aviv, I needed tens of work-ers, not only to make up the random-letter codebooks,but also to work in each of the outlying signal stationsas well as in headquarters. Since the air force operatedin English (due to the many foreign volunteers), I wentto the head of the air force — Aaron Remez — andexplained my need. He thought a moment and repliedthat there were hundreds of airplane watchers on theroofs on Tel Aviv and other cities, and that many ofthem undoubtedly knew English. He also said he wasconvinced that the air-watch service was over-manned. So he called in the head of the air-watch section — anold kibbutznick named Zvi — and told him to transferfifty air-watchers to the Codes and Ciphers Section. Iam told the conversation went somewhat like this:

“Fifty? I can’t spare fifty. Maybe if it is an emer-gency I can give them five.”

Wartime Humor—as Remembered by David Macarov

“Zvi, this isn’t the kibbutz and you aren’t the workmanager. This is the army, and you are ordered to trans-fer fifty people.”

“Okay, okay, I understand. I’ll stretch myself and givethem ten.”

“Don’t you understand, Zvi? This is an order: Trans-fer fifty.”

“No, I can’t do that. It would denude my service. Fifteen is my last offer.”

By this time Remez was laughing out loud.“Zvi, you are not negotiating a land sale with an Arab.

The code section needs fifty people and you are to givethem over.”

“Aaron, with my hand on my heart I tell you I can’tdo it.”

In the end, we got twenty-five new clerks, and Remeztold me that was the best he could do.

Humor (continued on p.19)

14


2. Furthering the archival work atthe University of Florida and encour-aging members to donate or lendphotographs and documents. Furtherwork in validating service records,and expanding the Virtual Museumremains also an integral part of ourarchival agenda.

3. Encouraging a mission to Israelby an AVI delegation coincidingwith the Yom Hazikharon memorialat Sha’ar Hagai. This solemn day ofremembrance for Israel’s fallen sol-diers occurs on Wednesday, May 11,2005, followed by Israel’s 57th In-dependence Day celebration onThursday.

4.Expanding the West Point As-sembly (honoring Mickey Marcusand the other Fallen North Ameri-cans) into a National AVI event withappropriate media attention and par-ticipation by Jewish schools, templesand community centers. The eventis scheduled to take place on Sun-day, May 15.

5.Participating, as is our customeach year, in the Salute to Israel Pa-rade down Fifth Ave in New York,

President’s Message(continued from p. 1)

scheduled for Sunday June 5th, 2005.6.Completing the first stage of

Aliyah Bet and Machal Museum inGainesville, Fl. by September. Thetentative opening is planned for earlyDecember, 2005. We plan a festivereception for the inauguration withparticipation by members and spe-cial guests.

7.Promoting fundraisers to sup-port the archival and museum workin progress gaining support from in-dividual members, outside sponsorsand foundations.

8.Continuing the work of theSpeakers Bureau in providing AVIspeakers to temples, organizationsand community centers.

These are the pillars of the 2005Agenda that I propose to the AVIBoard. I ask the membership at largefor further support. Please come andhelp. Contact any of the board mem-bers to volunteer your time. Feelfree to call or e-mail your thoughtsand suggestions to me or any of theBoard members.

We recognize our Archivist, RalphLowenstein, for his incredibleachievement with the Machal &Aliyah Bet Archives, the AVI

website (www.israelvets.com), andthe museum that he created at theUniversity Of Florida at Gainesville.We owe a lot to Ralph for his un-swerving efforts and his determina-tion as well as his resourcefulnessin raising the funds for the projects.

We are especially thankful to theUniversity of Florida, Hillel and thefinancial sponsors for their unflag-ging support and to our Machalfriends in Israel for their researchassistance in connection with theexhibit material. Our story will bedocumented and reflect a uniquecontribution to Jewish History by arelatively small band of inspiredpeople.

I salute my predecessor, JerryRosenberg, for his service to this or-ganization and I look forward toworking with our new Vice presi-dent, Bill Gelberg, and the AVIBoard of Directors in serving themembers to the best of my capacityand abilities.

I extend my best wishes for goodhealth and happiness to you and yourfamilies for the coming year.

