I'm pleased to announce the release of my latest book, 'A Pacifist at Iwo Jima: Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn from Pulpit to the U.S. Marine Corps' Bloodiest Battle'. A significant revision of my previous book 'Unlikely Warrior', it is the biography of Roland Gittelsohn, an outspoken pacifist in the 1930s who felt compelled to join the U.S. Navy after Pearl Harbor and he became the first rabbi ever assigned as a chaplain to the United States Marine Corps. As fate would have it, he ended up on Iwo Jima where he and his fellow chaplains performed heroically. At the dedication of the 5th Marine Division cemetery he delivered the most famous speech of the war, one that is often referred to as "the Gettysburg Address of World War II". In his distinguished post-war career, among other taskings, he went on to serve on President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights.
Published on May 09, 2022 11:19