Mickey Marcus

David Daniel "Mickey" Marcus

Marcus was a United States Army Colonel, later Israel's first General, who was a principal architect of the U.S. Military's World War II Civil Affairs Policies, including the organization of the War Crimes Trials in Germany and in Japan.

He was born on February 22, 1901 in Manhattan, New York City (to Jewish Parents that came from Romania.)

After High School he was accepted into the West Point Military Academy and graduated in 1924 (one of the few Jewish Cadets allowed in.)

After completing his Active-Duty Military Service he went to Law School. He spent most of the 1930s as an Assistant US Attorney in New York prosecuting Gangsters like Lucky Luciano.

In 1940, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia named Marcus Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction for the City of New York.

After leaving Active-Duty Military Service he stayed in the Organized Reserve Corps. In 1939, he joined the Judge Advocate General's Corps, and became Judge Advocate of his Army National Guard Unit, the 27th Infantry Division, which was Federalized in 1940. After the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Marcus deployed to the US Territory of  Hawaii where he organized and commanded a Ranger Combat Training School.

 In 1943, he was sent to Washington DC and was assigned to the Civil Affairs Division, as Chief of Planning for Occupation Governments in Territories liberated from the Axis. He accompanied U.S. Delegations to the Conferences at Cairo, Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam, and helped draft the 1943 Surrender Terms for Italy.

In 1944 he got transferred to the United Kingdom where he used his West Point connections to parachute into Normandy on D-Day with the first wave of the 101st Airborne Division, despite having no Paratrooper Training. He took informal command of some of the scattered Paratroopers and was in combat for a week. He was then sent back to the United States.

After V-E Day in 1945, General Lucius D. Clay asked for Marcus to serve on his Staff in the Occupation of Germany. Marcus was in charge of providing for the millions of Displaced Persons in Germany. Clay required all his Subordinates to tour the Dachau Concentration Camp outside of Munich, West Germany. Marcus was shocked by its horrors; though not previously a Zionist, he began to think differently about a Jewish State.

In 1946, he was named Chief of the Army's War Crimes Division in Washington, planning legal and security procedures for the Nuremberg Trials and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. He attended the Nuremberg Trials, making sure that Nazi Crimes were thoroughly documented. After the Trials, he was offered promotion to Brigadier General, but instead elected to return to civilian life and his law practice.

In recognition of his service in "negotiation and drafting of the Italian Surrender Instrument, the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Germany, and the international Machinery to be used for the control of Germany after her total defeat" he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. In 1946, he was named an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire, ‘in recognition of the distinguished service performed … in cooperation with British armed forces during the war." He also was awarded the Bronze Star and other awards.

In 1947, David Ben-Gurion (who was trying to form a Jewish State in British-Mandatory Palestine) asked Marcus to recruit a U.S. Officer to serve as Military Advisor to the nascent Israeli Army, the Haganah. Marcus could not recruit anyone suitable, so he volunteered himself and after receiving permission from the US Army (and using the Nom de Guerre – Michael Stone) Marcus went to Palestine in January 1948.

He designed a command and control structure for the Haganah, adapting his U.S. Army experience to its special needs. He identified Israel's weakest points in the Negev south, and the Jerusalem area.

On May 14, 1948 (the day before the British Mandate in Palestine ended) David Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s Independence.

Immediately, 70,000 Arab Soldiers (from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, etc.) attacked Israel from the north, south, east, west, the air and the sea.

Marcus was appointed Aluf ("General") and given command of the Jerusalem Front on May 28, 1948. As no ranks had been granted to the Israeli High Command at that time, he became the first General in the fledgling Nation's Army (the Israel Defense Forces.)

(A bulldozer tows a truck on Burma/Jerusalem Road, June 1948.)

He participated in planning Operations Bin Nun Bet and Yoram against the Latrun Fort, held by the Arab Legion, which blocked the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which was under Siege by 8,000 Egyptian and Jordanian Soldiers (for nearly a year and where at least 600 Jewish Civilians were killed by the Arabs.)

 Both attacks failed, but Marcus then built the "Burma Road to Jerusalem" – a makeshift winding road through difficult hill terrain, nicknamed after the World War II supply route to China. His "Burma Road" was opened to vehicles on June 10^th, breaking the Siege of Jerusalem, a day before a United Nations Ceasefire took effect.

A few hours before the Ceasefire on June 11, 1948, Marcus returned to his Central Front Headquarters in Abu Ghosh. Shortly before 4:00 a.m., a Sentry, Eliezer Linski, 18 years old, and a one-year Palmach Veteran, challenged Marcus, whom he saw as a figure in white.

When Marcus failed to respond with the password, Linski fired at Marcus, as did one or more fighters in a nearby Sentry Post. Marcus was found dead, wrapped in a white blanket.

Marcus knew very little Hebrew and had responded in English, which Linski did not understand.  Marcus wore no Rank, although Officers had been recognized by a ribbon pinned to their Uniforms. As Marcus's body was removed from Abu Ghosh, a ribbon was found and placed on his casket.

Marcus’ body was returned to the United States for burial at West Point, accompanied by Moshe Dayan and his Wife Ruth.

(The Marcuses' Graves in the West Point Cemetery.)

His burial, with Military Honors, was attended by Governor of New York Thomas Dewey, former Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, and General Maxwell Taylor, then Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Marcus' Grave is the only one in the West Point Cemetery at the United States Military Academy for an American killed fighting under the flag of another country; he was still eligible for interment there because he was a Graduate of the Academy who served honorably. His gravestone at West Point reads: “Colonel David Marcus—a Soldier for All Humanity".

His Widow, Emma Marcus (Chaison), received a Monthly Pension from the Israeli Government until her death in 1982.

(David Marcus Memorial BKiryat Ya'arim, Near Abu Ghosh.)

In 1966, the film “Cast a Giant Shadow” was released about Mickey Marcus with Kirk Douglas starring as Marcus and also starring: Senta Berger, Yul Brynner, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Angie Dickinson.