More than a century after their deaths, two Jewish-American soldiers have finally received headstones bearing the true symbol of their faith. During a ceremony last week at Arlington National Cemetery, the crosses marking the war graves of David Moser and Adolph Hanf were replaced with Stars of David. The new headstones were presented in a moving ceremony, according to a report in the Washington Post.
Deborah Berlinger Eiferman, Moser's 102-year-old niece, rose from her wheelchair in excitement and said, "I'm so grateful. This is a deeply emotional experience."
Moser enlisted in the US Army at age 18, two weeks after the United States entered World War I in 1917. "Everyone in our family called him 'Baby Uncle' or 'Baby David,' because he didn't live past 20," Eiferman said.
Moser served in an artillery unit and took part in several battles in which his unit lost around 20 soldiers. He survived the fighting, but about three months after the war ended, while stationed in Germany, he died after contracting influenza during the Spanish flu pandemic.
His body was returned to the United States and buried in 1920 under a headstone marked with a Christian cross. No family members were able to attend the funeral.
Adolph Hanff, a Polish-Jewish immigrant from Detroit, was killed in France in 1918 at age 34, one year after receiving US citizenship. He was buried in the United States in 1922, and although his official burial record explicitly stated, "Star of David to be inscribed on headstone," a cross was etched on the gravestone for unknown reasons. His family likely never knew about the mistake, and the headstone remained uncorrected for over a hundred years.
During the unveiling ceremony for Hanff's headstone, Eiferman - speaking to the grave of a man with no known surviving relatives - said through tears, "Adolph, you are not alone."
The errors were uncovered by Operation Benjamin, a nonprofit organization that scans historical records to ensure that Jewish American soldiers are buried under headstones reflecting their faith.
Shalom Lamm, chief historian and co-founder of the organization, told the Washington Post that "many Jews did not want to be identified as Jews. They feared being taken prisoner, especially during World War II, or they were afraid because of the widespread antisemitism during World War I."
Still, Lamm explained, most cases stem from honest mistakes. "If they were killed and not identified as Jewish, the grave registrar would very logically place a Latin cross," he added. "And if a Jewish soldier's body bore no identification, it would be assumed he was Christian, because most soldiers were."
"What's remarkable," Lamm said, "is not that there are so many mistakes, but that there are so few. But these mistakes do exist."
