ponder-osapine:

jewishvirtuallibrary:

Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn, far right, conducting the first Jewish service for members of the 5th Marine Division on the island of Iwo Jima; 1945. x

Taking part in the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II were 70,000 American marines, 1,500 of whom were Jewish.  Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn, Rabbi Chaplain for the 5th Marine Division, was among the 1,500 Jewish soldiers in combat.  Following the end of the battle, a joint nondenominational memorial service was supposed to be held to honor the over 6,800 U.S. marines killed during the battle.  However, antisemitism from Christian pastors put a stop to this as the majority of Christian chaplains on Iwo Jima refused to do a joint service with their Rabbi counterpart.

Instead, three separate services were held (Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish).  The Jewish service was attended by three Protestant ministers who boycotted their own memorial service out of disgust for the antisemitism that transpired.  In his last public appearance before his death in 1995, Rabbi Gittelsohn had said, “I have often wondered whether anyone would ever have heard of my Iwo Jima sermon had it not been for the bigoted attempt to ban it.”

Rabbi Gittelsohn’s Iwo Jima sermon can be read in its entirety here.

Link broken, find it here: https://pasyn.org/resources/sermons/rabbi-gittelsohn%E2%80%99s-iwo-jima-eulogy