Seventy-five years after the end of the Second World War, five American Jewish soldiers who were buried under a cross have been given new Star of David headstones.
The ceremony in Manila, Philippines was part of the ongoing work of Operation Benjamin, a non-profit organisation, to identify soldiers buried with the wrong religious markers. It was coordinated with the American Battle Monuments Commission.
The Star of David headstones were placed on the five graves and the Kaddish was recited. One of those commemorated, Private Allan C. Franken, had been just 20 when he was killed in May 1945.
Others to be commemorated were Private Louis Wolf, 25, and Private Arthur Waldman, 27, who died of starvation in a Japanese prison camp, as well as Lietenant Robert S. Fink, who died of typhus on his 25th birthday and Seargeant Jack Gilbert, 37, who was hit by a shell Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
