4 | NOVEMBER 9 • 2023 J
N

PURELY COMMENTARY

I 

recently became a life member of the 
Jewish War Veterans of the United 
States of America. JWV is “a Jewish 
voice for veterans and a veteran’s voice 
for Jews.” 
 Whether or not you 
served in the military, you 
can join and support JWV. 
JWV defends the rights 
and benefits of all service 
members and veterans, 
fights antisemitism and 
supports the State of Israel.” 
It also provides educational 
scholarships for veterans and family 
members, participates in memorial 
events and educational activities, and in 
other ways “affirms that Jewish men and 
women serve honorably and heroically 
in the military forces of the United States 
during peacetime and war.” 
 My younger son, Nick Israel, recruited 
me to JWV membership. He is a U.S. 
Army Armor and PSYOP veteran. He 
enlisted after college, completed basic 
training and officer candidate school, 
learned to operate tanks, speak Russian, 
and jump out of airplanes, and deployed 
to the Middle East and Eastern Europe. 
Nick eventually returned to Michigan and 
now serves in the Air National Guard. 
Before Nick recruited me to JWV, I 
didn’t know I was eligible. I was in the 
U.S. Army Reserve from 1969 to 1975. I 
became adept at typing with two fingers 
and driving a Jeep and won a medal 
for exemplary attendance. During basic 
training at Fort Knox, I achieved the 
distinction of getting KP — “kitchen 
police” duty — four times. The average 
basic trainee got KP twice. Nick may be 
an accomplished soldier, but he never 
learned to peel potatoes, scour pots, 
empty grease traps and mop up mess 
halls. The Army did away with KP and 
mess halls. They now have culinary 
contractors and DFACs — “dining 
facilities.” 
Everyone is eligible for JWV 
membership — those who serve or 

served on active military duty in any 
branch, or who serve or served in the 
reserve or national guard, and anyone 
else who wants to be part of JWV’s 
good works. There are veteran and non-
veteran JWV membership categories 
and various participation and support 
opportunities. 

TWO HEROES
Jews serve in the military in num-
bers well above their percentage in 
the U.S. population. Jews have made 
immeasurable contributions to the 
American military before and since the 
Revolutionary War. Two (of many) cases 
in point: Raymond Zussman and Sidney 
Shachnow. 
Raymond Zussman (1917-1944) 
was posthumously awarded the 
Congressional Medal of Honor for 
valor in France during World War II. 
Zussman graduated from Detroit’s 
Central High, attended Wayne, studied 
metallurgy at DIT, and was a Teamsters 
Local 337 steward. He joined the Army 
in 1941, became a tank commander, and 
saw combat in North Africa, Italy and 
France. 
His selfless and heroic actions against 
the Germans on September 12, 1944, 
detailed in his Medal of Honor cita-
tion, were “above and beyond the call 
of duty” and saved American lives. He 
was killed by German mortar fire days 
later, on Sept. 21, 1944. He is buried in 
Machpelah Cemetery in Ferndale. There 
is a Zussman playground in Detroit and 
a Zussman park in Hamtramck. My 
reserve unit was based at the Raymond 
Zussman United States Army Reserve 
Center in Inkster. Nick trained at the 
Zussman Urban Combat Range at Fort 
Knox. 
Sidney Shachnow (1934-2018) was a 
highly decorated Vietnam veteran and a 
legendary special operations command-
er. He retired as a major general in 1994 
after almost 40 years of Army service as 
an enlisted soldier and later as an officer, 

as a paratrooper, ranger and Green Beret. 
Shachnow was born in Lithuania. When 
the Germans invaded in 1941, Shachnow, 
age 7, and his family, with all 40,000 
local Jews, were confined to the Kovno 
concentration camp. Against all odds, he 
and family members escaped after three 
years and survived. Most Kovno Jews 
were murdered by the Nazis and Nazi 
collaborators. 
Shachnow came to the U.S. as a teen-
ager in 1950, attended school for the first 
time, enlisted in the Army, and went on 
to a storied military career. Shachnow 
died in 2018 at 83. He is buried at the 
Arlington National Cemetery. His auto-
biography — Hope and Honor (2004) — 
tells his inspiring life story. 
My wife, Cheryll, and I met the gra-
cious Shachnow at Nick’s graduation 
from the JFK Special Warfare Center and 
School at Fort Bragg in 2014. Shachnow 
was at one time the JFK commandant 
and maintained a connection with the 
center and school after his 1994 retire-
ment. 
Shachnow posthumously received 
the U.S. Special Operations Command’s 
highest honor, the award named for 
Col. Arthur “Bull” Simons (1918-1979), 
a celebrated special forces pioneer and 
also Jewish. Simons is memorialized by 
a 12-foot bronze statue on a granite base 
facing the JFK center. The statue depicts 
Simons in action in Vietnam, pressing 
forward. One side of the statue’s base is 
inscribed with the passage from Isaiah 
6:8, which ends with this answer to a call 
to service: “Here I am; send me.”
JWV was founded in 1896 by Jewish 
veterans of the Civil War to honor and 
support service members and veterans 
and, in particular, the many American 
Jews who, before the Revolutionary War 
and since, have answered the call to mili-
tary service. 

For information about JWV membership categories, 

support opportunities, and activities, go to jwv.org., 

email jwv@jwv.org or call (202) 265-6280. 

guest column

The Jewish War Veterans Want YOU!

Stuart Israel

