Benjamin Solomon

Jewish dentist turned hero

I am sure that the American citizenry were not aware of this celebration of the bravest, most noble warrior the United States ever had. He has surpassed Sergeant York and Audie Murphy and entered the John Wayne and George Washington level. All praise Salomon

George Bush's speech "We gather in tribute to two young men who died long ago in service to America," Bush said. "In awarding the Medal of Honor to Captain Ben Salomon and Captain Jon Swanson, the United States acknowledges a debt that time has not diminished." A dentist by training, Salomon replaced a wounded surgeon in a battalion aid station near the frontlines of the 27th Infantry Division in early July 1944. On July 7, those frontlines were overrun by Japanese troops.

After killing several Japanese who entered the aid station, Salomon told everyone in the area to evacuate to the regimental aid station while he held off the attacking troops alone. Salomon was found dead the next morning holding a machine gun. There were 98 dead Japanese soldiers piled in front of him. He had been hit by enemy fire more than 70 times -- 24 of those wounds were inflicted while he was alive, according to an examining doctor. Solomon rejected first time The doctor's initial Medal of Honor recommendation was returned without action due to a mistaken opinion that the Geneva Convention forbade the award of valor medals to medical personnel. A much later legal opinion determined that medical personnel may be awarded valor awards for defending their patients, aid station or hospital. Source

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USC Alumnus and army dentist Benjamin Lewis Salomon posthumously awarded Medal of Honor.

By Tom Tugend

Almost 58 years after U.S. Army dentist Capt. Benjamin Lewis Salomon was killed defending his aid station against Japanese troops, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the American military’s highest decoration, by President Bush.

Dentist becomes a surgeon

Salomon, a Los Angeles native, was 29 years old and acting as surgeon with the 27th Infantry Division on the South Pacific island of Saipan, when his battalion was attacked by thousands of Japanese soldiers on July 7, 1944.

Dentist holds off 5000 Japs

As Bush recounted during a White House Rose Garden ceremony May 1, "the advancing enemy [5,000 Japanese soldiers] soon descended on Capt. Salomon’s aid station. To defend the wounded men in his care, he ordered comrades to evacuate the tent and carry away the wounded. He went out to face the enemy alone, and was last heard shouting, ‘I’ll hold them off until you get them to safety. See you later.’

Dentist shot 75 times but kills 98 Japs

"In the moments that followed, Salomon single-handedly killed 98 enemy soldiers, saving many American lives but sacrificing his own. As best the army could tell, he was shot 24 times before he fell, more than 50 times after that. And when they found his body, he was still at his [machine] gun."

 Salomon graduated from the USC dental school, "itself a triumph at a time when American universities limited the number of Jews they accepted," the Los Angeles Times reported.

After his 1937 graduation, Salomon tried unsuccessfully to enlist as a dentist in both the American and Canadian armies. In 1940, he was drafted and trained as an infantryman, excelling as a rifle marksman and machine-gunner. In 1942, he was finally commissioned as a regimental dentist, but during the Saipan invasion he volunteered to replace his unit’s wounded surgeon. Salomon was unmarried, an only child and had no immediate relatives to receive the Medal of Honor, Dr. Robert West of Calabasas accepted in their place.

Another Jewish dentist accepts medal West, a dentist and USC alumnus, had lobbied the Army for years to recognize Salomon’s heroism. "I think Ben Salomon is smiling down on us today," West told the president.

138 more Medals of Honor to be awarded Jews

The award to Salomon is independent of a list of 138 war veterans, whose records are currently under review by the Pentagon to determine whether they were denied the Medal of Honor because of past discrimination against Jewish servicemen.           Source

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Richard Earley comments:

How anybody could determine that the sainted Doctor Salomon killed 98 Japanese and was wounded more than 20 times before expiring defies my limited thinking. Yet the psychic needs of Jews overwhelms any sense of honor, integrity and decency in America. Their lies must be believed by the rest of the populace.