Operation Benjamin, President Quezon, and living history

Last week on February 15, I was given the rare privilege of being one of the very few Filipinos, and even fewer historians, to witness the Headstone Replacement Mission of Operation Benjamin, together with the American Battle Monuments Commission, held at the Manila American Cemetery, in Taguig City. It was a very poignant and profound activity held at the magnificent and sprawling Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, which contains the largest number of graves of American soldiers --16,859 in all-- who died during World War II, most of whom lost their lives in operations in New Guinea and the Philippines.

Operation Benjamin is an international organization devoted to preserving the memories of Jewish-American soldiers who died in World War II. Its aim is to locate Jewish personnel in American military cemeteries all over the world who, for various reasons, were buried under markers incorrectly representing their religion and heritage. Their mission is to correct these mistakes and provide comfort to the families of these brave men and women. The organization is named after Private Benjamin Garadetsky, a Jewish soldier who was inadvertently buried under a Latin cross at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. Private Garadetsky’s case was the first for which Operation Benjamin’s efforts led to a successful marker change.

The short but memorable ceremony replaced the headstones of Private First Class Ralph Greenstein, Private Harvey

Mashatt, and TEC5 Eugene Shore with the Star of David, and to hold a memorial ceremony for Corporal Sam Cordova whose headstone was replaced during the COVID-19 lockdown. US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Loss Carlson, Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss, and Operation Benjamin CEO Shalom Lamm, all spoke about the purpose of the event and mentioned and remembered how President Manuel L. Quezon saved many Jewish people during World War II by allowing them refuge in the Philippines. After the opening preliminaries, all the participants visited each of the burials and the Latin crosses were replaced with the Star of David. Traditional Jewish prayers were said and it was beautiful to hear the Mourner's Kaddish being recited by the guests.

At one point I was introduced to Benjamin Avanceña, the son of Ma. Zeneida Quezon and Alberto Ramon Avanceña and grandson of President Manuel L. Quezon. As mentioned, President Quezon opened our country’s doors to Jewish refugees from Europe during World War II and thus saved the lives of more than 1,300 Jews fleeing the Holocaust. Because of President Quezon’s bold move, known as the Philippines’ Open Door policy, his memory and his family would forever be remembered and known to the Jewish people. He also guaranteed that the world will forever remember that Filipinos have always represented the spirit of compassion, solidarity, and humanity long before the Philippines had official immigration laws or became a state party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, being among the first to voluntarily provide asylum to successive waves of refugees fleeing persecution.

I was there also as an observer since the organization recently hired me to be their Philippine-based genealogist to focus on researching the backgrounds of the soldiers buried in Manila. Genealogists are an important resource of Operation Benjamin’s mission to establish the Jewish heritage of these soldiers to allow them to correct the headstones of these soldiers, and I felt the great honor and responsibility of being part of this worthy endeavor.

Operation Benjamin’s website mentions that “participating in a Jewish burial is the greatest of mitzvot (good deeds), as it is a favor that can never, ever be repaid. Operation Benjamin is an extension of this mitzvah, and is a labor of purest love, devotion and respect.” Truly, history is a living, breathing entity and requires constant scrutiny. Last week, as a historian, I was given the privilege to participate in this labor of purest love, devotion, and respect experience, and take part in living history.

“Filipinos have always represented the spirit of compassion, solidarity, and humanity long before the Philippines had official immigration laws.”