By Jerry Klinger
The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation (JASHP) conducted a small wreath-laying ceremony at the General David “Mickey” Marcus memorial in Tlse-Stone.
June 10 was the Sabbath. No wreath laying would be tolerated by the very religious community and yeshivah students living and studying nearby.
The 9th or the 10th really does not matter. The Israelis, when they built the memorial many years ago to the first General of the Israel Defense Forces, got the date wrong. They have it as the 11th.
JASHP knew from long experience that Israel would probably to do anything, no ceremony, no candle lighting, no platoon firing an honor guard salute for General Marcus on the yahrzeit of his death.
I asked my long-time friend Sam to make arrangements for a wreath. I asked if he could bring a soldier to lay it at the memorial site.
Sam arrived late on Friday. His only comment was they were alone at the memorial.
In a simple ceremony, the young female officer of the Israel Defense Forces carried the wreath and placed it for pictures at both the English text site and in front of the large stele that says in Hebrew General D. Marcus. She saluted with sincere dignity.
In the United States, for the past 57 years, the American Veterans of the Israel Legacy Corporation (Machal) has an annual memorial service for Mickey Marcus at West Point’s Jewish Chapel. After the service they proceed to the West Point military cemetery and lay a wreath at Mickey Marcus’ gravesite. Taps is sounded. An honor guard of young cadets fire volleys of salutes that echo across the valley floor.
The ranks of the former “Machal – Volunteers from Abroad” who came to defend Israel when everyone believed the newly declared state on May 15, 1948, was a suicide mission, have greatly thinned out. Very few are left of those who refused to turn their backs on their fellow Jews in Israel who so recently survived the Holocaust. They came when most American Jewish veterans would not. Of the 500,000 American Jews who served in WW2, only 1,100 volunteered to help Israel.
They were mostly veterans with vital skills and experiences that the tiny state desperately needed. Israel had been invaded by six Arab armies.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said of Machal, “You came when we needed you the most.” Their contribution to the State of Israel was decisive.
Mickey Marcus was one of those who came.
The IDF did not exist when Mickey Marcus volunteered to come and help Israel. The Jewish defenses were local, disorganized, antagonistic to each other, poorly equipped, poorly led, and largely untrained. The largest unit that could be fielded against the organized, and in some cases British-led Arab armies invading them was only brigade level.
They were no match for the Arabs. The world anticipated a second Holocaust.
David Ben-Gurion understood this when he made his desperate search for a trained outsider to take control of and shape the disparate pieces into a cohesive army of self-defense. Ben-Gurion knew the Israelis would never listen to or follow another Israeli. Ben-Gurion knew only a Diaspora Jew could do the job.
For one reason or another, no one wanted the thankless, seemingly impossible job. No one was willing to come except for one extraordinary volunteer – West Point Trained, WW2 Combat veteran, Col. David Marcus.
Ben-Gurion had his general.
Marcus came in January 1948. He quickly evaluated the situation pinpointing the dangers and risks, concentrating, training, coordinating, and building an army out of mostly survivors. The Army, the infant Air Force and even a small Navy had at its core Machal volunteers, most Jewish but also Christians. Eventually, over 5,400 foreign volunteers came from 29 countries. Many assumed command positions and led the Israel Defense Forces to the David vs. Goliath victory.
Mickey Marcus, now a major general, took personal command of the Jerusalem Front He had to find a way to save Jerusalem from the near encircling British led Jordanian Legion choking the city to death.
Marcus did the impossible. A narrow road was built, sidestepping the Arab held heights at the tight entrance to valley road mouth of Sha’ar HaGai, the lifeline to Jerusalem. The Jordanian Legion controlled the road from the former British Police fortress of Latrun. Hard fought battles continued as the Jewish forces moved closer and closer to lifting the siege of Jerusalem.
June 10, in the dark hours of the early morning, Marcus stepped across the Israeli perimeter to assess the situation. He informed the guard where he was going. For an unknown reason, the guard was changed early. The new guard did not know the man clad in a white sheet that was approaching his position was Marcus.
The guard called out in Hebrew. Marcus answered in English. He did not know Hebrew. The guard fired. Marcus fell.
It was a tragedy beyond tragedies for Israel. The plan and momentum that General Marcus had put into place would not be stopped. Jerusalem was liberated because of Mickey Marcus.
His body was returned to the U.S. and buried in West Point. The only West Point burial to have a soldier who served in two armies, worlds apart.
When I first saw the Mickey Marcus Memorial outside of Tlse-Stone, it was a shameful mess. Trash, filth, dead shrubs, numerous black scars on the grounds from where the locals came to place their Hibachi bar-b-ques for cook outs scarred the memorial. There was no respect or care for General Marcus who had made their lives safe in Israel.
It was a very pleasant surprise to note that the Marcus Memorial site has been radically cleaned up. A flower bed of bright yellow marigolds surrounded the main stele and decorative stones at interpretive text marker.
The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation’s wreath was placed with dignity. The soldier saluted. Doing the right thing, even if Israel did not, was done.
Israel should have sent an entire platoon to stand guard from June 9 through Shabbat to June 11. They did not.
Galut paid the honor due Marcus for them.
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Jerry Klinger is the President of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, www.JASHP.org