Cool WW1/WW2 Facts #2

JollyRogerVF-17 wrote:

However, only two Jewish soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor in WWII.

"Captain Ben L. Salomon was serving at Saipan, in the Marianas Islands on July 7, 1944, as the Surgeon for the 2nd Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division. The Regiment’s 1st and 2d Battalions were attacked by an overwhelming force estimated between 3,000 and 5,000 Japanese soldiers. It was one of the largest attacks attempted in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Although both units fought furiously, the enemy soon penetrated the Battalions’ combined perimeter and inflicted overwhelming casualties. In the first minutes of the attack, approximately 30 wounded soldiers walked, crawled, or were carried into Captain Salomon’s aid station, and the small tent soon filled with wounded men. As the perimeter began to be overrun, it became increasingly difficult for Captain Salomon to work on the wounded. He then saw a Japanese soldier bayoneting one of the wounded soldiers lying near the tent. Firing from a squatting position, Captain Salomon quickly killed the enemy soldier. Then, as he turned his attention back to the wounded, two more Japanese soldiers appeared in the front entrance of the tent. As these enemy soldiers were killed, four more crawled under the tent walls. Rushing them, Captain Salomon kicked the knife out of the hand of one, shot another, and bayoneted a third. Captain Salomon butted the fourth enemy soldier in the stomach and a wounded comrade then shot and killed the enemy soldier. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Captain Salomon ordered the wounded to make their way as best they could back to the regimental aid station, while he attempted to hold off the enemy until they were clear. Captain Salomon then grabbed a rifle from one of the wounded and rushed out of the tent. After four men were killed while manning a machine gun, Captain Salomon took control of it. When his body was later found, 98 dead enemy soldiers were piled in front of his position. Captain Salomon’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army."

Ben Salomon was a dentist, not some gung ho warrior. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and by any definition of the word, Salomon was a hero. Sometimes ordinary men rise to meet the circumstances of an extraordinary situation. Ben Salomon was such a man.

Any idea why it took 54 years to credit the man for his heroism?

Edit - and OP, I wouldn't call statistics on casualties from the war "Cool facts".

K.Rokossovski wrote:

Any idea why it took 54 years to credit the man for his heroism?

Ben Salomon was Jewish, but that is apparently NOT the reason he did not receive the MOH for 54 years. Salomon was a doctor, and under the Geneva Conventions, doctors and nurses are supposed to be a protected class on the battlefield provided they are wearing the red cross arm band or helmet, and further provided that they do not bear or use arms. Imperial Japan, of course, was not a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, and ignored them for the most part. The Imperial Japanese army committed numerous horrific atrocities against POWs, unarmed medical personnel, wounded soldiers, civilians, etc., both western and Asian. Nevertheless, the internal U.S. military politics of the 1940s were such that it was thought that awarding a doctor the MOH for heroic actions taken in violation of the Geneva Conventions was not something to which Pentagon bureaucrats wanted to call attention. Salomon's actions, of course, speak for themselves and require no embellishment, and the injustice of withholding the posthumous MOH was obvious. And, after 54 years, I suppose no-one was particularly concerned that his story was going to be used as a justification to kill U.S. military doctors in the future.