Sam Dreben Samuel " Sam " Dreben ( June 1 , 1878 – March 15 , 1925 ) , sometimes misspelled " Drebben " , and known as " The Fighting Jew " , was a highly decorated soldier in the US Army and a mercenary who fought in a variety of wars and revolutions . Early life . He was born in Poltava , Russia ( now Ukraine ) . With prospects for a Jew in Czarist Russia exceedingly bleak , he ran away twice ( once reaching Germany ) , before emigrating for good at the age of eighteen . He went first to London , then to America , arriving in New York City in January 1899 . Military career . Dreben enlisted on June 27 , 1899 in the 14th Infantry Regiment and was shipped to the Philippines ( acquired by the U . S . as a result of its victory in the Spanish American War ) to help put down a native insurrection led by Emilio Aguinaldo . He quickly distinguished himself in battle . Later , he participated in the rescue of westerners besieged in Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion . Mustered out in 1902 , he took a succession of unsatisfactory jobs , including an attempt to fight for the Japanese in the Russo - Japanese War , before reenlisting in 1904 . This time , he was stationed at Fort Bliss . It was here that he was trained how to use a machine gun , a skill for which he became well - known ( and would need in later years ) . He made friends in nearby El Paso , Texas before his second army hitch ended in 1907 . Together with two other soldiers of fortune and machine gun experts , Tracy Richardson and Emil Lewis Holmdahl , Dreben ' s wanderings then took him to Central America . He worked as a security guard in the Panama Canal Zone . After several unsuccessful business ventures , he was recruited to fight for various liberation movements in Guatemala , Honduras , Nicaragua , and Mexico . It was in Guatemala that he suffered his only combat wound - a shot in the rear . In the Mexican revolution , Dreben joined the forces of Francisco Madero as a machine gunner . After Madero ' s murder in 1913 , Dreben worked for Felix A . Sommerfeld in El Paso , smuggled arms to Pancho Villa ' s forces , and went on sabotage missions in Mexico for Sommerfeld ' s secret service . When the latter made his infamous raid on Columbus , New Mexico on March 9 , 1916 , killing some civilians , Dreben joined the Punitive Expedition sent by an outraged America to bring his former comrade - in - arms to justice . Dreben served as a scout and became good friends with the expedition ' s commander , General John " Black Jack " Pershing . The Americans were never able to catch the elusive bandit , and the fiasco eventually came to an end in 1917 . In early 1917 , Dreben ( then thirty - nine ) married nineteen - year - old Helen Spence . They soon had a baby daughter . However , America ' s entry into World War I eventually lured him back into the army , enlisting in the 141st Infantry Regiment of the 36th Infantry Division . En route to the fighting in France , he received word that his child had died . Dreben once again distinguished himself in combat . For his bravery at St . Etienne in October 1918 , Sergeant Dreben was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross , the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille Militaire , the highest French honor . General Pershing , now commander of the American Expeditionary Force , called him " the finest soldier and one of the bravest men I ever know . " Post - war life . After the end of the war , Dreben returned to El Paso , where he divorced his wife because of her infidelity in his absence . The war hero then settled down and started a successful insurance business . In 1921 , Dreben received another honor ; he was selected by General Pershing to be one of the honorary pallbearers ( along with another World War I hero , Alvin York ) for the burial of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on November 11 . In the same year , Dreben and some others were recruited by El Paso police to illegally extradite an escaped prisoner , Phil Agulin , who had murdered a policeman . The men set up a false medical office in Ciudad Juárez , Mexico advertising the removal of tattoos . The plan was that when Agulin came in for treatment , they would apply anesthetic , then drive him to El Paso . However , Agulin was not rendered fully unconscious and was able to cry for help . Dreben and the others were arrested , but were released from prison after three days due to pressure from the United States . In 1923 , he married for the second time , this time to Meade Andrews . She convinced him to move to California for a fresh start . On March 15 , 1925 , Dreben died when a nurse accidentally injected him with the wrong substance . Newspapers all over the country , including the " New York Times " and the " El Paso Times " , paid tribute to him . Famed columnist Damon Runyon wrote a eulogy , and the Texas legislature adjourned for a day in his honor . He is buried in Glendale , California ' s Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery .