Col. Melvin Garten - Hero Casualty of Vietnam
BY MILTON FRIEDMAN
(Copyright, 1966, J.T.A.
Inc.)
WASHINGTON—Men e
lik Col.
Melvin Garten are annoyed by al-
legations that Jews are inade-
quately involved in the Vietnam
war. He is a living proof that this
charge, made by self-styled super-
patriots is unfounded.
CoL Garten, 44, is a patient at
Walter Reed Army Hospital. He is
recovering from wounds sustained
near Thy Hoa, Vietnam, where he
commanded a battalion of para-
troopers. He lost a foot and por-
tion of his leg in Vietnam.
General orders No. 3096, Head-
quarters, U. S. Army, Vietnam, de-
scribed the reasons for the award
of the Second Oak Leaf Cluster
to Garten's Silver Star. The cita-
tion described how Garten "dis-
patched the battalion's anti-tank
platoon to clear a section of the
road north of Tuy Hoa. One ve-
hicle of this platoon struck a mine,
destroying the vehicle - and injur-
ing two men seriously."
Garten, "knowing the road to be
mined, moved forward with the
security element of a recovery
crew to personally survey the area
and make an estimate of the situa-
tion. • At a point two kilometers
short of the point where the first
vehicle struck the mine, Colonel
Garten's vehicle hit another non-
metallic mine that had been clever-
ly planted in a cut in the road.
The blast was of such magnitude
that the vehicle was hurled into
the air, ripping it virtually in half,
and injuring all occupants."
Garten "suffered severe injuries
on both legs, and a concussion that
left him in a coma. Garten had in-
sisted in moving to a dangerous
vantage point with the full knowl-
edge that he could have remained
behind without !..ear of censure.
Garten's thought prior to becoming
unconscious was foe the welfare of
the other wounded. His unimpeach-
able valor against a hostile force
was in keeping with the highest
traditions of the military service
and reflects great credit upon him-
self, his unit, and the United
State's Army."
* * *
A lieutenant colonel at the time
the action occurred, Garten was
shortly thereafter promoted to full
colonel.
Reflecting as a Jew and as a pro-
fessional soldier, the colonel said it
was a fact that should be realized
by now that Tews, no more and no
less than other Americans, are
struggling and dying in the Delta,
highlands, jungles, and swamps of
Vietnam. They can be found in Gar-
ten's own 101st Airborne Division
—or the First Infantry, the First
Air Cavalry, and other combat
units.
Capt. Samuel Sobel, U. S.
Navy Chaplain, knows where
some other Jews can be located.
They are interred in fresh graves
at Arlington National Cemetery.
Rabbi Sobel has recited the
Jewish memorial service over the
remains of a number of young
Marines who met death in Viet-
nam.
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Garten, interviewed in his mod-
est hospital room, feels that to-
day's army no longer sees Jews as
"Jews" but as individuals judged
on their merit as men. He does not
like the idea of attributing group
characteristics to Jews, whether
they are in or out of uniform.
A graduate of Brooklyn's De
Witt Clinton High School, Garten
came from a background that some
might not link with distinguished
military service. Garten's father
struggled to make a living in the
ladies dress industry. Garten took
a mercantile course at CCNY.
In 1942, he joined the army. He
worked his way up to sergeant and
then won a commission at the
rigorus paratroop officers school at
Fort Benning.
As a platoon leader with the
11th Airborne Division, Garten saw
action in New Guinea, Okinawa,
Leyte and Luzon. For heroism and
wounds sustained, the young lieu-
tenant was awarded the Silver
Star, Bronze Star, Air Medal, Pres-
idential Citation, and the Purple
Heart with Three Oak Leaf Clus-
ters.
On two occasions, Garten wiped
out Japanese machine gun nests
in single-handed actions. When his
company was pinned down by in-
tense fire and a machine gun crew
knocked out, Garten manned the
gun himself while directing defense
against fanatical attacks. A with-
drawal had to be made. But Gar-
ten stayed behind to provide cov-
ering fire.
Garten participated in the dar-
ing paratroop raid to liberate the
notorious Los Banos prison camp
in the Philippines.
During the tense days of the
Berlin airlift, in the late '40s, Gar-
ten found himself a captain com-
manding an alerted company of
the First Infantry. By 1952 he was
under Gen. James Van Fleet, as-
saulting hills in Korea. In Leyte,
Japanese bullets pierced his stom-
ach and hips. But those injuries
and shoulder wounds incurred on
Luzon had long since healed. In
the Korean hills he again bled
from enemy fire, this time leg
wounds.
* *
Garten's role in the capture of
a cruel Korean hilltop won him the
Distinguished Service Medal. Other
decorations include the Legion of
Merit, various commendation rib-
bons, assorted clusters, and so
forth. But the ribbons do not tell
the full story.
After Korea, Garten graduated
from Fort Bragg's "Green Beret"
special forces school. Assignments
took him to such places as the
Congo, Mauretania, Ethiopia, Ger-
many, England — even Saudi
Arabia.
In Saudi Arabia Gerten be-
came the first American Jewish
army officer to visit Jiddah, Ri-
yadh, Dhahran—even the out-
skirts of sacred Mecca. Ethiopia
brought him in professional con-
tact with Israeli army officers.
Assigned to England as an ex-
change officer in 1958, Garten
found himself attached to the same
"Red Beret" British paratroop
unit—the 16th Airborne Brigade—
that served in Palestine 10 years
before. Learning that he was a
Jew, the British troopers insisted
that Garten, as a token of person-
al esteem, wear their Red Beret.
U. S. authorities approved the un-
orthodox uniform improvisation.
Garten feels that his Jewish in-
stincts may be best manifested by
his regard for education. He saw to
it that both his sons learned He-
brew and celebrated Bar Mitzva
rites in an army chapel. He is
proud that Allan, 16, is at Phillips
Academy, Andover, Mass., and that
Jeffrey, 19, is at Dartmouth—both
on scholarships and partly finan-
ced by their own part-time labor.
Garten's immediate hope is to
get out of Walter Reed with a suit-
able artificial leg to resume duty
—perhaps training troops at Fort
Bragg. But upon retirement he
would like to visit Israel with his
wife, Ruth.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, October 14, 1966 - 5
Braille Institute Prepares
New Talmud in English
NEW YORK (JTA)—The Jewish
Braille Institute announced Sun-
day that a new English Braille edi-
tion of the Talmud would be pub-
lished next spring. According to
the institute, the costs of the
edition will be underwritten by
JBI and the work will be distri-
buted without charge to Jewish
and non-Jewish scholars and others
interested in the Talmud.
Unlike the standard editions
that give the Hebrew and Aramaic
texts only in consonants and with-
out punctuation, the texts in the
new edition will be voweled and
punctuated.
The new text will also include
literal translations of the texts in
modern English, a new English
commentary explaining the drift
of the discussions and theological
concepts and biographical details
about the rabbis mentioned,
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