Semper Chai: Alan Henry Jacobs

Editors Note: The following is an excerpt from Howard Leavtt’s Semper Chai , an amazing book that profiles numerous Jewish Marines through many generations.

It’s Tough To Be the Only One

As he puts it, he was the only Jewish Marine officer in his outfit most of the time in the Corps. In fact, he was the only Jewish Marine in his outfit. This gave him reason to find some disappointment, and, at times, humor in that situation. While he never experienced any overt negative comments or actions directed at him because he was Jewish, if he was offended it was out of ignorance. For example, when his adjutants were Officers of the Day, Jacobs was always put on as OD on Christmas. On one occasion, the first time he was OD on Christmas, “I inspected the troops’ mess hall and sampled the food. However, I did choose not to taste the Candied Ham Steaks. The senior cook present, a master sergeant, watched me and was quite insulted, as it was his special holiday treat. It was weeks later that I found out that the sergeant held a grudge against me. I found him and explained the value of ham in a Jewish diet.”

Alan Henry Jacobs retired from the Marine Corps as a major in 1991. From 1975 to 1976, he was stationed at Quantico for Officers Candidate Course and COOMO School as second lieutenant. From 1976 to 84, he was at Jacksonville, NC, COMMO Radio Platoon Commander, 2nd Marine Division (1st Lt), and Assistant COMMO, 6th Marines (2nd Lt). From 1980-84, he was stationed in Okinawa, COMMO, MACG-18, 1st Marine Air Wing, as a captain, Jacksonville, NC, Sixth Marines (Captain), COMMO 2ND Tank Battalion (Captain). From 1984 to 1991, he had broken service as a reserve Marine as COMMO 2/25, Garden City, New York (Major).

Most of the time, he was the only Jew around. In 1977, he was appointed the “Acting Rabbi” on a peacetime operation named Display Determination. His Marine Amphibious Group was scheduled to attack Turkey. As it happened, they were approaching the Jewish High Holidays. The chief chaplain for the entire naval force found him after dining in the wardroom of the USS Mt. Whitney, the command and control headquarters for the operation. Jacobs was the only Jewish officer that could be found. The chief chaplain was sincerely concerned that the Jewish personnel be afforded the opportunity to observe Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. “He did this because he was sincerely concerned with the spiritual needs of his Jewish troops and he had a directive from his boss in Little Creek, Virginia, to hold Jewish services.” As a result, the chaplain ordered a “Jewish Holiday Kit,” with “a stock number, much the same as the number for ordering a machine gun. It had skullcaps, mini-Torah, and prayer books. The problem that the chaplain had was that I was the only Jew he could find to lead, much less attend the service. As the chaplain was a full captain, he had clout and put out a series of unclassified messages offering free pick-up/delivery by helo to any Jewish sailor or Marine who wanted to attend the services.” However, only three Jews were collected to attend. “In a goodwill gesture, the chaplain and a few of his assistants participated in the Jewish service so we could approach a minyan. In any case, we tried, and I had a wonderful High Holiday experience.”

In another incident, Jacobs was on a field exercise, and was one of a “stick” of Marines about to climb into a CH-53, a large Marine Corps helicopter. Suddenly, some dirt flew up in the rotorwash from the helo and scratched one of his corneas. He felt some pain, his left eye was red and tears flowed, his vision was blurry. The regimental doctor treated Jacobs with some ointment, a thick gauze eye bandage, and “a classic black eye patch. When I returned to my unit, still in the field, my troops were startled with my new appearance. They didn’t know what to say to me. Then one of my more worldly and brash corporals yelled out in an endearing way, “here comes Lt. Moshe.” It was an obvious reference to Moshe Dayan, the Israeli general who wore an eye patch to cover up a combat-related eye injury. That nickname, Lt. Moshe, stuck with me for years.”

While in Okinawa, he became the token Jewish Marine officer once again. There, the base chaplain organized monthly prayer breakfasts. Jacobs was volunteered once more by his boss to visit various locations on Okinawa and Korea to say a few Jewish prayers. Apparently, and once again, he seemed to be the only Jew at those functions. After he spoke, the guests would invariably ask question about “being Jewish.” “They wanted to know why we did not eat bacon or what ‘Yiddish’ was. The most popular question was asked after Passover. One young Pfc. wanted to know why a Jewish Navy doctor he saw was eating such large crackers all of a sudden. I explained the concept of matzoh. It was like the Pope talking heaven to Buddhists. Again, although I did not join the Marines to give rabbinical dissertations, I enjoyed it.”