Tag: Major General William E. Kepner

The Missing Years

Regardless of the 55th Fighter Group’s casualties of November 29 – the 38th Fighter Squadron having lost Major Joel, and, Lieutenants Albino, Carroll, and Garvin; the 343rd Fighter Squadron’s suffering the loss of Lieutenant Gilbride; Lieutenant Suiter having gone missing from the 338th Fighter Squadron – combat operations for the 55th Fighter Group by nature and purpose; by raison d’etre, continued. 

However, Operations Officer and squadron historian Captain Robert Wood still felt the need to record the significance of Major Joel’s loss in the 38th Fighter squadron’s history for the subsequent month: December, 1943.  Therein, he then described the transition of squadron command from Major Joel to North-African combat veteran Major Mark K. Shipman, the death of Lt. Birch on a non-combat flight, and on a much lighter note, the Squadron’s Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties.

A transcript of this document follows…    

NARRATIVE
SQUADRON HISTORY, DECEMBER

Major Milton Joel, the Squadron’s fourth Commander failed to return from the escort mission over Bremen on 29 November 1943.  December, the Christmas Month, began its thirty-one day existence in a far from joyous mood; however, War could not long exist were it not for its anesthetic effect upon men’s minds which makes them forget quickly and bend their efforts toward the job at hand.

Major Mark K. Shipman, better known as “Mark”, assumed command of the Squadron 1 December 1943.  His ability and leadership in the air were unquestioned, but his realization of the great responsibility of Squadron Commander was slight.  Major Shipman, aware of the fact that he was on trial before the Squadron wasted no time in accepting the challenge to his ability.  With deed and act, both in the air and on the ground, he answered the question in everyone’s mind, “Can he take Major Joel’s place?”  The affirmative answer grew like a snow ball rolling down hill, and the middle of December saw three changes firmly entrenched as a part of the Squadron.  Major Shipman was in the language of slang, “In” as the C.O.  Pilot strength had grown to thirty-three with the addition of ten new pilots.  Captain Joseph Myers became the Operations Officer.  These things made the picture bright for the future, when on 16 December while “letting down” through an overcast, Lt. W.K. Birch crashed.  Birch’s death in such an apparently useless manner slowed but did not stop the upswing in Squadron morale.  Two other pilots claim Lt. Birch’s home town for their own, and this duo now carries on just as the trio did before.

Everyone expected Christmas Eve to be rather dull, but spirits appeared from unknown hiding places to liven the evening.  Captain Ayers, Lt. Erickson, Lt. Forsblad, and Lt. Marcy were unable to return to this Station from the day’s mission, but the party went on regardless.   Lt. Boggess, the adjutant was carefully stowed in bed at 1815 hours.  Captain Myers and Captain Hancock collapsed at 2045 hours.  Many others became deathly sick, yet all made the mess hall for a wonderful dinner on Christmas Day.

A fitting climax to a rather dreary month was provided by Captain Myers on the 31 December when he scored a victory over an M.E. 109.  In the words of Lt. Penn who watched from a higher altitude as Myers attacked, “We just drove around and watched the pranging of Herr Mueller.”  Lt. Des Voignes in his encounter report stated that the ME-109 became aerodynamically unsound as Captain Myers’s guns scored hits, and the pilot abandoned ship to parachute down to his ersatz turkey dinner.

New Year’s Eve a party was held at the Officer’s Club.  More need not be said for the final convulsion of 1943.

Robert W. Wood
ROBERT W. WOOD
Captain, Air Corps
Squadron Historian

The original document…

________________________________________

During the Second World War, information about the casualty status of servicemen in the American armed forces typically appeared in the news media (here we’re talking newspapers – remember those?) approximately one month after a soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine was wounded, missing, or confirmed killed.  This interval allowed time for notification of next of kin prior to the release of news to the general public. 

As such, news about Major Joel’s “Missing in Action” status was no different.  The following article appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on December 20, 1943, less than a month after the November 29 mission to Bremen.

Major Joel is Missing In Action

December 20, 1943

Major Milton Joel, 24-year-old Richmond squadron commander and a veteran P-38 Lighting pilot with the Eighth Army Air Force, has been reported missing in action, according to word received yesterday from his base in England.

The report said the Richmond flyer failed to return from a recent bomber-escort trip over Bremen, Germany.

Major Joel is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Joel, of 5 Greenway Lane.  His wife, Mrs. Elaine E. Joel lives in Beverly Hills, Calif.

During the short time the group has been in operations, Major Joel was credited by his base with chalking up two victories over enemy planes, plus two probable victories and one damaged aircraft.

His record was made with the first Lightning group to see action from an English base and was scored on both fighter sweeps over enemy airfields and on bomber-escort missions, including flights over Bremen, Munster, Wilhelmshaven and numerous other “hot spots” on the European continent.

