I am proud to say that Morris Chaim Blake was my father ... he was a kind and gentle man. He was also a soldier of the Jewish Legion and, like the others who served, a patriot of the Jewish people. Here is a glimpse of his moment in history ...

My father was born on February 21, 1899, somewhere in Lithuania where it was not popular to be a Jew. In that regard, just about anywhere would do. In the year 1914, my father, along with my Uncles Meyer and Israel (aka Izzy) and Aunts Ida and Sadie, emigrated to the United States. They arrived in Philadelphia, and from there made their way to Worcester, Massachusetts, where they joined my grandparents and Aunts Annie and Rose who had come ahead to earn the money for everyone's passage. (Some years later, just when everyone thought the family was complete, my Aunt Jeanette was born ... in the USA!)

My father was just a youngster when World War I broke out. And yet he had already acquired a personal sense of obligation and duty for the yet-to-be homeland of the Jewish people ... then, Palestine ... a British promise ... a Jewish dream.

General Allenby of the British Army was putting together a contingent of volunteers to defend Palestine from the Turks. It would be called "The Jewish Legion" and my father would hear the call ... he enlisted. Thus began a military adventure for my father that would first take him to Canada for basic training, then on to the Mediterranean.

I'm not sure of the itinerary or the chronology for that matter. My father made port in Malta, then Palestine. He spoke of the Dardanelles and of Gallipoli and of the ever-present threat of attack from the Turkish army. He never spoke of the fighting. Spoken of or not, at some point in his inauspicious career as Private Morris Chaim Blake, he received a large dose of mustard gas. His lungs were burned and his military career abruptly ended. He spent some time in a military hospital in England before being sent back to the United States for discharge.

Over the years that followed, my father remained connected to the Jewish Legion through various civilian affiliations. And he avidly followed every event leading up to the formation of the State of Israel. He was forever a champion of the cause. I think he was the first on the block to buy Israel bonds ... I still have some!

Somewhere in this story lurks a sub-plot that has always eluded me: how and when my father become the only Blake in a family of Bloch's. There are numerous theories, but one thing's for sure ... his army dogtags bore the inscription, "BLAKE" -- "JEW" ... I always thought of that as an oxymoron of sorts.

When my father reminisced about his experiences in the Jewish Legion, he always emphasized the positive aspects of a very harsh existence for a young man. I heard a lot more about the bountiful orange groves of Palestine than of the fighting to preserve them ... my father was like that.

Sincerely,

Philip Blake (loving son of Morris Chaim Blake)

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HISTORICAL NOTE: The Jewish Legion was a military formation of Jewish volunteers in World War I, who fought in the British Army for the liberation of Eretz Yisrael from Turkish rule. The idea was raised, on December 1914, by Vladimir Jabotinsky and was fully embraced by Yosef Trumpeldor. By the end of March 1915, 500 Jewish vounteers from among the yishuv deportees in Egypt had started training.

British military command opposed the participation of Jewish volunteers on the Palestinian front and suggested the volunteers serve as a detachment for mule transport on some other sector of the Turkish front. Trumpeldor succeeded in forming the 650-strong Zion Mule Corps, of whom 562 were sent to the Gallipoli front. Meanwhile, Vladimir Jabotinsky pursued his project of a Jewish Legion for the Palestinian front. Finally, on August 1917, the formation of a Jewish regiment was officially announced.

The unit was designated as the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. It included British volunteers, members of the former Zion Mule Corps and a large number of Russian Jews. On April 1918 it was joined by the 39th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, over 50% of whom were American volunteers. In June 1918, these battalions were sent to Palestine, where the volunteers fought {under the command of General Allenby} for the liberation of Eretz Yisrael from Turkish rule. The Jewish Legion was demobilized by the anti-Zionist British Military Administration, 1919-1920.  [extracted from http://village.co.il/leumi/ped/concepts/d1.htm]

DIGGING DEEPER: An excellent chronicle of the Jewish Legion may be found in a book by Elias Gilner entitled, "War & Hope: A History of the Jewish Legion", Herzl Press, New York, 1969. Also, an extensive collection of photos and memorabilia are on display at the Jewish Legion Museum (Bet Hagdudim) at Moshav Avihayil near Netanya in Israel; for their hours of operation, directions and other information, you may wish to visit http://www.infotour.co.il/itm_opt.cgi?9723+06

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