Shalom,Ira Feinberg

Later, he passed an officers train-ing course and was assigned as abodyguard to David Ben Gurion. Heremained in Israel until 1958 andachieved the rank of Captain in theIDF artillery. Returning to England,he surrendered to the authorities andserved a year’s detention atColchester barracks. Upon his re-lease he moved to East Anglia andaccepted a position with a

(Wilkes-Chase continued from p 1)Cambridgeshire agricultural packingbusiness. He met his wife, June, aformer nurse and married in 1962.They had two daughters, Vanessaand Genevieve.

Wilkes-Chase died at the age of 73in 2002. Stanley Medicks, coordina-tor of the British and EuropeanMachal, arranged for the IsraeliEmbassy to recognize his contribu-tion with a certificate of apprecia-tion. IDF Brigadier General and Is-

raeli Ambassador Zvika Gendelmanpresented the certificate to hiswidow. Medicks said he was disap-pointed not to have known Wilkes-Chase. He learned of his servicefrom his obituary in the Daily Tele-graph.

This article is based on a one thatappeared in the Jewish Chronicle,London, June 18, 2004. John Rifkintook the photograph of the presen-tation.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

15


May 1948.” This doesn’t seem to meshwith the passage in his Gachal articlewhich states, “over 4,000 men who re-ceived ‘service’ training and arrived inIsrael … between February and Sep-tember 1948, joined various Haganaunits which later became IDF units.”

Returning to Machal, he writes that“over 4,000”¡ participated in the vari-ous IDF and pre-state undergroundforces. But instead of providing justi-fication for that number, he states thatpublished Machal numbers are not uni-form; one source gives 3,000 as theirtotal, another puts it at “about 5,000,”and still another, a book of his own,puts it at “between 4,700 and 5,600.”In the footnote he explains that “it’snot our purpose to study the topic ofquantity in this article.”

It’s puzzling why Markovitsky choseto mention those unfounded and wide-ranging numbers, educated guesses atbest, that were bandied about over theyears, when the “about 3,500” givenin his own Machal booklet was builton solid footings and is therefore gen-erally accepted as being a very realis-tic estimate.

As is generally known among stu-dents of Machal, researched numberswere just non-existent prior to 1987.Only with the publication that year ofThe Jews’ Secret Fleet, by JosephHochstein and Murray Greenfield, dida reasonably solid Machal number (forAliya-Betniks) come to light. Otherequally solid Machal numbers, all theresult of thorough research, becameknown during the 1990s, including; thekilled and missing, volunteers fromSouth Africa, aircrew personnel andvolunteers from Canada.

Markovitsky’s Machal article hasconsiderably more footnote referencesto original data sources than does hisGachal article, but here too many origi-nal data sources are masked by refer-ences to his own works. But in con-trast with the latter, his Machal articlecontains several interesting morsels

Book Review (continued from p.1) that I was previously unaware of. Ex-cept for those morsels, there is notmuch in it that most of us are not al-ready familiar with, such as referencesto ‘brand-name’ Machalniks like‘Buzz’ Beurling, Ben Dunkelman and‘Mickey’ Marcus.

How many of us knew, for example,that volunteers from Australia and NewZealand were initially considered asGachal? Officialdom’s rationale wasthat since they came to Israel on theirown (recruiting organizations werenon-existent in either country), theyhadn’t been promised any ‘special’ ser-vice conditions such as transportationback home, as were their comrades-in-arms from other English-speakingcountries.

To this I can add that bona-fide vol-unteers from Eastern European coun-tries, and there were some, had an es-pecially hard time trying to be classi-fied as Machal. As Markovitsky pointsout, perhaps the official attitude towardthem mirrored that of David Ben-Gurion who regarded the Czech Bri-gade, which had some Machalniks inits ranks, with apprehension as beinga possible Communist conspiracy.

In another reference to Ben-Gurion,he tells of an entry in his war diarywhich shows that he saw the Machalcontribution “not only in terms of in-creased military manpower, but mainlyas an expression of Diaspora Jewry’ssolidarity” with the nascent State of Is-rael. It seems to me that we saw ourcontribution to the cause in a somewhatdifferent light; more as individuals put-ting our lives on the line than as Zion-ists or representatives of DiasporaJewry. That may be why even nowmany of us are inclined to see our-selves, justifiably in my view, as be-ing a head taller than most Jews in theDiaspora. Perhaps it’s that very senti-ment which led to our tongue-in-cheekdefinition of a Zionist back then, as aJew in the Diaspora who raised moneyfrom a second Jew with which to senda third Jew to join the fight in Israel.