Awarded Air Medal

He has been awarded the Air Medal and in addition, has been recommended to get two Oak Leaf Clusters.

Before going to England, Major Joel served in antisubmarine patrol work on the West Coast, for which he received the American Theater of Operations Ribbon.

He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Air Forces May 29, 1941, and was promoted to first lieutenant Mach 5, 1942.  He became a captain in June of last year and was elevated to major last January.

He attended Thomas Jefferson High School, the University of Richmond and the University of Virginia, graduating from the latter with a degree of bachelor of science in economics.

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Not long after, Major Joel’s parents received a condolence letter from VIII Fighter Command commander Major General William E. Kepner, albeit at a time when Milton’s status was still “Missing in Action”.  Given the gravity and magnitude of Major General Kepner’s responsibilities, let alone the sheer level of activity he maintained as a military commander (he was over fifty at the time, ultimately passed away at age eighty-nine), it’s impressive that he would personally communicate with the next of kin of pilots lost while serving under his command.  His letter is compassionate and inspiring, yet in terms of the possible outcomes connoted by the very phrase “Missing in Action”, unflinchingly realistic.

HEADQUARTERS
EIGHTH FIGHTER COMMAND
A.P.O. 637           ETOUSA
OFFICE OF THE COMMANDING GENERAL

22 December 1943.

Mr. J. Joel,
5 Greenway Lane
Richmond, Virginia.

My dear Mr. Joel,

It is my sad portion to write that your splendid son is now missing.  While this is not official, I hasten to extend my heartfelt and personal sympathy.  He was a superior man and son of his great country.  We shall miss him and the strong help he always gave in full, more and more as our battles become increasingly difficult.  His comrades have only the deepest affection and respect for the memory of such a man.  Our country is being preserved for all of us by such men as Milton.  May it be of some solace for me to say that he went as a red blooded man, his colors flying and in honor; with his eyes fixed forward on a great ideal.  We pilots know that his blood, and indeed the blood of each of us when it happens, will not be spilled in vain.  The memories held by those we leave behind make it worth while, for they – our loved ones – will keep us alive until we meet again.

I personally want you to know that I, as his Commanding General, am thinking of you with the hope you may find courage and fortitude to bear your great loss.  With deep sympathy, I am

Most sincerely,
Milton was a fine boy
W.E. Kepner
W.E. KEPNER
Major General, U. S. Army
Commanding.

However…! 

The Joel family was not alone in receiving a communication of this nature, for it seems that General Kepner corresponded similarly with the families of other missing VIII Fighter Command pilots.  Thus, the letter below, received by the family of 2 Lt. Royal D. Frey, of the 55th Fighter Squadron, 20th Fighter Group, who was MIA on February 10, 1944 (in P-38J 42-67855, “KI * W” – see MACR 2156).  Like Lieutenants Carroll and Suiter, Lt. Frey spent the remainder of the war as a POW in Stalag Luft I.

This copy of the General’s letter appeared in Royal Frey’s article “General Kepner’s One and Only Goof”, in the Spring, 1992, issue of Kings Cliffe Remembered (V 10 N 1). 

So, even if the text of the two letters (and more?) was identical, it was the thought and gesture that mattered most. 

________________________________________

A few months later, Major Joel was awarded the Silver Star for the mission of November 29, as reported on in the following (1944) article, probably from a Los Angeles area newspaper.  (More about his Silver Star award in a later post.)

Missing Pilot Wins Silver Star Medal

For courageous and inspiring conduct in air combat over Europe, the Army today announced the award of the Silver Star medal to Maj. William Joel, of 153 S. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills.

Major Joel, who is reported missing in action, was cited for “gallantry, aggressive fighting spirit and devotion to duty” in protecting a depleted squadron of P-38 fighters savagely attacked over Germany Nov. 29 last year, according to Associated Press dispatches.  “Because of a fast diminishing fuel supply,” the citation continued, “the group leader gave the signal to withdraw.

As the group headed for base, the enemy continued to press vicious assaults on the tail aircraft and with disregard for his own safety, he attacked the enemy head on.  When last seen Major Joel was still engaged in combat.”

After the mission of November 29, leadership of the 38th Fighter Squadron passed to Major Mark K. Shipman.  Captain Joseph Myers took command of the squadron on February 10, 1944, followed by Captain James H. Hancock on April 22, Major John D. Landers on July 3, and Captain Clayton L. Peterson on October 12.  Captain Peterson remained in command until succeeded by Captain Donald M. Cummings on May 23, 1945.

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The past recedes and the future moves on:  The following letters, from the Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) for Major Joel, span 1944 through 1950.  A presumptive Finding of Death for him was established as September 3, 1945 (based on Public Law 490), and by May 2, 1949, this date was amended to November 29, 1943.  Ultimately, his case was deemed as non-recoverable, on September 13, 1951. 

