Jewish Americans proudly serve in the U.S. Armed Forces
The American Jewish Military Service Initiative will help your organization raise awareness of Jewish military service, honor Jewish servicemembers and veterans, and support Jewish servicemembers and military Jewish communities.
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We will help your Jewish organization provide programming that informs your members about Jewish service in the US military, at no cost to you.
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If you are a Jewish servicemember or veteran and want to help us inform the American Jewish community about military service, please join us.
American Jews Have Always Served
Jews have served in the American military since 1775. Jews have distinguished themselves in both war and peace, wearing the uniforms of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force and Coast Guard. Our nation has awarded the Medal of Honor to nineteen Jewish servicemembers since the creation of the medal during the Civil War. Jewish four-star generals and admirals have served in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, and a Jewish general has served as the chief of the National Guard Bureau. Jewish veterans have made innumerable contributions to all facets of American society, including government (Sgt. Henry Kissinger, US Army, US secretary of state), medicine (Lt. Col. Albert Sabin, M.D., US Army, oral polio vaccine inventor), entertainment (Cpl. Melvin Kaminsky, US Army, aka Mel Brooks, Academy Award winner), and sports (Capt. Henry "Hamerin' Hank" Greenberg, US Army Air Corps, Baseball Hall of Fame member).
Jewish Military Service Today
Jews continue to serve in all branches of the US military (albeit in much smaller numbers than in years past). A Jewish officer serves as the commanding general of the Army's storied 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and the first thing visitors to his house at Fort Campbell, Kentucky notice is the mezuzah on the door frame. There are Torah scrolls on Navy ships, under the care of rabbis serving as Navy chaplains. The military provides kosher, and even kosher-for-Passover, packaged field rations to Jewish servicemembers. The United States Military Academy at West Point and the United States Naval Academy both have dedicated synagogues on their campuses for Jewish cadets and midshipmen.
