Of all the honorees from Wednesday’s JCC Hall of Fame class of 2009, I think it was the story of deceased Sgt. Isadore S. Jachman that had for me its biggest impact.
Sgt. Jachman was a member of the 101st Airborne, Company B, 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
These were the heroic soldiers who were often sent into the Allies’ most difficult missions in the European theater of war. They were dropped by parachute into France the night before the invasion of Normandy. They fought all the way through France, the Netherlands and then were there to take over Hitler’s private home and headquarters, known as the Eagles’ Nest.  Indeed, Tom Hanks’ produced an HBO mini-series based on the Stephen Ambrose book “Band of Brothers.” The “brothers” were members of Company E or Easy Company.
This was the Nazis last major offensive, and the loss of life in the freezing cold Ardennes, produced its share of unequalled heroism. This was known as the Battle of the Bulge.
Sgt. Jachman’s company was pinned down by enemy artillery and pretty much everything else the enemy could throw at them through the snowy forest. Two German tanks, however, posed the most immediate threat on his unit.
So now, Sgt. Jachman wasn’t known for his legal knowledge; he wasn’t headed to medical school; he wasn’t a champion of the financial world. He was a soldier who loved his family, his country and his buddies. And because of that it made perfect sense to pick up a bazooka from a fallen comrade, drew the fire from the tanks and discharged the weapon, hitting and disabling one of the tanks. This disrupted the enemy forward movement, and Sgt. Jachman protected the lives of his men by sacrificing his own life.
He wrote letters home prior to his death to his sister Sylvia. He told her that he was fighting in WWII to protect her, his country and to avenge the lives of the Jews slaughtered by the Nazis. How fitting was it that Sylvia would be there at the Gordon Center to receive her brother’s award.
He would posthumously be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. And some 65 years after his death, Sgt. Jachman still is making us proud.
Sgt. Jachman was in elegant company Wednesday night. The Hall of Fame also honored Judge Ellen M. Heller, Morris W. Offit, Dr. Arnall Patz, Leon Sachs, Gilbert Sandler, Judge Simon E. Sobeloff, Henrietta Szold, Jeanette Rosner Wolman and Calman J. Zamoiski Jr.
They join the 2008 honorees of Jacob Blaustein, Shosana S. Cardin, Jacob Epstein, Dr. Louis L. Kaplan, Zanvyl Krieger, Joseph Meyerhoff, Dr. Daniel Nathans, Dr. Solomon H. Snyder, Walter Sondheim, Jr., Dr. Bert Vogelstein and Dr. Abel Wolman.
From this year on, the Hall of Fame will go to an “every other year” format of induction.