The location of Milton Joel’s aircraft and remains are unknown.

________________________________________

The following letter, from Milton’s wife Elaine, is probably the only surviving example of her correspondence relating to her husband.  According to Sara Markham, prior to Elaine’s passing in 1981, she destroyed all the correspondence between herself and Milton. 

This is it; it’s all that’s left. 

Note that Elaine specified that any of Milton’s belongings should be sent to the address of her in-laws (the Joels) in Richmond, rather than to herself in Beverly Hills.

May 26, 1944

Dear Sir,

My husband, Milton Joel, Major, Air Corps (0-416308), of the 38th Fighter Squadron 55th Fighter Group, APO #637, c/o Postmaster, New York, N.Y., has been missing in action since 29 November, 1943.

Recently I received word from one of the officers in the aforementioned squadron that my husband’s possessions had been forwarded to your Bureau in Kansas City.

I am writing at this time to request any information which you may be able to give me: I am very anxious to obtain my husband’s possessions at the very earliest possible date and trust that you will notify me if this is possible with your office – as if this is impossible, any information with which you may furnish me as to when these belongings will be forwarded to me will be greatly appreciated.

At the present time I am located and can be reached at 5 Greenway Lane, Richmond – 21, Virginia.  However, I would wish the aforementioned possessions to be sent to my home at 153 South Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, California.

Thanking you in advance for any consideration you may give this matter, I am,

Very truly yours,
Elaine E. Joel
(Mrs. Milton Joel)

________________________________________

The following letters, all penned between 1945 and 1950 and written by Milton’s father Joseph, speak for themselves:  What they directly express is immediately obvious.  What they do not express – in terms of uncertainty, anger, an almost Job-like sense of unfairness, sadness, an overall air of pathos – is perhaps by nature inexpressible; perhaps, best so.  After all, in the lives of all men there arise events for which words are inadequate. 

The first letter, of August, 1945, was written to the Army’s Notification Section.  Note that Joseph has astutely expressed concern about the possibility of Milton having been captured.  Having lost a sister in the Shoah, he may have been sensitized and cognizant – perhaps more than other American Jews of his generation – to the implications of a Jewish soldier or aviator being a POW of the Germans. 

Aug 26 1945

Re. Major Milton Joel
0-416308
Missing in action over Germany
Nov. 29th 1943

Col. Claude B. Acra [sic]
Washington DC

Dear Sir

The above was my only child and for this reason I am more than any other average bereaved parent, interested to know whatever possible what really occurred to him, i.e., was he seen to bail out – and if so, was it over sea or land –  Did he fall in the hands of the German beasts or was he burnt up with his plane –  My friend a former officer Capt. Daniel Burke suggests I should write to you and I hope you will be able to give me this information.

Assuring for my appreciation

Very truly yours
Joseph Joel

____________________

This letter, penned less than two months later, reveals that Joseph was at least nominally aware – as much as one relying on second-hand information could be – of the general course events during the mission of November 29.  His line of questioning is direct and focused, while the text of his letter – the word “we” – reveals that he was writing on behalf of both Minnie and himself. 

Oct. 4 1945

Office of the Quartermaster General
Washington, D.C.
Re. Major Joel Milton
S.N. 0-416-308
Q.M.G.M.F 293

Dear Maj Coombs

I duly received your appreciated reply of the 23rd of September, but this does not serve me with any of my requested information.

Though I realize that not every request can be favored, I do think mine can, because it was seen that 2 ships were falling, presumably one plane was one in which my boy was in, and as the planes were seen falling you should know about where they landed and if it was ocean or enemy or friendly territory. –  This is my question. –  This is the information I want. –  Did my boy’s plane land in water or on land and if land whereabouts and what are you doing to make the Germans tell us what was done with him.  Milton was my only child and we want to know what really happened to him –  The Germans should be made to talk.  His ship was seen falling so he must have landed and I want to know where and what was done with him or his remains –  I hope you will try to favor me with this reply

Thank you sincerely
Yours Truly
Joseph Joel

____________________

Though the original document is not preserved in Major Joel’s IDPF, this transcript of a letter by Joseph, penned about one year later, again focuses on the lack of information about the central and unresolved aspects of his son’s case.  Note that Joseph again emphasizes concern about the possibility of Milton having been captured. 

Joseph Joel
5 Greenway Lane
Richmond, Virginia

Oct. 3, 1946

RE: A.G.P.D. – R 201
Milton Joel  0 416 308

Maj Gen E.F. Witsell
War Dept.
Washington, D.C.

