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Decades after his death, a Jewish WWII hero is honored in Italy, with family of comrade present

JL;DR SUMMARY The article highlights a poignant ceremony in Italy organized by Operation Benjamin to honor Jewish WWII servicemen who concealed their identities and were initially buried under Latin crosses. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

U.S. ArmyJewish Burial Customs10th Mountain DivisionOperation BenjaminFrank KurzingerJewish Wwii HeroesSecrecy And IdentityCommemorative CeremoniesHeadstone ReplacementsPreservation Of Memory

Places mentioned

Rome, Tuscany, Italy
"ROME Privates First Class Del Riley and Frank Kurzinger were fast friends."
Florence, Tuscany, Italy
"Operation Benjamin honored Kurzinger at a ceremony on Wednesday in the Florence American Cemetery, surrounded by sycamore and cypress trees on a Tuscan hillside."
Friuli–Venezia Giulia, Italy
"The memorials for Bernstein and Singer took place in the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery on Tuesday on a sunny spring afternoon, with birdsong punctuating the solemn proceedings."
Colorado, United States
"They met in 1943, training for the U.S. Armys 10th Mountain Division at Camp Hale, Colo."
Oregon, United States
"After the ceremony, 15 of Rileys descendants, who traveled to Italy from Oregon, planned to climb Monte Belvedere to bury another one of the coins on the mountaintop that Kurzinger and Riley never reached, completing their mission, as Bruce Riley put it."
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
"Technician Fourth Grade Ben Zion Bernstein was the eldest of six siblings from Cleveland."
New York, United States
"Sailing on the USS West Point from New York to Naples, Italy, they once snuck into the galley to steal a fresh cherry pie meant for Navy men, and ate the whole thing themselves."
Germany
"Kurzinger, like many other Jews fighting in World War II, hid his Jewish identity out of fear of being captured by the Nazis. But his fear was compounded by the fact that, five years before he enlisted, his family fled Nazi Germany to Denver."
Israel
"However, his aunt, Dorothea Stern, moved to Israel. Her son, Dr. Michael Stern, who was born and grew up in Israel but lives in New Jersey, represented the family."
Jerusalem, Israel
"The ceremony took place against the backdrop of Jerusalem at sunset."
Canada
"Second Lt. Paul Sigmund Singer volunteered to fight the Nazis, leaving his studies at Columbia University to join the Canadian Air Force before the U.S. entered World War II."

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Cairo Item ID 51853
Cairo Source ID 43
Retrieved 2025-05-17 05:30:43 UTC
Curated 2025-05-17 08:32:04 UTC