This Anzac Day, Australians will again be rightfully taking a moment to remember and honour the servicemen and women who lost their lives to defend the freedom we enjoy today.
Jewish Australians will particularly remember the more than 350 Jewish Diggers who have Died on Service.
But not all of them were buried in known or marked graves, or if they were, not all had what their next of kin wanted engraved on their headstones – a Star of David.
And some who did, lacked the opportunity to be honoured with a consecration in the Jewish tradition.
Aiming to correct these lapses is what Operation Jacob does, through advocacy, further research and commemoration.
It was founded four years ago by Peter Allen, previously the national coordinator of the Centenary of Anzac Jewish Program.
The volunteer-run group includes Dr Merrilyn Sernack, and president of the Federal Association of Jewish Service and Ex-Service Men and Women (FAJEX) Dr Keith Shilkin, and it is supported by FAJEX, the Australian Jewish Historical Society, and the Howarth Foundation.
Although the outcomes it aims to achieve may seem relatively small, they mean the world to living descendants, while also playing a vital role in keeping records of service as accurate as possible.
And while Operation Jacob has presented, or provided representation at, consecrations of Jewish Diggers’ graves in Australia, France and Thailand, its most recent one, last month, was particularly powerful.
EMOTIONS SOAR IN ORANGE
Operation Jacob organised a special ceremony on March 23 at the new grave of First World War veteran Driver (Avram) Augustus Lipman, which became the largest Jewish event ever held in the NSW Central West city of Orange.
Lipman enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1916, aged 37, served in France in the Second Motor Transport Company from 1917 to 1919, and died in Orange in 1949.
But like 105 other returned Diggers and one AIF nurse buried in Orange General Cemetery around that time, Lipman’s remains were in an unmarked grave.
The whereabouts of all their remains in the cemetery was a mystery until four years ago, when local researcher Sharon Jameson made a breakthrough.
Subsequently, John Thomas from the Forgotten Diggers group notified Allen, and the Office of Australian War Graves (OAWG) correctly recognised Driver Lipman by including a Star of David and an AIF emblem on his new headstone, installed in 2023.
This January, further research by Jameson saw her find and contact Lipman’s Sydney-based great-nephew Peter Howarth, and two of Howarth’s cousins.
Allen then got to work, planning – more than 75 years after Driver Lipman was first buried – a truly unforgettable consecration.
Chaplain Rabbanit Judith Levitan led the service – attended by almost 50 people – which began with a Welcome to Country by Orange RSL Sub- Branch (RSLSB) vice-president Brad Bliss – a Wiradjuri man with Jewish ancestry.
Twenty-seven Jews travelled from Sydney, two from Melbourne and one from Canberra, joining half a dozen Jewish Orange residents.
Among others present were Jameson, Thomas, Orange mayor Tony Mileto, and Orange RSLSB president Chris Colvin.
It was followed by a brief remembrance service for five other Jewish servicemen of Orange, and preceded by Friday night and Saturday morning Shabbat services in the Orange RSL Memorial Hall conducted by three rabbis from Chabad of Rural and Regional Australia.
A larger commemorative service by the RSLSB – featuring a four-gun salute – was held previously to honour all 107 of Orange’s “forgotten Diggers” attended by local state and federal MPs.
For Howarth, speaking at the Jewish ceremony was an emotional and proud moment.
He had brought a stone to place on Lipman’s grave, fashioned from a piece of sandstone he had extracted – with permission – from a brick wall in the Newcastle home where Lipman was born.
“Thank you so much to everyone who made this special day possible,” Howarth said.
“It is a privilege and honour to be here, and have the opportunity of remembering my great-uncle.”
Shilkin said, “Driver Lipman was typical of so many Jewish Australians of his time who, along with their fellow Australians, volunteered to serve and risk their lives for their nation, in its time of war.
“We are forever indebted to Driver Lipman – now no longer forgotten.”
Allen said, “Everyone came away from Orange feeling that what they’d witnessed and experienced was very special and meaningful … and emotional too”.
“I’m grateful to all the organisations and people who helped make it so memorable, including the Orange RSLSB, who bent over backwards to help and said they’d like to install a commemorative plaque in their memorial hall to recognise the six Jewish Diggers of Orange.”
FIGHT FOR SORSKY AND SHAW’S FAMILIES’ WISHES CONTINUES
Despite no stone being left unturned by Operation Jacob in presenting solid evidence and precedents to those in a position to act, its founding battle for truth and justice in commemoration is yet to be won.
All that the living relatives of Second World War fallen Jewish Diggers Signalman Jacob Sorsky and Pilot Officer Raymond Shaw wish for is that both of their war graves be finally corrected, by adding a Star of David to their headstones.
Those modest requests were expressed in written applications to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) by members of both families.
Yet they have been rejected, time and again, by the CWGC, and its director general – crucially, in apparent contravention of the commission’s own policy, which is to honour next of kin’s wishes specifying religious symbols and personal inscriptions to feature on headstones.
Allen, who has grown to know members of both families very well through Operation Jacob’s advocacy work, said the unresolved situation has become time critical, especially in Sorsky’s case, given the advanced age of his surviving siblings.
“Sorsky has two brothers still living in England, one sister in Cyprus and another sister in Israel – and they are now in their late 80s and early 90s,” Allen said.
“It’s been almost nine years since they first applied in writing to the CWGC to request a Star of David for Sorsky’s corrected grave, four years since Operation Jacob stepped in and gained partial success for the head- stone to record his birth name, and three years since continuing appeals to the CWGC.
