Ben Kaufman-American Hero

A Post Veterans Day Remembrance.   
Ben Kaufman, World War I Hero

For the second straight week, Arthur Finkle is the inspiration for a blog entry.   Last Friday was Veteran’s Day and I was going through the Trenton Jewish Project e-mail box when I came upon a note from Arthur that he sent back in July.   The e-mail contained the minutes of a meeting that a group of 10 of us had to discuss possible offshoots of this endeavor and also included a article from the Virtual Jewish Library about his uncle, Ben Kaufman.  According to the article, Kaufman was born in Buffalo and grew up in Brooklyn.  His migration to Trenton isn’t mentioned and my research to this point doesn’t document when he arrived in town, but his impact on the area is well documented.   I’ve attached a copy of the article below

Benjamin Kaufman

Citation for Congressional Medal of Honor

by Seymour "Sy" Brody

WORLD WAR I

Rank and organization:	First Sergeant, United States Army, Company K, 308th Infantry, 77th Division
Place and date:	In the forest of Argonne, France, 4 October, 1918
Entered service at:	Brooklyn, New York
Birth:	Buffalo, New York

CITATION 

He took out a patrol for the purpose of attacking an enemy machine gun which had checked the advance of the company. Before reaching the gun, he became separated from the patrol and a machine gun bullet shattered his right arm. Without hesitation, he advanced on the gun alone, throwing grenades with his left hand and charging with an empty pistol, taking one prisoner and scattering the crew, bringing the gun and prisoner back to the first-aid station. 

Sergeant Benjamin Kaufman was an unassuming young man who grew up in Brooklyn, rooted for the Dodgers and found himself going to Syracuse University when the United States became a participant in World War I in 1917. 

Kaufman responded to the call to arms and joined the Army, where he was assigned to Company K, 308th Infantry. He excelled in camp sports and the company respected him as being a tough soldier and a good sport. He quickly rose to the rank of sergeant and he twice refused the honor of becoming an officer. 

Kaufman proved to be a hero almost as soon as he was in combat in France. He became blinded by a gas shell while aiding in the rescue of several of his men. Despite his refusal of medical help, doctors forced him to go to the hospital. For fighting men like Kaufman, the hospital was no place to be. He borrowed a uniform and made his way back to his outfit. Kaufman was quickly faced with a court martial for leaving the hospital. However, Army officers saw it Kaufman's way and dropped the charges so that he could rejoin his outfit. 

While serving in an advance detail in the Argonne on October 4, 1918, Kaufman and his men came under heavy fire from a German machine gun. Two of his men were wounded. Kaufman realized that he had to silence the machine gun before help could reach the wounded men. 

Before he could use his own weapon, Kaufman was struck in the arm by an enemy bullet. With his shattered, bleeding right arm hanging limp at his side, Kaufman advanced on the enemy, lobbing hand grenades with his left arm. He eventually reached the German position and captured a surviving German soldier. 

Kaufman returned to the American lines with his prisoner. He fainted from the loss of blood after revealing the position of the German lines, which made it possible for the Americans to move forward. 

Kaufman received awards for bravery from nine foreign governments. The United States awarded him the Congressional Medal of Honor. After the war, he became active in the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, serving as national commander in 1941 - 1942. The Ben Kaufman Post 156 of the JWV in Trenton, New Jersey, is a living memorial to a man who always had a smile on his face even when the going was rough. 

Source: Jewish Recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

An Internet search turned up more interesting articles, including a picture in the Wikipedia entry.

Benjamin Kaufman (Medal of Honor)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For Benjamin Kaufman (professor of psychiatry), see Benjamin Kaufman.

Place of birth	Buffalo, New York
Place of death	Mercer Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1917 - 1919
Rank	First Sergeant
Unit	Company K, 308th Infantry, 77th Division
Battles/wars	World War I
Awards	Medal of Honor

Benjamin Kaufman (March 10, 1894-February 5, 1981) was a First Sergeant in the U.S. Army during World War I. He received the Medal of Honor and the Croix de Guerre for bravery in action in the Argonne Forest, France on October 4, 1918.

Biography

Kaufman was born in Buffalo, but grew up in Brooklyn, where he lived at 2113 Pitkin Avenue, at the time of enlistment. His mother was Mrs. Anna Kaufman. He was attending Syracuse University when he had to respond to the call to arms and joined the Army in 1917. He was assigned to Company K, 308th Infantry, 77th Division.