Dear General:

Your letter of April 30, 1946 regarding my sons decorations reached me.  Of course I am proud of his distinguishments, yet as I received no explanation, I would like to know what does the government know about him.

1. Did anybody see what happened to his plane?
2. Did anybody see him bale out?
3. Was anything found out when we went into Germany if his body was found or if he was taken prisoner.

You see I was told once that 2 planes were seen falling toward the ground.  One of them must have been his and I want to know, what happened to his body.

Please answer me fully.

Very truly yours,
Joseph Joel

____________________

Though in May of 1944 Milton’s wife Elaine expressed solid interest in obtaining her missing husband’s possessions from the Army, by 1947, things had changed.  This letter, from September of that year, pertains to Elaine having instructed the Army Effects Bureau to give her husband’s flight record to her former in-laws, and communicating such to Joseph Joel.  Note the date of September 17: Elaine had remarried about a week earlier.  (More about that below.)

This document would be of tremendous historical and sentimental value, but I have absolutely no idea if it still exits.   

MEM/CB/lh
17 September 1947

Mr. Joseph Joel
5 Greenway Lane
Richmond 21, Virginia

Dear Mr. Joel:

The Army Effects Bureau has received a flight record belonging to your son, Major Milton Joel.

This Bureau contacted Mrs. Elaine Joel, the widow of Major Joel, the appropriate recipient under the 112th Article of War.  However, she advised us to forward the flight record to you.

In compliance with her request, the flight record was forwarded to you on 11 September 1947 in an envelope.

If for some reason, it has not reached you at the expiration of thirty days from the date of this letter, please notify this Bureau so that tracer can be instituted.

Extending every sympathy, I am

Sincerely yours,

M.E. MOHR
Major, QMC
Effects Quartermaster

____________________

January 10, 1948

Re. QMGMF 293
Joel Milton
S.N. 0416308

The Quartermaster General
Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir

I am in receipt of yours of the 7th relating to above req. re my son.  I realize that your office is doing everything possible yet I cannot understand the War Departments policy of not answering me my question and complying with my request.  All I want to know is WHERE DID MY SON COME DOWN.  WAS IT OVER LAND OR OVER WATER –  Isn’t my question plain enough and understandable?  You seem to know where abouts he was shot down as you say in your above letter that you are making extensive search of the area.  I am tired of writing to the various department and receiving unrelating replies  You people know where abouts he was shot down tell it.  If you don’t know then say so.  Stop giving me answers meaningless.  If you know where he was shot down I want to know, was it over German territory or not – over land or water

Yours truly
Joseph Joel

____________________

1951: Almost eight years have passed.  In Joseph’s final letter to the Army, he has posed a question as pertinent in 2020 (assuming it can ever be answered) as seventy years ago:  Has his son’s plane, the “flying wolf”, ever been located? 

Sept. 28, 1951

Dept. of the Army
Office of the Q.M. General
Washington, D.C.

Attention Col. James B. Clearwater

Dear Col. Clearwater

I have your letter of 21 Sept. Q.M.G.M.F. 293 Joel, Milton S.N. 0-416-308 and noted its contents  Will you please do me this favor and advise me whether the plain number 42-67020 in which he was flying was ever discovered.  Should you not be able to give me this information, will you be so kind to furnish my request to the department that can give me this information.  I am very anxious to know this.

Thanking for you – the trouble taken.

Sincerely Yours
Joseph Joel

____________________

The Army’s reply to the above letter arrived two weeks later.  P-38H 42-67020, the flying wolf, had never been found. 

12 October 1951

QMGMF 293
Joel, Milton
SN 0 416 308

Mr. Joseph Joel
4509 Bromley Lane
Richmond, Virginia

Dear Mr. Joel,

This will acknowledge receipt of your letter of 28 September 1951 concerning your son, the late Major Milton Joel.

In response to your inquiry, I regret to inform you that the personnel of the American Graves Registration Service were unable to locate the wreckage of your son’s plane.

Sincerely Yours,

JAMES B. CLEARWATER
Colonel, QMC
Chief, Memorial Division

CDB / lop

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For those acquainted with Individual Deceased Personnel Files, this form may be well-familiar:  Typically one of the chronologically or sequentially “final” forms within an IDPF, it denotes the memorialization of servicemen whose remains were determined to be non-recoverable. 

Having officially been determined on May 2, 1949, to have been “Killed in Action” on November 29, 1943 and having received the Purple Heart, as well as having been awarded the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, and three Air Medals, Milton’s name was incorporated into the “second” volume of the two books comprising the 1947 publication American Jews in World 2.  This “second” book, which has been referenced and referred to in many prior posts, comprises a (48) state by state list of American Jewish servicemen who received military awards, or were wounded or killed in action.  (Thus, ironically, if a soldier was a POW but was uninjured and received no awards, his name would not necessarily – if at all – have been included in the book.) 