Markovitsky also refers to the resent-ment of Machal among Gachalniks. Heexplains that their antipathy was duelargely to the better service conditionsenjoyed by Machalniks, and was par-ticularly evident in mixed units, suchas the mainly Gachal Czech Brigadeand the French Commandos, both ofwhich included a number ofMachalniks.

To his credit, he provides this astuteexplanation of officialdom’s ambiva-lent attitude toward Machal, which hewisely attributes to un-named otherpeople; “The military and political es-tablishment wasn’t sufficiently truth-ful in its relationship to Machal per-sonnel, ….National pride was a factorin the behavior of military command-ers toward the volunteers.” Further-more, “Yishuv leaders believed, orwanted to believe, that they didn’t re-ally need outside assistance,” a con-tention “strengthened by the ‘fact’ thatthe volunteers yardu min ha’aretz (de-serted the country) when they left andso there was thus no need to immor-talize their assistance and contributionto the war effort.”

The article ends with the indisput-able but rather timid view that sincemany Machalniks came with WW2military training and experience they“made a meaningful contribution thatenabled the IDF to create a regular andmodern army in a relatively short pe-riod of time.”

While few Machalniks would findMarkovitsky’s article totally satisfying,we should bear in mind that its appear-ance in Kadish’s important book willsurely help spread the Machal messagein Israel. Who knows, it may also reachmembers of the country’s establish-ment who know little, if anything,about the true worth of the Machal con-tribution back then.

Eddy Kaplansky Haifa

16


The Eleanora Stratham obituary inthe last Newsletter brought to minda very pleasant young lady fromBritain called Ella at the IAF’s In-telligence Wing, and I was thereforesaddened by the news of her pass-ing. I was previously unaware thatshe was then a married woman, andthat her husband was an airmancalled Joshua Joseph.

The first time I came across hisname was some forty years later,while researching and compilingTHE FIRST FLIERS, a definitivework on the nascent IAF’s aircrewpersonnel that was later published bythe IAF Historical Branch. Thedocument containing his name in-dicated conclusively that on Octo-ber 29th 1948 air gunner Joseph wasin the IAF’s Aircrew Pool, essen-tially a roster of fliers either not yetassigned to a squadron or awaitingtheir discharge. In none of the doz-ens of other documents I scoureddid his name appear, and to none ofthe many former IAF fliers I con-sulted was his name familiar. Hetherefore appears in THE FIRSTFLIERS as an air gunner in the Air-crew Pool whose WW2 service, unitof IAF service and country of ori-gin are unknown.

Thanks to the heroics attributed tohim in Ella’s obit, I now know muchmore about Joshua Joseph, but haveno evidence that he ever flew withan IAF squadron. Sincethere was only one unit (69 Squad-ron) back then with any need for airgunners, and there were more thanenough air gunners in the IAF to fillthat need, it may be thatJoseph was among the many ‘super-fluous’ air gunners who did greatwork on the ground as intelligenceofficers, operations officers, or insome other important capacity. Or

Letters to the Editor…perhaps, in common with severalothers I know of, he just didn’t likethe idea of serving in a non-flyingposition and opted for an IAF dis-charge.

The heroics attributed to him willbe seen as highly unlikely to any-one familiar with the IAF history ofthat period or with matters of aircrewtraining. For one, that someonetrained only as a navigator, “flew oneof Israel’s first aeroplanes in Italy”after making “the mistake of tellingthe Israelis he could fly,” is utternonsense to anyone knowinghow much training is required be-fore one can safely take-off and landeven the simplest of light airplanes.

And if one of our fliers was indeed“wounded severely in aerial combat”back then, such sensational and un-precedented news would havespread like wildfire throughoutthe IAF. Yet there is no known docu-mentation of an IAF airman havingbeen wounded in action at any timeduring the 1948/49 war. While seek-ing clarification of that unlikelyallegation, I was informed that he“shot down an Egyptian plane andwas shot down and wounded him-self.” It happens that the circum-stances of every air-to-air downingof an airplane, both the enemy’s andthe IAF’s, were properly recorded atthe time and so are well known to-day among historians and research-ers of that era. I have littledoubt therefore, that both heroicdeeds attributed to Joseph are of thekind seen in that old Danny Kayeclassic, The Adventures of WalterMitty.

