page_title: Religious symbolism in the United States military
section_title: Chaplains Hill
hierarchical_section_title: Religious symbolism in the United States military / Symbols in National Cemeteries / Chaplains Hill
caption_attribution_description: English: Four monuments to military chaplains who died on active duty, at "Chaplains Hill," Arlington National Cemetery. (Fourth memorial added October 24, 2011.)
context_page_description: Religious symbolism in the United States military includes the use of religious symbols for military chaplain insignia, uniforms, emblems, flags, and chapels; symbolic gestures, actions, and words used in military rituals and ceremonies; and religious symbols or designations used in areas such as headstones and markers in national cemeteries, and military ID tags.
  Symbolism sometimes includes specific images included or excluded because of religious reasons, choices involving colors with religious significance, and "religious accommodation" policies regarding the wear of "religious apparel" and "grooming" with military uniforms. Additionally, military chaplains themselves are sometimes regarded as "symbols of faith" for military personnel who face challenges to their faith and values.
context_section_description: In addition to individual gravesites, a number of memorials to United States military chaplains who died while on active duty have been or are in the process of being erected at Arlington National Ceremony, in an area called "Chaplains Hill," to symbolize the ultimate sacrifice of military chaplains. Before 2011, three chaplain memorials existed at Arlington: one for all chaplains who died on active duty during WWI, and two others for chaplains who have died since then—one for Roman Catholic chaplains and one for Protestant chaplains.
  On October 24, 2011, a fourth memorial was unveiled during a dedication ceremony at the cemetery, listing the names of the fourteen Jewish chaplains who have died on active duty.
  The first memorial, remembering twenty-three chaplains who died during WWI, was dedicated on May 5, 1926. The memorial includes two quotations: "Greater Love Hath No Man Than This, That A Man Lay Down His Life For His Friends," and "To You From Falling Hands We Throw The Torch – Be Yours To Hold It High."
  The memorial to 134 Protestant chaplains who lost their lives in WWI and WWII was dedicated in Arlington Cemetery on October 26, 1981 (although according to the information on its plaque, it had been created earlier and located in the Washington, D.C. Memorial Chapel of the General Commission on Chaplains and Armed Forces Personnel Building) and bears the words "To the Glory of God and the Memory of the Chaplains Who Died in Services Of Their Country." On May 21, 1989, the third memorial—in memory of 83 Catholic chaplains who died in WWII, in the Korean War, and in the Vietnam War—was dedicated, with the inscription "May God Grant Peace to Them and to the Nation They Served So Well."
  The fourth chaplain memorial to be approved is the memorial for fourteen fallen Jewish chaplains, approved by the United States House of Representatives on May 24, 2011, Although designed and paid for with private funds, congressional authorization was required for the memorial to be created and installed.
  Retired navy Chaplain Harold Robinson, current Director of the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council (a part of the "Jewish Community Centers Association" (JCCA)), was one of the leaders in the effort to establish the Jewish Chaplains Memorial. Speaking of the need to add the memorial to those already present to honor fallen Protestant and Catholic chaplains, Robinson said that "It's a matter of principle. It's a matter of keeping faith with those who kept faith with us. There are about 255 chaplains who died in active service; 242 of them are memorialized on Chaplains Hill. From my perspective that's wrong."
  The idea for the memorial was the brainchild of Ken Kraetzer, a member of the Sons of the American Legion, who learned that three of the famous four chaplains who died on board the troop transport Dorchester were immortalized at Arlington, but not the Jewish chaplain, Rabbi Goode. He helped mobilize other individuals and groups, including the Jewish Federations of North America, the Jewish War Veterans, and the JCCA, to help work toward the memorial's creation.
  The monument was designed by New York artist Deborah Jackson, with the understanding that the design had to be approved by both the Secretary of the Army and the United States Commission of Fine Arts (which met in June 2011) after which time fabrication of the monument plaque began. Before the actual installation and dedication at Arlington Cemetery, creators and backers of the monument first arranged for it to "go on tour to different communities, giving people a chance to see it and learn more about the role of Jewish chaplains." According to the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council the plan is to dedicate the monument during the fall of 2011, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Jewish chaplaincy, based on the Civil War commissioning of the first Jewish chaplain. In addition to the names of the thirteen fallen Jewish chaplains, the memorial will include the words of a Jewish folk proverb, "I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders."
  In a ceremony "steeped in Heb
caption: Photo showing four chaplains memorials, as of October 2011
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