David Marcus, Israeli commander in the Jerusalem area, was killed last night in a last-minute, pre-cease-fire battle between Jewish and Arab Legion troops. A former colonel in the U.S. Army, Marcus, who was 47 years old, was a native of Brooklyn, N.Y. A message from Premier David Ben Gurion to Col. Marcus’ wife, Emma, paid tribute to Marcus’ contribution “to the building up and perfecting” of the Israeli war machine during the short time he served the Jewish state. Speaking in the name of the government and people of Israel to whom, he said, Col. Marcus had endeared him-self by his “superb courage and his remarkable military devotion,” Ben Gurion declared that his name will “live forever in the annals of the Jewish people and we feel confident that American Jewry will be proud of its great and gallant son who has given his life for the liberation of Israel.”
(Col. Marcus was Hew York City Commissioner for Correction from 1933-1940 and an assistant U.S. District Attorney from 1929-1933. He was a West Point cadet and last served in the War Departments division of war crimes. He also saw combat service on most fronts during the last war, parachuting into Normandie with invasion forces in 1944 He also participated in drafting surrender terms for Germany and Italy and served as a legal aide during the Dumbarton Oaks, Yalta, Teheran and Potsdam conferences.)
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