____________________

And so, seven decades ago, the search for Major Milton Joel officially ended. 

________________________________________

Milton’s name appears on page 578 of American Jews in World 2, appropriately under “Virginia”.  The asterisk adjacent to his name denotes “killed in action”. 

The basis of the entries in American Jews in WW 2 is information recorded on National Jewish Welfare Board Bureau of War Records Jewish Servicemen Cards, which are now available through Ancestry.com, the cards – color-coded – varying in number from soldier to soldier. 

Three such cards were filed for Milton.  The first card, dated December 30, 1943, denotes his Missing in Action Status.

The second card, of May 12, 1944, records his military awards.

The final card, filed in January of 1946, pertains to determination of his “Killed in Action” status. 

While these cards are invaluable in terms of military and genealogical information, the only information they carry pertaining to military operations (if at all) is a vague, one-word designation of the relevant theater of war.  American Jews in World War 2 only incorporated name, rank, military awards (if any), home town / state of residence, and casualty status, doubtless for reasons of space and length. 

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Nearly four years after the official determination of Major Joel’s death, his widow, Elaine, Married Doctor Allan Lloyd Friedlich, Jr., a graduate of Dartmouth and Harvard who later became a preeminent cardiologist.  Their engagement and wedding announcements were published in the New York Times, both items specifically mentioning Major Joel.

Mrs. E.E. Joel Engaged
Widow of AAF Major to Be Wed to Dr. A.L. Friedlich Jr.

March 19, 1947

Announcement has been made by Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Richard Ebenstein of New York and Beverly Hills, Calif., of the engagement of their daughter, Mrs. Elaine Ebenstein Joel, to Dr. Allan Lloyd Friedlich, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Friedlich of 75 Central Park West.

Mrs. Joel is the widow of Maj. Milton Joel, AAF, who was lost in action over Germany in 1943.  She was graduated from the Scoville School in New York and from Marot Junior College.

Dr. Friedlich was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1939, and from the Harvard Medical School.  During the war he served as a flight surgeon with the Air Transport Command in the China-Burma-India Theatre.

Dr. A.L. Friedlich, Jr., Mrs. E.E. Joel Marry

September 8, 1947

Mrs. Elaine Ebenstein Joel, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Richard Ebenstein of the Pierre and Beverly Hills, Calif., was married yesterday in the Pierre to Dr. Allan Lloyd Friedlich Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Friedlich of this city.  Jerome Nathanson of the Society for Ethical Vulture performed the ceremony.

Mrs. Bart van Berg of Scarsdale, N.Y., was the bride’s only attendant, and Bruce Friedlich was his brother’s best man.

Mrs. Friedlich, the widow of Major Milton Joel, who was lost in action over Germany in 1943, was graduated from the Scoville School in this city and Marot Junior College in Thompson, Conn.  She served as a nurse’s aide during the war.

The bridegroom, an alumnus of Dartmouth College, class of ’39, was graduated also from the Harvard Medical School in 1943.  He served with the Medical Corps as a flight surgeon in the C-B-I theatre with the rank of major.

Elaine and Dr. Friedlich had three sons.  She passed away at the young age of sixty on November 17, 1981.  Her place of burial is unknown.  A transcript of her obituary, provided by researcher Inmand15 to her biographical profile at FindAGrave, follows: 

Elaine Friedlich, 60

Active on behalf of retarded

A memorial service will be held Saturday, Nov. 28, at 2:30 p.m. in the Harvard University Memorial Church, Cambridge, for Elaine (Ebenstein) Friedlich, who died Tuesday in her Belmont home after a long illness.  She was 60.

Born in New York City, Mrs. Friedlich was a graduate of the old Marot Junior College in Connecticut.  She had lived in Belmont for 25 years and had previously lived in Beverly Hills, Calif., and New York City.

Active in the community, Mrs. Friedlich was instrumental in establishing the CODE  House, Belmont, now known as the Belmont Community Resource Center.  She served for many years as the educational chairwoman of the Belmont Chapter of the Greater Boston Assn. for Retarded Citizens and in 1973 received the association’s Community Service Award.

She also served on the Metropolitan-Beaverbrook Area Mental Health and Retardation Board of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and was appointed to represent the board on the department’s regional mental health council.

Dr. Allan L. Friedlich, who had an extraordinary medical career, passed on at the age of 89, on July 7, 2006. 

________________________________________

What of Joseph and Minnie? 

Their lives continued.

Joseph continued to operate his jewelry store – the aptly named Virginia Jewelry Store (which had been in business for about four decades) – through the early 1960s, when he relinquished actual operation of the establishment to his business partner.  Paralleling this, he remained intellectually engaged through the rest of his life.  An autodidact in Jewish history and Zionism, he contributed nine letters about these topics (could there have been more?) to the Richmond Times-Dispatch between 1946 and 1960, his last letter being published eight months before his death. 

