Joshua Louis Goldberg | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 6, 1896 Belarus, Russian Empire (Present-day, Belarus) |
| Died | December 24, 1994 (aged 98) West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Service | Russian Imperial Army United States Army United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1914–1916 (Russia) 1917–1920 (U.S. Army) 1942–1960 (U.S. Navy) |
| Rank | Private (Russia) Sergeant (U.S. Army) Captain (U.S. Navy) |
| Battles / wars | World War I World War II |
| Awards |
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| Other work | Rabbi Columnist |
Joshua Louis Goldberg (January 6, 1896 – December 24, 1994) was a Belarusian-born American rabbi, who was the first rabbi to be commissioned as a U.S. Navy chaplain in World War II (and only the third to serve in the Navy in its history), the first to reach the rank of Navy Captain (the equivalent of Army Colonel), and the first to retire after a full active-duty career.[1][2]
He had a highly unusual military background for a U.S. Navy chaplain, having been drafted into the Russian army when he was a teenager, then deserting to make his way to the United States where he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving in an infantry unit in Europe during World War I before beginning rabbinical school studies in New York City after the war.
- ^ Obituary, "Joshua L. Goldberg, Jewish Chaplain, 98," New York Times, December 26, 1994
- ^ Official Oral History (Oral History Program, Chaplain Corps, United States Navy), Joshua L. Goldberg, official Navy comments/history to accompany transcript of interview conducted by Chaplain (Navy Commander) Lawrence Martin, 1980, retrieved Oct. 20, 2011.