Detroit's Spanish War Veterans
Battle of '98
Still Vivid to
Oldest U.S. GI's
By FRANK SIMONS
The year just past; having
been celebrated as the Amer-
ican Jewish Tercentenary —
the 300th year of Jewish
colonization in the United
States -- we, as Jews, have
learned a great deal about
.fur heritage - in this .country.
We learned 'for one thing of
the great record Of Jewish
.
servicemen in all of America's
wars. Many years have gone. since
the last Jewish veteran of the
Civil War passed away, and now
the granddaddy of American
veterans - is considered the Span-.
ish American War Vet, • - •
Although the ranks of this
,group also -has been thinned- in
recent years, there still are a few
Detroit Jews • who remember,
their part during the war years.'
From . David A. Brown, -who
now spends much of his time in
California, we learn that fol-
lowing the sinking of the
Maine, the American battleship,
in Cuba Harbor, there w _ ere two
calls for VOlunteers.
Brow
_n - served with the first
wave of volunteers, joining -the
;Detroit Light Infantry on April
28, 1898 and being sworn into
.iNfhhe U.: S. ArmY Company L, 32nd
Michigan Regiment on May - 13,
Company G, of the 30th U.S. Infantry, gathers in full
dress for a group picture. Taken in 1903, in the Philippine
Islands where the company was stationed, it is a fond
remembrance of Detroiter Ben Shiffman, who is shown
second from- the right in the ton row. In the front row is
l898.
Joining also in the first gra-up
was Moe Hart, who served in the
•same regiment, and a Mr. May,
of Grand Rapids, who later was
a member of the Detroit firm of
Selling and May. • Louis Mary-
Mont, who married a member of
the RothSchild family, served in
the Navy with a Detroit group,
Brown said.
Messrs Hart and May have
passed away, but Marymont has
been for quite some time a patient
at SaWtel Veterans Hospital, in
Los Angeles, Calif., Brawn re-.
lates.
In the second batch of vol-
unteers, the only Jewish boy
known to have volunteered was
Sam Slater, of one of Detroit's
long-time families, who Brown
believes- also was a member of
the same regiment.
"Our regiment never got into
fighting,!" Brown says. "About
the only fighting we did was to
kill millions of mosquitoes.". The
group was prepared -to go frbm
Island Lake, Mich., to Cuba, but
at the last moment the 79th of
New York took its place.
The group was • mustered out
in late. September _of 18,96, from
Island Lake; There to meet the
men at the depot was Julius Ber-
man, a young member of the
National Guard who later served
as an officer in ,World War, I.
Not wishing to delve _into his-
story, we must nevertheless relate
a few historic events to explain
how another Detroiter, Pvt. Ben
Shiffman, wound up in the Philip-
pine Islands in 1901. •
During the war, U. S. forces
quickly mopped up Spanish
forces on Cuba and captured
Puerto Rico without a fight.
Half-Way around the world,
Admiral George Dewey defeat-
ed the gpanish Navy in Manilla
harbor, ending the Spanish
rule and 'leaving the U. S. in
possession of the islands.
Prior to this turn of events,
however, the • Philippine natives
were keyed up to revolt against
the Spaniards, and they carried
out this desire for independence
against the U. S., even though
Inany of the Philippinos had
aided in the American victory
against Spain.
T,echnically labeled the Philip-
pine Insurrection, the revolt ad-
tually was a seeond phase of the
Spanish American War and vet-
erans of this action were entitled
• to membership in the Spanish
AMerican War Veterans.
pvt: Ben Shiffman enlisted at
Elmira, N. Y. at the age, of 17,
falsifying his age as 21 in order
4 serve. Without training of any
to
kind, his • outfit, G Company of
the 30th IL S. Infantry, • was sent .
Three years ago, as Co. G celebrated its 50th reunion,
in Clear Lake, Ind., a much more familiar George C.
Marshall (third from right), pauses' to have another
picture taken with members of his old outfit. Included
among them is Ben Shiffman (second from left).
the company's executive officer, Lt. G. C. Marshall, at
.that time fresh out of Virginia Military Institute. In World
-War: II, he was better known :as George C. Marshall,
General of the American Army, one of the great Allied
military leaders.
•
which he joined in 1944.
A menthe': of JWV'S 'Lt. Eli
Levin Post 230, Shiffman has
been especially active in hosPital
work since he joined. TWo yearS
ago, he was • appointed. by JWV
to • the Veterans Administration
Voluntary Service Committer
In the lhtter capacity he, along
with his wife, who is hoSpital
Chairman of the Levin - Auxiliary,
,help to make • life- more enjoy-
able for the hospitalized veteran.
Included in these activities are
outings to such events as the
air show, holiday parties in the
veterans hospitals, trips to Tiger
baseball games and always gifts,
refreshments and entertainment.'
Recently Shiffrnan was award-
ed a plaque for his service to the
organization and was voted an
honorary life membership by the
Department of Michigan JWV.