The “titles” of Joseph’s letters, as published in the Times-Dispatch, comprise:

“Holocaust in the Holy Land” (July 18, 1946) – British Policy vis-à-vis Jewish inhabitanta of the Yishuv
“Ford and the Jews” (April 16, 1947) – Influence of the Dearborn Independent on pre-war antisemitism
“Why the Jews Fight” (September 15, 1947) – Zionism and Jewish nationalism
“Anti-Jew?  Pro-Arab?” (March 13, 1948) – Support for anti-Zionism by Lessing J. Rosenwald
“A Solution” (March 26, 1948) – The fate of Jewish Displaced Persons
“Denies that the U.S. Has Favored Israel” (August 21, 1958) – Attitude of the American foreign policy establishment towards Israel during the 1948 war; the status of Arab-Moslem citizens of Israel
“A Pro-Israeli View of Mideast Problems” (September 10, 1958) – History of continuing Jewish connection to Eretz Israel
“Germans Blamed for Anti-Semitism” (January 29, 1960) – Responsibility for the Shoah (a term not actually used in the letter): The German leadership, or, the German people as a whole?
“Reiterates Criticism of the German People” (February 8, 1960) – As above

Here are some of Joseph’s letters…

Why the Jews Fight
September 15, 1947

Editor of The Times-Dispatch:

Since no Zionist leader of this city’s organization or other Jews replied to your editorial [“Reprisals Contain No Solution for Jews,” Sept. 9] I am trying to do so.

The Zionist question is no more a fanatical national question than any other people’s.  This going on in Palestine is not as you call it an “inflammation of the brain,” but a trouble purposely instigated by Britain.  The extremist groups are not mad and reckless, but a brave group of young men who prefer to die with their boots on than to endure toleration.

Why do you and others play it up as terrible that someone had the courage to-tell the uninformed British people by pamphlets what is really going on?  What harm is there in this?  They have no other way of getting this message to the people.  The English press will not print it.  Even you haven’t informed the Richmond public of the suffering of the Jews and the brutality of the British government.

And why are you so afraid that if our government should show sympathy to the Zionist movement this will let loose the anti-Semites?  Why, weren’t you afraid when the United States acted in Ireland or in Greece and so many other places?

The solution of the Palestinian question does not as you say call for cool-headed diplomatic finesse.  This is the trouble; there is too darn much politics in it.  The world is ready to exterminate the Jews for oil, but the oil magnates will have the profits.

How do you expect to solve this Jewish question?  Germany, Poland, Romania, Hungary – in fact every European country – was slaughtering them and even the United States, England and France are but tolerating us.  Shall we wait for-the Jewish Council of Judaism in a diplomatic way to accomplish equal citizenship rights for us Jews?  Have we got it, even in the United States?  Is anybody protesting against the limitations in the colleges, industrial fields, etc.?

____________________

Anti-Jew?  Pro-Arab?
March 13, 1948

Editor of The Times-Dispatch:

Why do you pick a time such, as the present, when Richmond Jewry has this drive (UJA) to write editorials like the one in today’s paper, “reconsider the Palestine Problem”?  Who is Lessing Rosenwald?  Is Mr. Rosenwald’s opinion to be more considered than that of 95 per cent of the Jews in Richmond and, the world?  Why are you influenced by him and not by Rabbi Wise and Rabbi Hillel Silver, who are among the 95 per cent and not belonging to the about 5 per cent of the Council of Judaism?  Why are you taking sides with the Arabs and not with the worldwide suffering Jews?

It certainly is not a matter of justice, for if so, you would be hollering against oppression of the Indonesian, Manchurians, Koreans and many other small peoples in Africa, Asia, etc, by the Dutch, British and Russians and even the United States, for we are in places with our armies where we are not wanted.

No Jew, whether in the United States, England, or any country where he enjoys citizenship rights, is not loyal to his country.  His being a Zionist does not divorce him from his loyalty.  He is a Zionist as a German, Irishman, or Britisher is a German, an Irishman, or a Britisher.  A Zionist is merely in favor of establishing a Jewish homeland so world-oppressed Jewry can have a place where it can rest its tired; aching bones. 

The Nazis in Germany and other countries have done a good job, and they do not need your aid to help to exterminate what is left of them in the DP camps in Cyprus and the few in Palestine.

Even in Palestine, the Arabs do not need your aid.  The British government and ours have supplied the Arabs with plenty of arms and officers to train them to murder the Jews.  Your pen is not needed!  There are enough Jewish blood-shedders, and you don’t need to incite the Arabs, Germany’s allies of World Wars I and II.

