THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
20 Friday, October 7, 1983
Quality PLUMBING
"A Flush Beats A Full House"
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insured • license 81-0792
Solomon Ibn Gabirol's
philosophical work, "Mekor
Hayim" — "The Fountain of
Life," was popular with
medieval Christian scho-
lars in the Latin transla-
tion, "Fons Vitae."
WWI 'Lost Battalion' Was Found
Through Efforts of Jewish Soldier
By ALLAN BLUSTEIN
somehow getting word of
its plight back to the
The situation was desp-
American lines.
erate. Up till now,. the
Singly or in small patrols,
American Expeditionary
36 men attempted it and
Forces, under the command
were either killed or cap-
of Gen. John J. "Black Jack"
tured. When the call for a
Pershing, had swept
volunteer was made again,
through Northern France
an infantry private from the
13703 W. McNichols
against the stubborn foe
Bronx
— a small, shy
1 block West of Schaefer
and had managed to grind
0
emaciated youth who had
out slow, but steady gains
only been in the United
toward Germany. The
States six years and who
plucky battalions of the
was still technically an
Mon.-Sat. 9:30 to 5
77th Division had hurled
alien, became the 37th vol-
themselves into ferocious
unteer. Abraham
combat in the Argonne
Krotashinsky, a new
Forest as the casualty rates
American of the Jewish
ABRAHAM KROTASHINSKY faith, sprang from the
. mounted.
The toll threatened to subjected to overwhelming trench in full view of the
at the same old stand
soar even higher when a artillery fire and at one Germans and began his in-
ARNOLD MARGOLIS
unit o_f over 600 men, under point, even found itself the credible journey back to the
the command of Maj. mistaken target of Ameri- Yank lines. After countless
Charles W. Whittlesey sud- can guns as well.
near brushes with enemy
denly found itself cut off and
The food had run out patrols and after being gas-
completely surrounded by
and now the only way the sed and wounded, the young
an enemy who demanded its
defenders could get any volunteer at last ap-
total surrender.
water was to crawl to a proached friendly lines.
Refusing even to consider , nearby valley brook
on SEALY POSTUREPEDIC
With bullets whistling
such
a shameful act, the
under cover of darkness around him, Private
(Special Discounts On ALL Special Orders)
battalion had proceeded to
through a blistering hail Krotashinsky crawled to-
TO NAME A FEW: SEALY * SIMMONS * LA-Z-60Y* STIFFEL LAMPS* KROEHLER
stave off repeated German
of enemy fire. The only ward safety, painfully inch-
assaults even though it
hope of the beleaguered. ing his way forward. As he
* BURLINGTON * BASSETT * BARCALOUNGER * LANE
lacked adequate supplies of unit which was later to neared his objective, a new
food, water and ammuni-
UNIQUE * FLEXSTEEL * SINGER * SELIG
become known as the fear gripped him. His En-
tion. For five days, it was
"Lost Batallion," lay in glish still very halting when
he spoke, could easily be
mistaken for German. After
agonizing over his dilemma,
Abe hit on the idea of calling
out "Hello" — an expression
which the Germans would
never think of usipg. He
shouted "Hello". until his
throat ached and tears came
to - his eyes. After what
seemed an eternity, some-
one heard him and a voice
echoed back from the
American lines, "Who are
you and what do you want?"
Moments later, the
exhausted soldier was
t aken to headquarters,
where he told his story.
A band of rescuers was
hastily formed and dis-
atched under the leader-
hip of the young Jew.
If you've been think; about purc asing
tt When they got back to the
Lost Battalion," not many
a sumptuous new fur ashion, nom, is the
0 f the unit were left. Of the
6 79 who had entered the
time! it's our an al October C.tassic
p ocket only 259 were alive
a nd of these only 150 were
with 25-40% &avrngs on the world's
a ble to walk without help.
It e furs. Stop in today
The division to which
t hat battalion belonged
cause life's t(.)0 short
roved to be the only
and winter's too I n
ank division to reach
t he Aisne 'River, penet-
r ating further into the
G erman lines than any
0 ther. In April 1919, Lt.
C ol. Douglas Campbell,
0 ne of its officeit told an
a udience: "The Jewish
b oys, of the 77th Division
over 40% of the men were
0 f the Jewish faith) were
he best soldiers on earth.
T hey participated in the
g reatest battles and
e merged sound."
Gen. Pershing wrote:
When the time came to
se rve their country under
a rms, no class of people
se rved with more pat-
ri otism or with higher mo-
ti ves than these young men
ho volunteered or were
dr afted and who went over-
se as with our other young
Woodward Avenue, I Block South of aple, Next to the Birmingham Theatre
A mericans." Bearing stark
w itness to this statement
it 9:30-5:30, Thurs. 9:30-8:30 Free Adjacent Park mg
642-1690 . i.
w as Krotashinsky.
Chaplain, Sinai Hospital
5 lbs. of MATZO ,
if I can't beat your best deal
MARGOLIS
FURNITURE
342-5351
37 YEARS
SHARPENING THE PENCIL
ON ALL NAME BRAND
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I 1/2 OFF
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