Such ‘old-soldiers tales’ more of-ten than not originate with the self-proclaimed hero himself, and areinnocently propagated, and fre-quently embellished, by admiring

friends and relatives. Often begin-ning as little white-lies, such talesare known to have developed intomyths that effectively shut out his-torical truth. And in instances wherethe tale is based on an actual hap-pening but with a name-change, theidentity of the true hero can be lostforever. As former CIA directorAlan Dulles reportedly put it,”Truth has a hard time once mythsare established that satisfy our hun-ger for heros and heroics.”

If other reputable veterans organi-zations can manage to keep theirnewsletters clean of such history-falsifying stuff, surely so can theAVI.

Ed Kaplansky, [email protected]

A number of Machal volunteersserved together with their wives. Yet,some of the wives do not appear inMachal records, though they are rec-ognized by AVI as members. The fol-lowing letter speaks to this point.

Many of the wives of Americanstudents were active one way or an-other (as were single girls like Zippy(Borowski) Porat, Rachel Lev,Rachel Weiner, and others). How-ever, this was long before the cre-ation of Machal, and they were notlater blanketed in like the men. Mywife stood on the porch of Patt’sbakery trying to spot Arabs enteringthe New City. She also carried armsto Motza, but when the war was overnone of these wives received dis-charge papers or pay. Sexual dis-crimination is not new.

David Macarov, Jerusalem

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Letters to Editor(continued on next page)

17


I am a quiet member of AVI. I was3rd engineer on the Aliyah Betship Mala in 1948. Paul Kaye andSid Rabinovich may remember me.

I recently listened to a lecture byDr. Louis Levine, the Curator at theMuseum of Jewish Heritage inNYC , on the heroic role of uni-formed Jewish servicemen duringWorld War Two. The lecture was averbal “walk thru” of a new exhibithe mounted at this museum. Afterhis inspiring talk , I suggested to himwhat a natural addition to the exhibitit would be to add those USA WWIIservicemen who served in the vari-ous branches of Machal during theIsraeli war of independence in1948. Dr. Levine had alreadythought of the idea but was havingdifficulty in finding Machal people.

I respectfully suggest that you con-tact Dr. Levine and move this ideaforward. Perhaps Dr. Levine couldwrite an article for our AVI newslet-ter and solicit responses from sur-viving qualified member veterans?

Martin SilverLenox, MA

Dear Martin:It is always pleasing when a quiet

AVI members speaks up. Thank-you for the information. We hadsome contact with the Museum ofJewish Heritage through DavidGen perhaps a decade ago. I amforwarding this to Si Spiegelman,now the chairman of our executiveboard. This initiative falls in hisarea.

The Editor SZK

Gainesville Machal Museum…A Reality Check

Gainesville ???????? At firstblush it sounds like a strange placefor the Machal museum consideringall the fine Jewish museums and in-stitutions located in our major citiesthat attract large crowds…

The reality is as follows…

Response from Si Spiegelman..Dear Martin:

Over the years we have been intouch with the curators of the Mu-seum, specifically Esther Brumbergand more recently MichaelSpielholz. They know all about ourorganization and where to find us.Our talks with them in the past lednowhere. There were problems intheir minds as to how we fit withtheir exhibit themes, besides budget-ary issues and more recently theirfocus on remodelling the floor wherewe suggested an Aliyah Bet Exhibitbe mounted.

Thanks for telling us about yourconversation with Dr. Louis Levine.I will be more than happy to contactDr. Levine and give him all the as-sistance he needs. There is no doubtthat even a small exhibit on AliyahBet and Machal would be an upbeatmessage of resistance, defiance,hope in connection with the holo-caust years. We have always felt thatwe “belong in the Museum of Jew-ish Heritage”, but you understandthat it is not in our hands and soon itwill be too late as our numbers aredwindling fast.

I suggest, if you see it as appro-priate, to cc this note to Dr. Levine...

Si .