In addition to his veterans
work, Shiffman is a past chancel-
lor commander of Knights of
Pythias, to which he has be-
longed since 1917, and Perfection
Lodge, F.&A.M., in which he will
celebrate his 40th year in 1956.
As for Mr. Brown, who later
this year will celebrate his 80th
birthday, that venerable gentle-
man is still crossing the coun•-
try on visits to family and
friends, while thinking seriously
of writing a book about JeWs in
Detroit during the early 20th
Century.
dyssentary. When he enlisted,
Shiffman weighed 145 pounds,
and was down to 82 at one
time during the siege of sick-
ness.
Every year since his discharge,
Shiffnian has attended a reunion
of his old Spanish American War
company where such incidents
are - related as the time someone
shot off a musket in the camp
and when no would admit guilt,
the whole company was sent to
the priSon island to stand duty
for three' manths.
• The highlight of these yearly
get-togethers came in 1952 when
Gen. • George C. Marshall attended
the outfit's reunion, • Marshall's
first assignment after hiS com-
pletion: of training at Virginia
Military: Institute was as a sec-
ond lieutenant and executive of-
ficer of Co. G.
Shiffman was one of four other
Men to meet Gen. Marshall at
his plane when it arrived- and
escort hirn to Clear Lake, Ind.,
the scene of the convention.
One of Shiffmari's major Plea-
sures since - his retirement is
traveling• about • to see his old
bUddies, although he says each
Month the list of obitUary notices
in the organization's publication
gets longer.
Another of Shiffman's great
joys in life is serving his fellow
veterans, and this he does
through' the Jewish War Veterans
•
•
apanese Convert a Citizen of Israel
attend services on the Sabbath.
In conformity with the Jewish
The iron determination of a tradition, the Jewish Chiplain
young Japanese, Hiroshi Anko- firSt explained to Hiroshi the
moti, to become a Jew and mi- hardships of the Jewish race in
grate • to Israel caused quite a the world and what difficulties
commotion in official Israeli cir- awaited 'hirri if he should decide
to cast his lot with Israel. But
des:
The Japanese youth is a grad- to • no avail. He was determined
uate of the University of Japan, to become a Jew.
Noting - his • determination to
and a student* of, religion. He
arrived at his decision only _after be a Jew and a Zionist, the
a careful and comprehensive Chaplain introduced Hiroshi to
officials in the Israel Embassy.
study of the Old Testament.
Greatly moved by Hiroshi's
During the war he saw serv-
ice in the Japanese fleet. After sincerity, the Jewish Chaplain
the disaster of Hiroshima and sent a personal letter to Israel's
Nagasaki, followed by the' Japan- Minister of Religion and- Wel-
ese surrender, he • felt lost: He fare, Moses Shapiro, and asked
began , to search for something him to do something for' this
to live for—"to fill the vacancy Japanese Ger Zedek. As a re--
suit, an appeal was made to the
of my soul."
A Protestant minister pre- Foreign Ministry to facilitate
sented him with an Old Testa- the "homecoming of the new son
ment. He studied it day and of Israer_ and to aid him in his
further study of Judaism in a
night. •
Hiroshi began to search and religious school in the Holy
delve into Judaism. It proved Land.
Chief Rabbi I. Herzog gave his
somewhat difficult, since there
were few books in Japan on the approval to receive the young
Jewish religion. He contacted- Ger from Japan under the
the Jewish Chaplain stationed "Wings of the Shechina accord.-
in Tokyo and began to take He- ing to the faith of Moses and
brew lessons. He also began to Israel."
Today, Hiroshi Ankomoti, iti
92—DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Israel citizen and a good Jew, is
By DR. BEN MARCUS
(An AJP Feature)
•
An up-to-date picture of
David A. Brown, one of De-
troit's few, remaining Spanish-
American War veterans and one
of the city's best known philan-
thropists and businessmen.
What the well-dressed soldier
in the Spanish-American War
would wear is demonstrated by
young Pvt. Ben" Shiffman, as he
poses beneath a barricade in
the Philippine Islands.
to San Francisco and boarded the
cattle boat Indiana sailing for
Manila. '
He enlisted on'-*Feb. 5, 1901 and
by April of that year was in the
Philippines. Three years later at
Corregidor, the fortress which be-
came so famous in World War II,
Shiffman was discharged.
During the Insurrection, Shiff-
man's unit guarded Water Works
Park outside Manila, and did not
rnishes With Philippine guerilla
fighters. Although their leader,
Emilio AgUirialdo was 'captured
in 1901, the battles continued
until 1902.
Despite the comparative. "safe
assignment," which always bore
the threat of possible attack, the
soldiers were in constant danger
of illness.
participate in any of the skir-,
Shiffman, himself, spent eight
months in 'an Army hospital
suffering from malaria and
Friday, September 16, 1955
the happiest man in the world!