The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume] (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1939-1992, 1940-11-15
American Jewry in the First World War

chief reason for the high percent
age of Jews in the service was to
be found in the large number OF
Jewish volunteers. The record
shows that there were from 3d.
600 to 10000 Jewish volunteers,
or Is percent of the entire Jewish
contingent. In other words, the
normal Jewish quota of three per-
cent was contributed through the
draft. and the excess was supplied
by volunteers.
Reference to the exhaustive
study made by Julian Leavitt, di-
rector of the Board of Jewish War
Records, and supplementary fig
ures gathered from other sources,
reveal tina there were 225,O 900
Jews in the various branches of
the armed services of the United
States during the World War. OF
these I7I,OOO were in the army,
$500 in the navy, 1880 in the
marine corps and $4,000 in other
branches of the service.
Breaking down these figures we
find that the distribution of Jew
ish servicemen in the various
branches of service discloses some
interesting facts. Although dis
tinctions between the combatant
and non-combatant branches have
become almost meaningless in the
organization of modern warfare,
and are therefore not to be over
emphasized, certain striking COM
parsons are worthy of note. On
November IL, 1918, the armed
forces of the United States num-
bered approximately 100000
men. The combatant branches of
the American Expeditionary Force
infantry, artillery, cavalry, engi-
neers and signal-aviation, consti-
tuted 60 percent of the total. But
the records of Jewish soldiers show
a distribution of IS percent among
these branches.
The infantry branch comprised
26.6 percent of the entire army,
while among the Jews it cOnstitut-
ed 48 percent. Artillery was IA per-
cent of the army, 8 percent of the
Toxx-sch %0koI Tn tho ooxyoIrVy tho
rate for the entire army was 2
percent, for the Jews 1.S percent.
The engineers corps contributed
IL percent of the army strength
and percent among Jews. The
signal and aviation corps repre-
scented Z percent of the army to-
tai, and Is percent of the Jewish
total. The medical corps was 8
percent of the army total, 9 per-
cent of the Jewish total. Ordi-
nance was Ii percent of the army
total, and 1.5 percent of the jew
iSh total. The quartermaSter corps
was 60 percent of the army total
and SO percent of the Jewish to-
tai.
A further analysis of the figures
on Jewish service in the army is
afforded by the accompanying ia
BILE.
BRANCH TOTAL 9e JEWS CT
Infantry 1,491, 400 26.6 1888 48.
Artillery $4,000 40 1890 so
Cavalry $4,000 20 1928 1.3
Engineers 655,O0O ITO $50 80
Sig.-Avia. $4,000 10 27,65O Is.
Med Corps $4,000 so 1880 90
Ordnance $4,000 IT 1866 1.5
Quar-. Cps. 377,6OO 81 9,OS9 SO
Additional evidence on this point
is found in a comparative study of
two branches of the service diff
fering so widely in their functions
as the quartermaSter corps and
the marine corps. In view of the
fact that the quartermaSter corps
is essentially the business organ
iZatiOn of the army, and that the
Jewish recruits, as class, posses
sed undoubtedly greater business
training and greater capacity for
organization than their nOn-Jew-
ish comrades, it might reasonably
have been expected that this
branch of the service would pos
SPSS a far HIGHER narnorhonn nf