1. Over the past ten years we havediscussed the museum idea withmajor organizations. Interest wasintense and promises were made, butno one delivered. The problem wasin funding the project.Now….2. Hillel in Gainesville offered thespace for the exhibit to us and evendesigned the new Hillel House foyerto accommodate the display cabi-nets.3. While AVI members providedthe modest seed money to start thefund raiser, the sponsors/contribu-tors who provided significant fundsare FloridiansOther factors…4. UFL- Gainesville supported thecreation of the archives over theyears and signed agreements tomaintain the archives in perpetuity.(Supported by a Machal endowmentfund.)5. Ralph Lowenstein, who has dedi-cated his time to create the archivesand museum lives and works inGainesville as past Dean of the UFLSchool of Journalism6. UFL at Gainesville has a signifi-cant Jewish student population(6000) and a major Judaica library.

In the final analysis the museumlocation becomes less important ifwe consider that7. Displays will be accessible on-linethrough the internet(www.israelvets.com).8. Mobility is assured by having rep-licas of displays that can be exhib-ited by other institutions. All theyhave to do is provide the space.There is also plenty of room for fur-ther enhancements if they care toparticipate in such initiatives.

Si Spiegelman

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Letter to the Editor…Letters to Editor(continued from p.16)

18


More on “Machal Volunteers from China”The AVI Newsletter Winter 2003 contained an article entitled “Machal Volunteers from China.” Sello

Fisch, a 1967 veteran, has submitted a follow-up article sketching some of the history of Jews in China,China as a refuge during the Holocaust, a list of individual Jewish refugees form China who have becomeprominent in American life and a vignette of Jewish volunteers who sailed for Israel in 1948. This last partof Fisch’s narrative is reproduced below.

With the end of WWlI the ‘China Jews’ refugeecommunity dispersed some to the US and Canadaor Australia while others went on aliya to Israel.Among the various Zionist organizations in Shang-hai was a contingent of Betarniks of Jabotinsky Re-visionists who trained, with three British Lee-Enfield rifles, to join in the fight for independencein Israel. In the latter part of 1948 the first contin-gent of this MachaI group boarded the ‘WoosterVictory’ an ex US troop transport enroute on a twomonths storm tossed voyagearound Africa to Israel. TheSuez Canal passage as wellas most ports of entry alongthe way was barred to this‘human cargo’ (four-tieredbunks in the cargo holdswere the accommodationsand noodles and tuna thestandard fare), which finallydisembarked in the port ofMarseilles. There they werejoined by a group of FrenchGachal embarked on theZim ship Negba, to its des-tination the port of Haifa in Israel.

Among the ‘China hands’ and descendants of noteare Zerach Warhaftig, saved by Sugihara (the Japa-nese diplomat in Poland who issued transit visas toallow Jews to escape to Kobe and Shanghai), des-tined to be among the signers of Israel Declarationof Independence and long-time serving minister ofreligious affairs in Israel’s cabinet; on one of hisofficial visits to Japan he re-discovered ChiuneSugihara. Joseph Tekoa, Israel ambassador to theUN and director of Ben-Gurion University in the

Negev. Michael Blumenthal, Secretary of Com-merce in the Carter administration and Peter Max,new-age illustrator of New York. Colonel Avi Lanir(Lankin), son of an illustrious Zionist family whosefather made aliya from Harbin China and whoseuncle Eliyahu Lankin was commander of the ill-fated ‘Machal/Gachal’ LST ‘Altalena’. He com-manded Machal fighter squadron 101 at RamatDavid during the Yom-Kippur war. The Syriansdowned defending the Golan Heights Lanir’s ‘Mi-

rage’ and Lanir was cap-tured and martyred inDamascus at the promis-ing age of thirty-three.

An interesting aside of‘the circle of history’ isthe adventurous life storyof Gerhard Neumann, aFrankfurt am Main Jew-ish aviation engineer whoin the 1930’s servicedGerman engines for anairline in southern China.During WWlI he becamehead of maintenance of

Claire Chennault’s A VG (American VolunteerGroup) ‘Flying Tigers’ in Chunking. Among his ex-ploits was the restoration to flying condition of acrashed Mitsubishi ‘Zero’, which was the nemesisof allied pilots who desperately wanted to discoverits nimble flight characteristics. After the warNeumann came to Ohio and joined the budding GEjet-engine division where he rose to become its di-rector And developer of the unique J-79 engine thepowerhouse of the indomitable F-4 Phantom andIsrael’s indigenous design fighter-bomber the Kfir.

