Eating Ham for Uncle Sam

Sandee Brawarsky of The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles recently wrote about her thoughts on Jews who fought in WWII.

More specifically, she talks about her father’s experiences in WWII and her reactions to Deborah Dash Moore’s book: GI Jews. I wrote about the book when it first came out back in October. I finally bought the book, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.

If you need convincing to get the book, check out Sandee’s full article here.

Each chapter begins with a powerful epigraph, whether some lines of poetry by Stanley Kunitz or Anthony Hecht, or a basketball cheer that ends, “So we’re eating ham for Uncle Sam…

…The men speak of eating nonkosher food for the first time, and several have difficulties with pork. Even an nonobservant Jew can’t get over his aversion and realizes how firmly his Jewish identity was lodged in the mundane realm of food. For many men, prayer became “an opportunity to express their deepest concerns.”

After reading her review, the book has definitely moved up on my reading list. Again, I’ll post my own review as soon as I can get to it. If anyone has read this themselves, feel free to leave your thoughts by posting a comment.