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Admiral Hyman George Rickover, U.S. Navy, was known as the “Father of the Nuclear Navy”, which as of July 2007 had produced 200 nuclear-powered submarines, and 23 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and cruisers, though many of these U.S. vessels are now decommissioned and others under construction.

With his unique personality, political connections, responsibilities and depth of knowledge regarding naval nuclear propulsion, Rickover became the longest-serving active duty military officer in U.S. history with 63 years of continuous service.  Rickover’s substantial legacy of technical achievements includes the U.S. Navy’s continuing record of zero reactor accidents, as defined by the uncontrolled release of fission products subsequent to reactor core damage.

He was born in Russian Poland in 1900 to Rachel, nee Unger, and Abraham Rickover, a tailor who brought his family to Chicago. After completing high school in 1918, Rickover received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, where he was often confronted with anti-Semitism. He graduated in 1922 and was commissioned an ensign. Assigned to sea duty, he remained there for five years before being assigned to the Naval Academy to do graduate work in electrical engineering. He continued his studies at Columbia University where he received his M.S. degree in 1929.

Read more about Admiral Hyman George Rickover...

Melvin Rosen, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, recently passed in Falls Church, Va.
His story told in his own words, from a US-Japan WWII dialog site :

Arriving in the Philippines

I was graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1940. My parents were poor immigrants from Russia. I was extremely proud to be a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army!

I suspected that we would be forced into a war with Japan. The only logical place for Japan to attack, in my opinion, was the Philippines. Since this was so obvious to me, I felt that it must be so obvious to everyone else that we would have the most and the best of everything—equipment, supplies, etc.—there.

I arrived in Manila aboard the old US ARMY Transport, U.S. Grant in January 1941. We were greeted with a fly by of our Far East Army Air Corps flying planes that were obsolete in the States--P-26, O-46. B-10. My close friend, classmate, and roommate who chose the Philippines for the same reasons as I was standing beside me on the deck of the Grant. I can remember turning to him and saying, “Murph, we’ve been had!”

Fall of Bataan

It was very late at night on 8 April that I was told by my battalion commander that Bataan was being surrendered effective at 0600 the next day. . We were to destroy all our weapons and equipment except our vehicles because we would need them in which to ride out of Bataan to wherever the Japanese would be taking us. I destroyed all our weapons and equipment and left our vehicles. At 0600, from our position on a trail, I could still hear the Japanese shooting on the main road. I went up to make a personal reconnaissance. I saw Japanese tanks on the road shooting at Americans.

About 0900 I went back to the main road. Then I saw Americans in their trucks coming up the road with large white sheets that they were waving. The Japanese halted them made them get out of the trucks, loaded the trucks with Japanese soldiers, turned them around and headed back south.  I went quietly back to my battery and poured sugar in all the gas tanks. We then formed as a battery and marched up the trail to the main road where we turned in to a Japanese captain. He sent us up the road to a large open field already crowded with American and Filipino troops.  The Japanese immediately separated the Filipinos from the Americans.

My introduction to the Japanese came soon when I saw an American soldier squat at a huge latrine pit to defecate. A Japanese guard ran his bayonet through this man’s chest for no reason but for fun. When the bayonet did not immediately come out, the guard with his foot shoved the American off the bayonet and into the latrine pit where he disappeared into the feces. Another Japanese guard nearby was laughing during this whole episode.

The next morning the Japanese started us walking north on the main road and marched my group for 65 miles in four days with no food or water in severe tropical temperatures.  None was allowed to help anyone. If anyone could not make it on his own, he was bayoneted, shot, beheaded or clubbed to death. Even Filipino civilians who tried to pass food or water to us were immediately beheaded as an example to other Filipino civilians. This became known as the BATAAN Death March. By the time it was over, the route was littered with hundreds of American dead and thousands of Filipino dead.

Read more about Melvin Rosen, z"l...

By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Published: April 29, 2007
Robert Rosenthal, a highly decorated pilot in World War II who helped usher in a new kind of warfare, the strategic bombing of Germany, in which huge bombers scraped the ice-cold stratosphere while serving as easy targets for enemy fighters and ground guns, died on April 20 in White Plains. He was 89.

The cause was multiple myeloma, his son Steven said. Mr. Rosenthal lived in Harrison, N.Y.

He flew 52 missions over Germany as a bomber pilot, twice survived being shot down and won 16 decorations, including the Distinguished Service Cross for “extraordinary heroism.”

On one mission, his B-17 Flying Fortress was the only one in his group of 13 to return. On another, he was shot down and broke his right arm and nose. The next time he was shot down, he broke the same arm.

On Feb. 3, 1945, Rosie, as he was known, led the entire Third Division, an armada of 1,000 B-17s, on a raid on Berlin. He was later an assistant to the United States prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials, Robert H. Jackson.