“I just can’t believe we’re still having to fight this battle – it’s really quite distressing for everyone involved, and it’s something I feel I can’t let go of, because it is just not right.
“There’s no justification for the CWGC for not carrying out both families’ wishes.”.
Sorsky was born in Liverpool, England, and attended the local Hebrew school.
After his bar mitzvah in 1939, he left home to seek adventure, becoming a galley boy on a merchant ship, ending up in Melbourne, alone.
In October 1941, aged 15, Sorsky enlisted in the Australian Army under the false name James Terence Drummond, and told the recruitment officer that he was 21 and a Roman Catholic – a common practice by Jewish servicemen in both world wars, perhaps to blend in, or to avoid antisemitism.
Assigned to deliver messages around Melbourne by motorbike for the Army’s signals unit, he died on March 25, 1942, two days after a collision while on duty.
He was buried in Melbourne’s Springvale Cemetery in the Roman Catholic section, with his false enlistment details, and no religious symbol inscribed on the headstone.
Sorsky’s parents were advised of his death and had his name inscribed on the Liverpool Jewish Lads Brigade’s memorial, but due to the Blitz and the fog of war, they had no contact with war grave authorities.
Consequently, his family did not know the location of his headstone, nor that it was incorrect, until 2016.
While approval was granted in 2021 for the future correction of the date of birth and name on Sorsky’s headstone, to this day, the CWGC still won’t give the official nod to the OAWG to engrave a Star of David.
Shaw was born in Sydney in 1922, had his bar mitzvah at the Great Synagogue, became fascinated with flying, and fell in love with a Jewish girl named Marjorie, before he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force, aged 18, in May 1940.
He wrote his religion as Church of England on the application form.
After training in Canada and England, Shaw joined the 450 Squadron flying Kittyhawks in North Africa and had great success there as a fighter pilot, becoming the first in his squadron to shoot down a German enemy aircraft on February 22, 1942.
Pilot Officer Shaw died on May 29, 1942, aged 20, after his plane was shot down in Libya.
Although his next of kin had requested at the time that a Star of David be placed on his grave in Libya’s Knightsbridge War Cemetery, a clerical error led to a cross being inscribed – a mistake the family did not become aware of until 2020.
Shaw’s nephew, Sydneysider Dr David Whitten, recalled how shocked his cousin, Lynne, was when she travelled to Libya to visit the grave, only to see a cross on it.
“She found that very upsetting, and it is for all the family,” Whitten said.
“It would mean so much for all of us to have the Star of David engraved, and all credit to Peter and Operation Jacob, for taking this matter up and getting so involved.
“The way I see it, the religious symbol on his grave is one thing – and it is so important to have it corrected – but to me, having a Star of David on his war grave would also represent a different version of a Jew in World War II – when six million Jews were murdered.
“A Jew who had an opportunity to fight against the murderers – and although he was so young, Pilot Officer Raymond Shaw did so, and very bravely.”
In 2022, Whitten donated to the Sydney Jewish Museum’s collection, a photo album that Shaw had created during his time in the RAAF before his tragic death, featuring handwritten captions.
In May 2022, Operation Jacob sent the CWGC a detailed submission that included further evidence of policy not being adhered to, plus letters of support from leading Australians and the Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth, but it was rejected two months later, as were subsequent appeals.
This was despite Operation Jacob finding that the CWGC had honoured the next of kin requests regarding religious emblems on headstones of Australian Jews in 190 previous cases.
Those included 26 men who had enlisted as non-Jews, having had their attestations overturned by the CWGC, in favour of next of kin’s wishes for inscription of a Star of David on their headstones.
Following a much-anticipated meeting that Operation Jacob’s Allen and Sernack had last September with Minister for Veterans Affairs Matt Keogh – arranged with the assistance of Berowra MP Julian Leeser – the Minister wrote to Allen on December 19.
His letter confirmed that the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (AHCUK), Stephen Smith – in his capacity as Australia’s representative on the CWGC – would “directly raise the issues you have outlined in your submission and a potential way forward with the direc- tor of the CWGC and other member nation representatives”.
Last week, an AHCUK spokesperson told The AJN that Smith had made those representations “on a number of occasions” directly with the director and the chair of the CWGC, and those representations “are ongoing”.
Meanwhile, Allen has since written again to Keogh to alert him to another powerful direct precedent: No religious emblem had been engraved in 1944 on the headstone of paratrooper in the British Army Joachim Kalkstein’s war grave in Recey-sur-Ource in France, but less than a year after discovery of that error in 1996, at the request of Kalkstein’s sister, the CWGC arranged for a Star of David and epitaph to be added.
Allen has also brought to Keogh’s attention, as a comparative example, that as recently as April 7, replacement of crosses with Stars of David occurred on the headstones of fallen American First World War Jewish servicemen Adolph Hanf and David Moser in Arlington National Cemetery, thanks to close cooperation between the American Battlefield Monuments Commission and America’s equivalent of Operation Jacob, Operation Benjamin.
Allen told The AJN he can only remain hopeful that commonsense will prevail, and that Keogh and “His Excellency Stephen Smith will achieve a swift resolution, and a just outcome that the Sorsky and Shaw families so thoroughly deserve”.
In relation to Sorsky’s grave in Melbourne, Allen said, “Operation Jacob is now seeking legal advice in regard to Victorian legislation’s requirement for the holder of a grave plot – such as the OAWG – to allow next of kin to provide a reasonable memorial for the deceased, acknowledging cultural and spiritual aspects”.
For more information about Operation Jacob, email operationjacob@outlook.com.au
comments