Levine, Sherman.

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Levine, Sherman, born 29-06-1923, in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States, the son of Harry Levin and Esther, born Burnstein. His father died in July, 1942, less than a year after Sherman was killed at Pearl Harbor. Sherman Levine was 17 years old when he volunteered in the U.S. Army. At Von Steuben High School in Chicago, he was a formidable athlete who lettered in swimming, basketball and baseball. In Nov. 1940, just months after graduating, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps,

Sherman had enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces , on 05-11-1940. In June 1941 the Army Air Corps became the Army Air Force. Sherman was assigned to the Hawaiian Division, under command od General Henry Harley “Hap” Arnold. Levine had the rank of Private First Class. Service number assignment was 16003162. Attached to 7th Aircraft Squadron (Weather), Hickam Field, Hawaii.

On the morning of 07-12-1941, Levine was one of two weather observers at Hickam. At the sound of sudden Japanese aerial attacks, he ran out of the administration building near the flight line in search of his helmet. When Levine, age 18 and five other servicemen ran to the barracks, they were killed by an 800-pound Japanese bomb that dropped on them from overhead.  

Hickam Air Base suffered terrible damage on Pearl Harbor because the Japanese wanted to prevent an immediate air response from America.

In April 1942, a B’nai B’rith chapter, which literally means “Sons of the Covenant.”, in Chicago held a benefit dance for the Red Cross. The following month, Levine’s mother, Esther, and his brother, George, presented the Red Cross with a check for $500, raised from the proceeds. Levine’s family did not receive his body back until 1947, six years after he had been killed at Pearl Harbor. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. On 26-10-1947, Sherman Levine was buried with full military honors at Westlawn Cemetery in Chicago.

The local B’nai Brith chapter named both a softball field and a basketball field “Sherman Levine.” He was buried next to his father, Harry, who was gravely ill at the time of Sherman’s death. No one told Harry that his youngest son had died at Pearl Harbor.

Private Sherman Levine is among several Jewish servicemen who perished 80 years ago this week, on what then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt  alled “a day which will live in infamy.” On that day, the Japanese Imperial Navy killed 2,403 Americans, including 68 civilians, and destroyed 188 aircraft.

That morning, Private Louis Schleifer, from Newark, New Jersey, was also at Hickam Field, where he was attached to the 4th Reconnaissance Squadron. Four days earlier, he had celebrated his 21st birthday. Schleifer was headed to breakfast when he saw Japanese aircraft dropping bombs over a field. He immediately took his helmet and 45-caliber revolver and ran to move some of the American planes into hangars. He fired at the Japanese planes overhead and was mortally wounded. Later that day, he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. He was buried at Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Iselin, N.J.

There were other young Jewish casualties at Pearl Harbor, including 3rd Class radioman Lee Goldbarb from Jersey City, N.J., who watched seven battleships get attacked by Japanese planes at Ford Island. When Goldbarb ran to his battle station, the Japanese struck his ship with a torpedo and sank it.

During World War II, more than 550,000 American Jewish men and women served in the U.S. Armed Forces; 11,000 were killed and more than 40,000 were wounded. During the war, Jews comprised just over three percent of the American population and 4.23 percent of the armed forces. At Pearl Harbor, Jewish servicemen performed acts of great heroism, such as saving some of the crew aboard the USS Utah to dropping depth charges against Japanese submarines.

The USS Utah ended when it was struck by two Japanese torpedoes during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, causing it to capsize and sink in just over 12 minutes. Of the 525 crew members on board, 58 died, many remaining trapped inside the wreck, which now serves as a memorial and war grave. Attempts to salvage the ship were abandoned, and it was decided to leave the wreck where it lies off Ford Island. 

 

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