Consider Iwo Jima

Roland Gittelsohn

1945

Eulogy at the Dedication of the 5th Marine Division Cemetery, Iwo Jima—March 1945

This is perhaps the grimmest, and surely the holiest task we have faced since D-Day. Here before us lie the bodies of comrades and friends. Men who until yesterday or last week laughed with us, joked with us, trained with us. Men who were on the same ships with us…

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Creator Bio

Roland Gittelsohn

1910–1995

Roland Gittelsohn was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was ordained a rabbi in 1936 at Hebrew Union College. He was the first Jewish chaplain to serve with the U.S. Marine Corps, ministering to marines and sailors of all faiths during the battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. His sermon at the dedication of the Fifth Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima, titled “The Purest Democracy,” received much media attention. Gittelsohn served on President Truman’s Committee on Civil Rights in 1947 and was the rabbi of Temple Israel in Boston from 1953 to 1977.

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