The Jewish War Veterans of San Diego honored three local Congressional Medal
of Honor winners, who in turn listened attentively to a letter written by
retired U.S. Army Col. Jack Jacobs, the nation's only living Congressional
Medal of Honor winner who is Jewish.

The patriotic, interdenominational ceremony was held Thursday, June 13, on
the eve of Flag Day, at the Veterans Memorial Center Museum, which once
served as a chapel for Jews, Catholics and Protestants at the Navy's Balboa
Medical Center.

The local honorees included a World War II veteran, retired Navy Lt. John
William Finn < who at 92 is the oldest Congressional Medal of Honor
recipient still alive, and two veterans of the Vietnam War, retired Marine
Maj. Robert Modrzejewski and retired Army Spec. 4th Class John P. Baca.
Jacobs, one of 14 Jews known to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor from the Civil War through the present, had been invited to the
ceremony, but had to decline because of a business engagement in London.
The Vietnam War hero sent a letter to be read at the gathering by Abe Baum,
a retired Army major who is a recipient of the nation's second-highest
decoration -- the Distinguished Service Cross -- for bravery during World War
II.

"The United States of America has been the most successful political
experiment in history because we began with two great concepts: equality and
freedom," Jacobs wrote.

"These precepts attracted those who suffered oppression and slavery and
mistreatment in places that they called home. They attracted, among others,
the Jews who, even as early as the birth of this nation, paid in money and
blood to bring life to the flame of liberty.

"They -- and we -- were willing to pay this price because we know first-hand
that there is nothing as horrid as oppression and nothing as lovely as
equality and freedom."

While advising South Vietnamese troops, Jacobs suffered a head wound from
Viet Cong fire during an engagement on March 9, 1968, in Kien Phong
Province. Nevetheless, Jacobs, "with complete disregard for his safety,
returned under intense fire to evacuate a seriously wounded advisor to the
safety of a wooded area where he administered lifesaving first aid,"
according to his Medal of Honor citation.

"He then returned through heavy automatic weapons fire to evacuate the
wounded company (2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, Army
of the Republic of Vietnam). Capt. (then 1st Lt.) Jacobs made repeated trips
across the fire-swept open rice paddies, evacuating wounded and their
weapons. On three separate occasions, Capt. Jacobs contacted and drove off
Viet Cong squads who were searching for allied wounded and weapons,
singlehandedly killing three and wounding several others.

"His gallant actions and extraordinary heroism saved the lives of one U.S.
advisor and 13 allied soldiers. Through his effort the allied company was
restored to an effective fighting unit. ... Capt. Jacobs, by his gallantry
and bravery in action in the highest traditions of the military service, has
reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army."

According to an exhibit created by Ralph Leventhal, commander of JWV's
Department of California, who attended the ceremony, other Jews to have won
the Medal of Honor and the years of their heroism were: Benjamin Levy, 1862;
David Urbansky, 1862-63; Leopold Karpeles, 1864; Abraham Cohn, 1864; Simon
Suhler, 1868; Samuel Marguiles, 1915; Sydney Gumpertz, 1918; Benjamin
Kaufman, 1918; William Sawelson, 1918; Ben. L. Salomon, 1944 (awarded
posthumously earlier this year); Raymond Zussman, 1944; Isadore Jachman,
1945, and John Lee Levitow, 1969.

In the letter read to the affirmative head-nods of his fellow medal winners,
Jacobs said: "If I have an enduring recollection of my time in combat, it is
a combination of fear and love. There is nothing that fans the flame of fear
more than the violence of combat and the expectation of imminent death, and
there is no love like that for the buddies who share the hell of fighting
and the exalted mission of defense.

"I believe that extraordinary events are shaped by ordinary people doing
only what they believe is right. When circumstances are difficult, I think
that all who lose liberty motivate themselves with the strength of Hillel's
observation: OIf not you, who? If not now, when?² This is what arms people
in combat, when fear is unquenchable, pain unbearable, sadness
overwhelming."

Each of the three Medal of Honor winners at the ceremony could relate
personally to Jacobs' observations. Finn won his medal for returning enemy
fire during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. "Although painfully wounded
many times, he continued to man this (50-caliber machine gun) and with
telling effect throughout the enemy strafing and bombing attacks and with
complete disregard for his personal safety," his citation said.

Modrzejewski, during the Vietnam War, also was wounded, yet "crawled 200
meters to provide critically needed ammunition to an exposed element of his
command and was constantly present wherever the fighting was heaviest,
despite numerous casualties, a dwindling supply of ammunition and the
knowledge they were surrounded." Over and over he was able to call in air
strikes at close range to repel the enemy.

Baca led his rifle team to assist a platoon that had come under fire. "As
they prepared to engage the enemy, a fragmentation grenade was thrown into
the midst of the patrol. Fully aware of the danger to his comrades, Sp4c
Baca unhesitatingly, and with complete disregard for his own safety, covered
the grenade with his steel helmet and fell on it as the grenade exploded,
thereby absorbing the lethal fragments and concussion with his body..."

Rabbi Arthur Zuckerman of Congregation Beth Am, a veteran of the Israeli
Defense Forces, said prior to delivering the evening's invocation that he
felt humbled to be in the presence of such men. International esteem for
their bravery also was indicated by the presence at the ceremonies by
approximately 30 Russian Jewish veterans of World War II and spouses, now
living in San Diego.

There is a tradition in the military that no matter what the rank of a
Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, low or high, he is to be saluted,
even by generals or admirals. In a remarkable ceremony arranged by Cmdr.
Mort Vogelson of JWV's Harry Apelman San Diego Post 185, there were numerous
stirring moments. 

Watching the old heroes come to attention and place their hands over their
hearts as a color guard unit from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot formally
paraded the American flag was one such moment.

Another came after the ceremony, when musicians from the Marine Corps Brass
Quintet from MCRD came to stiff attention and saluted the heroes, then filed
by them, one by one, clearly glad for the privilege of shaking their hands.