Read more about Robert Rosenthal, z"l...

From the Annapolis newspaper…

Retired Army Col. Harry Lindauer, [z"l] had a favorite expression: “A new Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph.”

What he meant by that, his wife Thea explained, is that a man can be honored for many things, but as generations follow generations eventually the man is forgotten.  But a man who lived a life like Col. Lindauer’s would be hard to forget, family and friends say. And what he’ll be remembered for depends on who is asked.

Col. Lindauer, a resident of Annapolis since 1967, died Friday at the Ginger Cove retirement community after a lengthy illness. He was 88.

In the city’s arts community, Col. Lindauer was known as president of Annapolis Opera Company, who alongside Thea Lindauer took a struggling business and made it “fantastic.”

“They brought in professional performers and artists to make it one of the most wonderful organizations,” said Carol Treiber, executive director of the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County.  Ms. Treiber remembers Col. Lindauer as a strong passionate person. A guy who really knew his music - and was often seen sporting a brightly colored suit vest.  The vest was made by women who worked in the opera company’s costume department, Mrs. Lindauer said.

“It was made from beautiful fabrics used in the opera - these were not cheap fabrics,” she said. “They made me a jacket too, and we treasured those.”

Read more about Col. Harry Lindauer...

Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps

Sgt Foster L. Harrington, 31, of Ft. Worth, Texas, died Sept. 20, 2004 due to enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Harrington was assigned to the Marine Corps Reserve’s 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company, 4th Marine Division, Mobile, Alabama.

Harrington was more worried about his fiancee and others in Alabama threatened by Hurricane Ivan than the dangers he was facing in Iraq. “I said, `Foster, you’re in worse circumstances than I am, so why are you worried about me?’” said his fiancee, Fran Poston. “He said, ‘Because I want to make sure you’re taken care of. I’m OK where I’m at.’” Harrington, 31, joined the Marines in 1992 and was a water combat instructor and assigned to the Marines’ version of a special-forces unit. “The last words he talked about, he said ‘I’ll be back,’” said Paul Newton, chief of the Seven Hills Volunteer Fire Department, near Mobile, where Harrington was a firefighter and medic. “I said, ‘Buddy, your gear is in the closet, it’s yours and no one else is going take it,’” Newton said. Harrington said he’d be back for it, but “‘This is something I got to do, I want to go.’

Read more about Foster L. Harrington...

Corporal, U.S. Army

Corporal Tibor “Ted” Rubin served in the Army from February 13, 1950 to July 20, 1953.  During that time he served in the 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.  He was a POW in North Korea for 30 months, wounded twice and received two purple heart awards, and was recently awarded the Medal of Honor.

In the words of President George W. Bush:

Corporal Tibor “Ted” Rubin’s many acts of courage during the Korean War saved the lives of hundreds of his fellow soldiers. In the heat of battle, he inspired his comrades with his fearlessness. And amid the inhumanity of a Chinese prisoner of war camp, he gave them hope. Some of those soldiers are here today, and they have never forgotten what they owe this man. And by awarding the Medal of Honor to Corporal Rubin today, the United States acknowledges a debt that time has not diminished.

His heroic service in uniform is equally as amazing as his life prior to his enlistment.

Rubin is a survivor of 14 months in the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. Liberated by the U.S. Army, he credits Army medics for saving the lives of survivors. He notes, “I thank God that I came to the United States.”

He follows a legacy of military service in his family--his father, Ferenz, was a Soldier in the Hungarian Army and a hero in World War I, and was a prisoner of war (POW) in Russia for over six years. During WWII, his father was moved to Auschwitz and later to Buchenwald where he died. Ted’s uncle was also a POW. His mother, Rosa and 10 year-old sister, Elonja died in a gas chamber in Auschwitz, Germany. His older brother, Mike Lesak fought with the English and Czech in World War II.

“I always wanted to become a citizen of the United States and when I became a citizen it was one of the happiest days in my life. I think about the United States and I am a lucky person to live here. When I came to America, it was the first time I was free. It was one of the reasons I joined the U.S. Army because I wanted to show my appreciation.”

Read more about Tibor Rubin...

Lieutenant, U.S. Coast Guard

Lieutenant Barry Steven Roffman had ten years in the Naval Reserve before being honorably discharged in 1979.  He served on 5 aircraft carriers, 4 destroyers, an amphibious communications command ship, and a minesweeper.  In 1983 he enlisted in the Coast Guard Reserve as an E-5 (QM-2), and received another commission in 1985.  He then worked his way back to lieutenant before retiring in 1995.  In 2003 he was recalled from retirement, first to Coast Guard District Seven in Miami for 4 months, and then on to Coast Guard Pacific Area in Alameda, CA for at least three years.