Sello Fisch

Betar members sail from China to Israel, 1948

19


The year 2005 will be marked by four major events. AVI members are asked totake note and invited to participate.

AVI EVENTS IN 2005

MISSION TO ISRAELWe are planning a mission to Israel byan AVI delegation coinciding with theYom Hazikharon memorial at Sha’arHagai. This solemn day of remem-brance for Israel’s fallen soldiers occurson Wednesday, May 11, 2005, followedby Israel’s 57th Independence Day cel-ebration on Thursday. Our plan is toarrange for transportation for the atten-dants from a central Jerusalem or TelAviv location to Sha’ar Hagai and re-turn to that point at the conclusion ofthe ceremony. We are in touch withWorld Machal about organizing a spe-cial dinner or lunch event and a visit toa museum including also a visit withIsrael dignitaries. Each participant willmake his/her own travel and room ar-rangements AVI will provide a sched-ule (time and venue of the events). Forinformation please contact: Ira Feinberg(201) 886-1188, David Hanovice (201)224-3551, Sparks Meltzer (561) 637-5874 or Jerry Rosenberg (416) 787-7632.

WEST POINT ASSEMBLYThe West Point Assembly (honoringMickey Marcus and the other FallenNorth Americans) has been an impor-tant event for many years attendedmostly by members and friends livingin the immediate vicinity. We now planto expand the attendance to involveother regions and to include Jewishschools, temples and community cen-ters. The memorial event is scheduledto take place this year on Sunday, May15. For information, please contact anyof the committee members: NaomiKantey (201) 489-3809, Paul Kaye(718) 428-2465, Si Spiegelman (212)685-8548, Dave Gerard (631) 499-4327, Joe Warner (416) 497-0140,Sparks Meltzer (561) 637-5874 or IraFeinberg (201) 886-1188. Additional

information regarding the program willbe mailed beforehand.Note: Those joining the mission to Is-rael and also attending the West Pointassembly should plan their trip so asto return to the U.S. in time for theevent (May 15). There was no flexibil-ity in scheduling the West Point Assem-bly earlier in May.

SALUTE TO ISRAEL PARADEWe will again march (or ride) in theSalute to Israel Parade down Fifth Avein New York, on Sunday, June 5, 2005.For information contact Dave Gerard(631) 499-4327

OPENING OF THE ALIYAH BETAND MACHAL MUSEUMWe plan an opening ceremony of theMuseum in Gainesville, FL on eitherSunday, November 6 or 13, 2005. Ourmembers and special guests followinga catered brunch at the Hillel House willattend the formal opening in the after-noon. Those members who will be inGainesville on Saturday can join forShabbat services in the morning and aninformal dinner in the evening. Thecommittee members organizing theevent are Ralph Lowenstein (352) 392-6525, Art Bernstein (978) 532-6956,Bill Gelberg (561) 278-7392, SparksMeltzer (561) 637-5874, Paul Kaye(718) 428-2465, Jerry Rosenberg (416)787-7632, and Si Spiegelman (212)685-8548.More information regarding the pro-gram will be forthcoming.

Note: If you can lend a hand with theseevents, please get in touch with ourPresident, Ira Feinberg at (201) 886-1188 . We need all the help we can get.

Si Spiegelman Executive Director

We made up codebooks of randomstrings of letters by painting alpha-bets on poker chips, stirring themaround, and drawing them out ingroups of five. This was tediouswork, and in order to keep moraleup I usually asked for volunteersamong the cipher clerks. We did thiswork at night, and usually servedlight refreshments to keep things ona pleasant keel.

We had worked late one night, andwhen I dismissed the crew, Sonia —who had just joined the service —waited until everyone else had gone,and then said, “I don’t mind work-ing late. In fact, I don’t mind beinghere with you very late. What doyou say?”

I said, “That is very thoughtfuland very helpful of you. However,I think my wife would be annoyedif I came home too late.”

Shock! “You are married? I didn’tknow that. I have to leave now.

Sonia never volunteered to mixpoker chips again. However, it waswhen she was stationed in a smallairfield in the north that I received aphone call from the Military Policewanting to know about Sonia. Itseems she had shot the lock off thedoor of her room, and they wantedto know what I wanted done withher.

