Four veterans of World War II — which ended 78 years ago this September — attended Jewish War Veterans Dayton Post #587’s 75th Anniversary Brunch, held May 28 at Temple Beth Or.

The oldest among them was Robert Kahn, 99, who escaped Nazi Germany following Kristallnacht. After his arrival in the United States, he fought with the U.S. Army Air Forces in the South Pacific.

Al and Lou Levin, 97, are among the oldest known living twins in the United States to serve in World War II. They were in the Army together and were with the more than 60,000 soldiers and Marines to storm ashore at Okinawa beginning on April 1, 1945. The Levins served in Okinawa for a year and a half.

The Ohio Department of Veterans Services has produced a five-minute video profiling the Levin brothers, which it posted at its website and Facebook page this spring.

Dr. Mort Levine, 95, served with the U.S. Navy in New York at the very end of World War II.

The Jewish War Veterans, founded in 1896, is the oldest continuing veteran service organization in the United States.

Dayton’s Post #587 was established April 11, 1948. Dayton Mayor Edward Breen attended the ceremony. Post #587’s first commander was J.L. Cunix. At the time, Dayton’s Jewish Federation, then called the Jewish Community Council, documented that more than 400 Jewish Daytonians had served in World War II.

Post #587’s current commander, Steve Markman, is also a past JWV Ohio department commander.— Marshall Weiss

To read the complete July 2023 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.