Kaufman proved to be a hero almost as soon as he was in combat in France. He became blinded by a gas shell while aiding in the rescue of several of his men. Despite his refusal of medical help, doctors forced him to go to the hospital. Kaufman decided to go back to battle and borrowed a uniform and made his way back to his outfit. Kaufman was faced with a court martial but the charges were dropped. Kaufman received awards for bravery from nine foreign governments. The United States awarded him the Medal of Honor on April 8, 1919.

During World War II, he was director of the War Manpower Commission in New Jersey. He was also a commander of the New Jersey Council of the Disabled American Veterans of the World War and a national vice commander of the National Legion of Valor.

He was the executive director of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States from 1945 to 1959 and a former national commander of the organization, and for nearly 10 years, he was the manager of the Trenton office of the State Employment Service.

Benjamin Kaufman died on February 5, 1981 at the Mercer Medical Center in Trenton at the age of 86. He was survived by his wife, the former Dorothy Finkle; a daughter, Rita DeVries; a sister, Jennie Edwards, and two grandchildren.

Medal of Honor citation

• Rank and organization: First Sergeant, United States Army, Company K, 308th Infantry, 77th Division.
• Place and date: In the Forest of Argonne, France, October 4, 1918.
• Entered service at: Brooklyn, New York
• Born: March 10, 1894, Buffalo, New York
• General Orders No.50, War Department, 1919.

Citation:

He took out a patrol for the purpose of attacking an enemy machine gun which had checked the advance of his company. Before reaching the gun he became separated from his patrol and a machinegun bullet shattered his right arm. Without hesitation he advanced on the gun alone, throwing grenades with his left hand and charging with an empty pistol, taking one prisoner and scattering the crew, bringing the gun and prisoner back to the first-aid station.[1] AFTER escaping from a field hospital to re-join his unit.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one who was thinking about Ben Kaufman recently.   Further down the page of Google results was a link to an interview with a World War I history buff and author, Robert J. Laplander.   I must admit that I had never heard of the website Human Events or Guns and Patriots before, and I make no endorsement of their organization or viewpoints, but if you scrub through the podcast (click on the link to open the Podcast) to the 41:36 mark, you will be able to hear Laplander talk about the amazing bravery exhibited by Kaufman and why his actions on October 4, 1918 were recognized. 

I also direct you to two passages from the book Lost Battalions:The Great War and the Crisis of American Nationality by Richard Slotkin, available on line at this link.    (The link searches for Ben Kaufman and if you click on the next button you will find the two citings below)The first passage, starting on page 329 and details Kaufman’s heroic acts.   

The book also highlights the a 1942 Look Magazine article that profiled Kaufman.  

The second passage comes later in the book starting on Page 534 and deals with Kaufman’s leadership of the Jewish War Veterans and his success in fighting anti-semitism and the acceptance of Jewish soliders.   Here is an excerpt from the book that sums this up.

“Implicit in Kaufman’s legend and explicit in the agenda of the JWV and other Jewish organizations, was the insistence that the social bargain of 1917 must now at last be fulfilled.   Kaufman was living proof that the Jews had kept their part of the original bargain.  Nazism was a demonstration of what could happen to a nation that could not overcome race prejudice.   Jews were ready to fight in a second world war-even Kaufman, a survivor of the first, was willing to fight again-but acceptance of their Americanism could not be conditional on the quality of their performance.  Their Americanism must be assumed and recognized at the start.”

You’ll notice in the articles above, there is a gap between Kaufman being awarded the Medal of Honor and his appointment to the War Manpower Commission in New Jersey and his work with the DAV and positions with the Jewish War Veterans of the United States.  If anyone can add some insight here on how Ben Kaufman wound up in Trenton and when, that would be a nice addition to the local history. 

According to an article in the New Jersey Jewish News, published August 8, 2011, the Benjamin Kaufman Post #156 of the Jewish War Veterans merged in 2010 with Post 156 and is now called the SPC Mark Seiden/Benjamin Kaufman Post #444 and meets in East Windsor on the third Thursday of each month.

Kaufman died in 1981 and is buried at Fountain Lawn Memorial Park, Plot MI, Grave 5.  

Editor’s note:   Anita “Sugie” Ellis sent me an e-mail on Tuesday morning, informing me that the Jerusalem Post had done an article on the re-release of Trenton native, Sol Weinstein’s Oy-Oy-Seven books.   Of course, if you are a regular reader of the Trenton Jewish Project, you already knew that.  Here is the link to the JPost article.

Herb Spiegel added this observation...

“You know one of his non Israel Bond book was dedicated to me? Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex And Couldn't Wait to Ask...of course he dedicated it to all his friends...the dedication was many, many pages long. I think, longer than the book!”