JOSEPH JOEL
Richmond

[Editor’s Note: The editorial to which our correspondent refers appeared March 8, and contained the statement: “There has never been any question of the loyalty of American Jews to America.  There never will be.”]

___________________

A Pro-Israeli View Of Mideast Problems
September 10, 1958

In the VOP of August 27, Mary Beaty quotes figures of the Palestine Commission and government bulletins.  I am an average citizen, I do not subscribe to government statistical reports or bulletins from the Palestine Commission, but I do know one thing for sure, that our government did not give Israel arms, where the various Arabian nations, who are surrounding Israel like a pack of wolves from Egypt to S. Arabia, did receive all kinds of arms and Lebanon will now be given the army’s arms when they pull out.

Re the land.  Again, I state that Israel paid plenty for every acre of land which the people bought even when Palestine belonged to the Turkish government and to this date.  Of course, she couldn’t buy when the refugees left the country and refused to sell.  Israel is willing to permit a certain percentage to resettle and those that do not want to return, to pay them more than the value for every inch of land.

Re the rights of the Jews not only to be part of what is now Israel but to all of Palestine, for none of the present Arabs now resisting are the ancient people.  The present Arabs residing in Israel and in the newly-created states are squatters or settlers who were settled in Palestine by the nation’s conquerors or by Nomads who decided to settle in cities.  The last ones were settled there by Vespasian.

The Romans destroyed in the year 70 etc., only the holy Temple, Jerusalem and the city of Antioch-Herodium-Mechaerus Masada but not the rest of Palestine.  Jews, i.e. the ones that did not flee or were killed or carried away into slavery, lived in Israel from the time when Moses brought them out of Egypt on God’s command to this day.  Proof of this is that the Roman governor permitted Rabbi Jochanan [Yochahan ben Zakkai – see here, here, and Rabbi Henry Abramson’s lecture here] with his disciples to leave Jerusalem after he was smuggled through the lines, to settle in Jamnia [“Yavneh” – see here, here, and the contemporary city of Yavneh here], which is on the Mediterranean near the port of Joppa now known as Jaffa.  There was even a Lynhedria [mis-spelling or mis-print – should be “Sanhedrin”!] in Jabna [Yavneh] and there too the Palestine Talmud came into existence in the Yeshira [should read “Yeshiva”], which is a Jewish theological college.  Yes Jews lived to this day without interruption in all of Palestine including Jerusalem. 

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Joseph and Minnie, probably in the 1950s (c/o Harold J. Winston)

Joseph died on October 15, 1960.  As reported in the Times-Dispatch:

Joseph Joel, Jeweler, Dies at 78

Joseph Joel 78, of 4509 Bromley lane, a retired jeweler, died Saturday at a local hospital

He operated the Virginia Jewelry Store here for about 40 years, and although he was a part owner of the store at the time of his death, he retired from active operation of it several years ago.  Mr. Joel was a member of the Beth Ahabah Congregation.

He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Minnie Joel, his mother, Mrs. Bertha Joel of Chicago; a sister, Dr. Clara Fleischer of Chicago and three brothers, Herman Joel of New York and Robert K. and Ephraim Joel both of Richmond.

A funeral service win be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at Joseph W. Bliley Funeral Home, with burial in Hebrew Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Milton Joel Memorial library at the Richmond Jewish Center.

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Joseph having passed on, Minnie’s life continued in Richmond.  In early 1961, only three short months after Joseph’s passing, she endured a very disconcerting experience, which – fortunately – had a fortunate outcome:  Milton’s medals and other possessions were stolen.  Well, temporarily, as it were.  As reported in the Times-Dispatch:

Thief Here Steals World War II Medals
January 14, 1961

A thief who broke into-a car in Richmond’s West End early yesterday morning took four or five small packages that can never be replaced by money.  He took medals belonging to Mrs. Joseph Joel of 4613 Wythe ave.  They were won by her son, Maj. Milton Joel, during World War II.  Major Joel, a fighter pilot, was killed over Germany on Dec. 20. 1943.

Mrs. Joel, who lives with her brother-in-law, Louis Rubin, said she believed the medals were the Silver Star, Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross with either one or two gold clusters.  

AIso Stolen

Also taken from her car were some miscellaneous papers, a picture album and the spare tire.

The papers were found at Staples Mill rd. and Grace st. about an hour after the theft by Patrolman D.W. Drudge.  The album was found later in the day in the 1300 block Claremont ave.

Patrolman J.A. Windsor, a detective, said the same thief broke into a car belonging to Ernest J. Mladinich of 4615 Wythe ave.  The thief got a spare tire and jack.

4 Stolen Military Medals Reappear Mysteriously
January 15, 1961

Four military medals were returned to their owner yesterday, under as strange a set of circumstances as those under which they disappeared.

