OPERATION BENJAMIN
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
MISSION 2026
Join Operation Benjamin as we honor the service and sacrifice of
four soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
During this mission, we will replace the headstones of
three Jewish American soldiers from World War I:
PFC David Latken
CPL Jacob Leifer
PFC Benjamin P. Yarish
We will also honor the extraordinary legacy of:
PFC Johann (Hans) Kasten
A non-Jewish World War II American soldier who risked his life
to protect his Jewish American POW comrades.
Tuesday, November 17, 2026
12:00 PM
Arlington National Cemetery
1 Memorial Avenue, Arlington, Virginia.
Attendance is limited, and reservations will be honored in the order received
ABOUT THE SOLDIERS
WORLD WAR I
PFC DAVID LATKEN
David Latken, born David Bernstein around 1891 in New York City, was a Jewish American soldier who lived with his sister’s family in the Bronx. After serving with several units, he joined the 28th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division and fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France.
He was killed by wounds received in action on October 11, 1918, and was buried the following day in a military cemetery near Brizeaux, France, before his remains were returned to the United States in 1921 and reburied at Arlington National Cemetery in 1922.
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CPL JACOB LEIFER
Jacob Leifer was born on February 23, 1897, in Nikolayev, Russian Empire (now Mykolayiv, Ukraine), and immigrated to New York City in 1914 to join his sister and brother-in-law. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in New York in 1917 and served with the 16th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division, fighting in major engagements including Soissons, St. Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
During the fierce fighting in the Meuse-Argonne, Leifer was severely wounded by poison gas and evacuated to Base Hospital No. 15 in Chaumont, France, where he died from his wounds. His remains were subsequently returned to the United States and buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
PFC BENJAMIN YARISH
Benjamin Philip Yarish was born on April 4, 1896, in New York City and grew up in Brooklyn, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1917, he served with Company D of the 306th Machine Gun Battalion, 77th Division, and fought in France during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive as part of the famed “Lost Battalion,” which was surrounded by German forces in the Argonne Forest and endured five days of intense fighting without relief.
Yarish died during the Lost Battalion action in October 1918, and his remains were returned to the United States in January 1922. At his father’s request, they were sent directly to Arlington National Cemetery, where PFC Benjamin Yarish was buried on February 9, 1922.
WORLD WAR II
PFC JOHANN (HANS) KASTEN
A Righteous Soldier Among the Nations
The Jewish People Gather to Give Thanks
PFC Johann “Hans” Kasten, an American soldier of German ethnic descent captured during the Battle of the Bulge, became the elected leader of the American POWs at Stalag IX-B in Bad Orb, Germany. When the German commandant ordered the Jewish prisoners to identify themselves for segregation and transfer to the Berga camp located within the Buchenwald concentration camp, Kasten refused to provide their names, declaring that the American Army did not differentiate between its soldiers by religion. He then instructed the other POW leaders that no prisoner should admit to being Jewish, risking his own life to protect them.