I got on the phone and asked herif she had lost the key to her room. The answer was no. Had she foundtrouble unlocking the door? Again,no. Then why shoot the lock off?

“I wanted to see if it really works,like it does in the movies.”

I got her off that time, but the nexttime I was unable to help her. Shewas arrested for shooting dice be-hind the cipher hut with a bunch of

Humor (continued on p.20)

Humor continued from p. 13)

20


officers, while she was just a buck private. None of theofficers were arrested, of course, and I found out laterthat she was winning a fortune. I also found out thatthey caught her cheating. That was the last I heard ofSonia.

Two pretty, blonde, sexy young ladies from the Statesused to hang around the Yarden Hotel, which is whereair force officers were quartered. Somehow — I won’ttry to guess — they got hold of officers’ uniforms andwore them. The somewhat taller and older girl was re-ferred to as “Hot Pup,” while the younger, more slendergirl was called “Little Kitten.” They turned up at al-most every air force social function, and many timeswhen there was no function. Eventually, two officerswere court-martialed for having taken them along on asecret trip to Yugoslavia, and Hot Pup and Little Kittendisappeared.

When Jerry Renov and another pilot flew Frieda andmyself out of besieged Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, the firstplace to which we headed was the Brooklyn Bar, whichwas really a milk bar. Crossing the street, we saw acucumber in the gutter, and bumped heads from simul-taneously leaning down to retrieve it. Food had beenso scarce in Jerusalem for weeks that a free-floatingcucumber (so to speak) promised a treat.Once in the bar, we ordered the fanciest concoction wecould find ice cream, fruit, whipped cream, nuts theworks. Just as we were ready to dig in, a young womandressed in what I can only describe as Tel Aviv highfashion, wearing jewelry and well made-up, stopped atour table and said, loudly: “How can you eat some-thing like that when people in Jerusalem are starving?”

Someone with us mumbled: “These people have justcome out of Jerusalem.”

She turned red, bit her lip, and ran out of the cafe.I began wondering how people in Tel Aviv not eatingwould help the people in Jerusalem, until I rememberedhow many mothers used to urge their children to cleantheir plates because of the starving children in Arme-nia.

When I joined air force headquarters staff in Tel AvivFrieda and I found we had been assigned the penthousesuite in the Yarden Hotel, which we thoroughly enjoyed. I had the rank of Squadron Commander, which was theequivalent of a rank between major and lieutenant colo-

nel in the American army (we called it “major plus).After a few days, the hotel manager approached me,explained that he had not been paid by the air force forthe use of the hotel in several months, and asked me tointervene to see that they would be paid.

I tried to explain to him that I was not in the financedepartment, and that I had no real influence anywhereelse in the air force, but he kept after me, eyeing theevidence of my rank on my epaulets. When he finallyunderstood that I couldn’t or wouldn’t help him, I foundmyself demoted. Not by the air force, but by the man-ager. We were shifted to a much smaller room fromwhich we heard the constant noise from the street.

Incidentally, the hotel had a nightclub on the groundfloor, and the band would play loudly into the wee hoursof the morning. Remonstrations, pleas, official repri-mands made no impression on the hotel manager or onthe bandleader. Pilots would explain that they neededtheir sleep to be of maximum service in the morning,but that made no difference.

Finally, drastic steps were evidently necessary, so bypre-arrangement a group of pilots visited the nightclubone night, and at eleven o’clock told the band to stopplaying. The leader remonstrated, whereupon twelveuniformed air force officers standing together took outtheir pistols, advanced on the bandstand, and explained: “Believe us, the army will acquit us for whatever we doon the basis of wartime necessity.”

The band never played after eleven o’clock from thenon.

On a routine flight to the airstrip in Ekron one EzerWeitzman introduced me to the field commander whowas passing. When he left, I asked the pilot with whomI was flying about Ezer.

“A wild man,” he said. “He’ll never amount to any-thing.”

Humor continued from p. 19)

Documents

WINTER 2005 AMERICAN VETERANS OF ISRAEL ...sklausne/Winter05.pdfHanukkah Contributions (Attendants) 500 Machal Pamphlet Sales 600 Newsletter Subscriptions 1000 TOTAL INCOME –2005