Mrs. Milton Joel of 1500 Sauers Ave. said that on August 13 the medals were stolen along with several other personal items from her car.  The medals were awarded her son, Maj. Milton Joel, an air force pilot who was killed in 1943 on a mission over Germany.

A week ago last Thursday Mrs. Joel’s car developed a flat tire.  She called a service station which sent a man around to switch tires and take the damaged tire to be fixed.

Yesterday, she said, she went to pick up the tire.  When the trunk of her car was opened, there sat the four medals, each in its individual white box, on the trunk floor.

Mrs. Joel said the boxes had not been there when the tires were changed nor when police searched her car when the theft was discovered.

Some of the other items, which included a photograph album and Major Joel’s college annual, were recovered the same day the theft was discovered.  They were scattered around a three block area in the city’s North Side.

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Minnie Joel, postwar (c/o Unknown)

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Minnie – Birthday Party? (c/o Harold J. Winston)

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On the fourth of February in the year 1981, a little over twenty years after the passing of her husband, Minnie Joel died.  She was 93.  Her former daughter in law, Elaine, passed away a little less than a year earlier. 

Minnie’s obituary:

Joel
Mrs. Minnie Weinstein Joel, widow of Joseph Joel, died Wednesday, February 4, 1981.  She is survived by her sister, Mrs. Janet Weinstein Rubin; daughter-in-law, Mrs. Allan Friedlich of Belmont, Mass.; a number of nieces and nephews.  Her remains rest at the Joseph W. Bliley Funeral Home, 3rd and Marshall Sts. where services will be held Friday, 11 a.m.  Interment Hebrew Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Milton Joel Library of the Jewish Community Center or the Beth Sholom Home.  The family will receive friends at the home of Mrs. Joan R. Schoenes, 1507 Largo Rd., No. 104.

Minnie and Joseph are buried next to one another, at Hebrew Cemetery in Richmond, as seen in this image by FindAGrave contributor JimB.

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But, what of Milton’s military records and memorabilia; the material that was almost (!) lost in 1961?  In the latter part of 1981, not long before Elaine’s passing, it seems that she, her close friend Sara Markham, and various members of the extended Joel family realized the necessity for the preservation and safekeeping of documents pertaining to Milton.  To that end, it was arranged that Temple Beth Ahabah of Richmond, with which the Joel family had long been affiliated, and where the Milton Joel Judaic Library was opened in October of 1961 (the initial core of its holdings having been a collection of books donated by Joseph) would be the recipient of this material, where – I think? – it is still held, today. 

Thus, a letter from Elaine’s friend Sara Markham to Saul Weiner (Chairman of the Congregation Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives Trust), written only a few weeks before Elaine’s passing:

September 29, 1981

Dearest Saul,

I thought it wise that I turn over the letter from Elaine to you.  I have loaned these war decorations to Irving Joel – as he hopes to copy them for the Milton Joel Library at the Center.  I do hope he can arrange this as this library was subsidized regularly by funds that David and I raised from “Aunt” Minnie and “Uncle” Joe – and a few members of their family, the Joels (all) – and from Milton’s fraternity brothers –  However, Elaine and I talked this over in depth – and concluded that Milton would prefer to have them in the Beth Ahabah Archives.  I personally feel they would be best cared for there, that Milton had a long relationship with the temple – that the historical reference is more appropriate to our Archives.

I turned the medals – and the written testaments over to Irving Joel in June, so I am sure he will be ready soon – to turn them over to the Archives Committee.  I will be sending Irving a copy of Elaine’s notes.

I regret that you and Jackie never knew Milton Joel.  He was a truly special young man – totally enchanting – and a gem – in the crown of our Jewish Community.  That Elaine – had two splendid human beings share her life with her – each in a very unique way – tells us a great deal about this woman, Elaine – who stands apart – not just for me, but for anyone whose life touched hers.

I entrust the safe-keeping of this memory herewith to you, Saul.  I feel comfortable about this.

I blow you and Jackie a New Year’s kiss – May this be the year of the _____ – where their deepest dreams come true.  David joins me in all this.

Fondly,
Sara F. Markham

And, Saul’s reply to Sara:

Dear Sara:

Furthering our recent conversation regarding the Major Milton Joel medals which you have been helping Mrs. Elaine Friedlich transmit for safekeeping to the Temple Archives, we are grateful for your interest in our work.

Please rest assured that upon receipt of the medals we shall make proper provision for their storage pending the completion of building renovations.  We are proud to have such items housed in the Beth Ahabah Archives.

With every good wish for the New Year to all concerned.

Sincerely,
Saul Fisher
Chairman

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And here, in one sense, is where Milton Joel’s journey ended.

Or, did it?

Next: Part VII – A Battle in The Air