LT Roffman, also a retired high school science teacher, was recalled from Coast Guard retirement at age 56 because of his considerable experience in writing and producing OPLANs for the Coast Guard and Navy.  These plans had earned him a Commendation medal, an Achievement Medal, and a Commandant’s Letter of Achievement Ribbon Bar with gold star in the early 1990s.  He has a great love for writing and research, and has authored three commercial books.  One published in 1978 dealt with comparative religion, another work in 1989 dealt with a unique custody battle described below, and the third work (ARK CODE, Searching for the Ark of the Covenant using ELS Maps from the Bible Code) is now for sale, at Amazon.com. 

Read more about Barry S. Roffman...

Colonel, U.S. Army Reserves

Rabbi Bonnie Koppell, a U.S. Army Reserve chaplain since 1978, was promoted to colonel on May 3 of this year making her the first female rabbi in the U.S. Army to hold that rank.  Rabbi Koppel is used to firsts, as she was the first female rabbi commissioned in the Army and is currently one of only two military-wide. 

Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Koppel joined the Army Reserves while a Rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist College in Philadelphia. She was ordained in 1981, and served Beth Sholom in Chandler, Arizona for 18 years before resigning this April when she deployed to Iraq.  She currently serves as a guest rabbi at Beth Hagivot in Fountain Hills, Arizona.

Earlier this year, in response to a phone request, Koppel volunteered to go to Iraq to conduct Passover services for the troops and to visit different units to encourage Jewish soldiers.  Koppel is currently assigned to the Chief of Chaplains Contingency Force Pool at the Pentagon, and is tasked to the Fifth US Army Headquarters at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.  As a Reservist, she lives in Mesa, AZ, and does her drills in many different places.

In her 26 years in the Army, Koppel has received many awards including two Meritorious Service Medals, an Army Commendation Medal, and two Army Achievement Medals. In 2003, she was named “Woman of the Year” by the City of Mesa.

Describing her role as a military chaplain, Rabbi Koppel stated:

Chaplains are noncombatants - we do not carry weapons, we are not trained to fight. We are there to minister to the religious needs of the troops and, as such, we are an essential part of the military force. No one likes war, no one wants war. No one prays for peace with more fervor than the soldier who stands ready to lay down his or her life for our country.

Yet, I am not a pacifist; I believe that there are times when war is justified. War is always a horrible tragedy, but it is not necessarily immoral. I am proud to consider among my many identities as wife, as mother, as rabbi, as teacher, as friend, yet another - as an American soldier. G-d forbid the need should arise, our Jewish soldiers deserve to have rabbis who are trained and ready to deploy alongside them, to be there to offer all the support they will need. I am proud to be among those who stand ready to go with them.

Excerpt from: The Jewish Virtual Library

Rabbi Koppell wants our readers to know that she gives talks about her experiences and is interested and available to travel to any of your communities.  She can be contacted at .

Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

In April of this year, the United States Naval Academy’s Alumni Association honored Rear Admiral (ret) Robert H. Wertheim with its Distinguished Graduate Award.  Wertheim, graduated with distinction from the class of 1946.  Immediately after graduation he served aboard destroyers in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets.

In 1947, he was a member of the Navy’s first nuclear weapons assembly team at Sandia Base.  He later served in the guided missile test ship USS Norton Sound and in the heavy cruiser USS Los Angeles.

Wertheim played a central role in the conception, development, production and operational support of the submarine-launched fleet ballistic missile systems Polaris, Poseidon and Trident, which became the nation’s most secure and effective deterrent to nuclear war.

Rear Admiral Wertheim has been a prime mover in the program to build the Uriah Levy Jewish Chapel at the Naval Academy, scheduled to be inaugurated in July.

You can read more about Rear Admiral Wertheim in the official USNA Distinguished Graduate Award Announcement (PDF).

Lt. General, U.S. Air Force

Lt. General Schwartz, a 1973 graduate of the Air Force Academy, is Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C.  In that role, he assists the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by supervising, coordinating and providing support for and administering the work of the Joint Staff.  He also functions as the Chairman’s point of contact for the National Defense University, and with the Secretary of Defence and other U.S. Government agencies.

General Schwartz is a command pilot with more than 4200 flying hours in a variety of aircraft.  He participated as a crewmember in the 1975 airlift evacuation of Saigon and, in 1991, served as Chief of Staff of the Joint OPerations Task Force for Northern Iraq in operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.  In 1997, he led the Joint Task Force that prepared for the noncombatant evacuation of U.S. citizens in Cambodia.

When the JCC (Jewish Community Centers) Armed Forces & Veterans Committe presented its Military Leadership Award to air force Lt. General Norton Schwartz in 2004, the general said he was “Proud to be identified as a Jewish as well as an American military leader.”