Sir John Monash was Australia’s greatest general, but he was not the only serviceman of Jewish heritage to make his mark on the battlefield.
A new national war memorial has been unveiled to remember the 341 Jewish servicemen who laid down their lives fighting for Australia, 100 years to the day since Monash was knighted on the battlefield.
Australian governor-general Sir Peter Cosgrove and Defence Force chief General Angus Campbell were among those at the dedication of the cenotaph at the National Jewish Memorial Centre in Forrest on Sunday.
Around 9000 Australian Jewish men and women have served in Australia’s defence forces since the Boer War. Around 1800 of those served in World War I.
Monash, an engineer and tactician with Prussian Jewish heritage, was the most famous of the Jewish servicemen who fought in the Great War.
Read the article by Katie Burgess in The Canberra Times.