20 minute read
Remembering the GI Joe
Remembering the GI Jew
Gold Star Mom Beth Agami Speaks about Her Son, Army Pfc. Daniel Agami, z”l
BY SUSAN SCHWAMM
Pfc. Daniel Agami was a proud Jew who joined the U.S. Army after college. Unfortunately, Daniel lost his life serving his country. This week, in honor of Memorial Day, we spoke with Beth Agami, Daniel’s mother, about Daniel’s life and the sacrifices he made protecting American interests around the world.
Beth, for many people in our community, Memorial Day is for barbeques and parades and maybe a half day of school. Perhaps if we speak about
the sacrifice, and we really understand what it
means to be living in this country like the United States with people who gave their lives for our freedom, it would help people understand what Memorial Day is really about.
You know, it’s not just in the Jewish community. It’s the entire country. It really depends on where you are, where you live, for you to have a better understanding of what Memorial Day is. For those who have family that served, those people are more than likely to better understand what Memorial Day means.
When it comes to Memorial Day, it is like a party day. It’s a weekend at the beach. There’s not enough understanding behind the meaning of Memorial Day. I always try to compare it to Israel because you know what they do in Israel for their Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron. There, you feel it. You feel the pain and suffering. There, everyone’s been affected, more or less, by someone who was killed in the military. Here, it’s not as likely that that’s going to happen, so that’s where the breakdown comes in. Children here aren’t being taught about Memorial Day. Out of respect – not just for the soldiers who have sacrificed their lives – but for those who served in all the past wars, when the country needed them to survive – it can be about putting a flag in your front yard or saying the Pledge of Allegiance on Memorial Day.… In this way, you can show kids and teach them about what Memorial Day is about. Army. Tell us about Daniel when he was growing up.
Daniel went to the Hebrew Academy of Margate [in Florida] until the sixth grade. It only went up to sixth grade when he was young. After that, there were no other Jewish day schools so he went to public school. He was involved in the Jewish Cub Scouts, and he was involved in the Explorer Program from the City of Coconut Creek, where we used to live, which is a program for kids who are interested in going into law enforcement. He and his brother, Ilan, did that together. Itzhak, my husband, Daniel’s father, had served in the Israeli military, the IDF. My dad served in the U.S. Navy in the Korean War. So Daniel was brought up with a sense of military.
He left high school early and got his GED and went to college early. After college, when he was 23, he decided to join the military. He didn’t even tell us he was going to do it. He went to the army recruitment office in Margate, and he signed himself up.
When he came home and told us, we thought it was great. We were like, “That is awesome. Whatever you decide is good for you and your life, we think that’s a great decision.” He told us that he wanted to serve on the frontlines – he could have served in any position.
When we asked him how he was going to maintain his Jewish values while in the army, he told us that he would “take it as it comes.”
When he enlisted, he went to basic training in Fort Benning, Georgia. During that time, those eight weeks, we weren’t able to have any communication with him.
Is that standard procedure?
Yes. That’s a standard thing when people first enter the
army and are in training.
Soon after Daniel arrived there, actually, he went into the mess hall, and he was standing in line, and his sergeant asked him, “Why aren’t you eating, Agami?” Daniel told him, “I can’t eat this food.” His sergeant was very curious about why Daniel couldn’t eat while all the other guys were chomping down. Daniel answered him, “Because it’s not kosher, sir.”
I remember Daniel telling me that. Those were his words, “It’s not kosher, sir, and I can’t eat most of this food in here.” The sergeant actually went back into the kitchen and asked Daniel what foods he could eat. He told him he could vegetables and those types of food. The sergeant was able to get him that food and that’s what Daniel ate.
He was really challenged with this while he was on the frontlines in Baghdad. And it was always a problem for him, but he managed because he was so used as being a bodybuilder, so he got accustomed to making protein shakes, and that was accessible to him from the base. He would eat dairy products and fruits, vegetables, and stuff like that. He tried his hardest to keep kosher in his way.
That’s really impressive.
It was amazing. And it’s not like there weren’t any other Jewish soldiers. Nobody really knows how many Jewish soldiers admit to being Jewish when they’re serving, but there’s one thing about Daniel: he did not hide it. He did not care what other people thought. He was who he was, and he was proud of being Jewish. He really made it an effort to teach people and explain to people that this is what it is. And he actually gained a lot of respect because of that.
One thing that they did have in Fort Benning – and I don’t know if they still do this, but I have a feeling that they do – was Rabbi Lipskier from Emory University, who would drive every Sunday two hours to the army base to give a shiur to the Jewish soldiers. His attendees weren’t all Jewish, though. He always brought lox, bagels and cream cheese – a whole Sunday brunch – with him. Daniel used to tell me, “It’s so awesome; I can’t wait for Sunday.”
Rabbi Lipskier sounds like an amazing person.
Yes, it’s amazing what they do for those soldiers. At the time, they were Daniel’s savior.
When Daniel was at Fort Benning, they let him leave the base for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur to go to a nearby shul. He was very excited about that.
Once you leave your basic training, then they send you off to your next place, and for Daniel, that was a place called Schweinfurt, Germany, which was his home base in Europe. The barracks there were an ex-Nazi military base. They removed all the Nazi emblems that were at all the buildings, but they did leave them, from what I’ve heard, on three of the barracks. And, of course, one of the barracks that Daniel was staying in was the one with the Nazi eagle emblem. Of all the buildings there, that was the one that Daniel ended up in. stand Daniel. While he was there doing his training, soon after they arrived over there, a company was selling flags of all nations down there. One of the other soldiers said to Daniel, “Daniel, just to let you know that there’s Israeli flag down there. If you want it, you should get it.” He ran down there and got it and hung it up over his bunk the entire time he was in Schweinfurt. All the other guys picked their flags of their nations, Puerto Rican, Mexican – whatever background they had. But Daniel was the one who had the Israeli flag hanging over his bunk, which he also brought with him to Iraq and hung it over his bunk there.
When he was in Schweinfurt, I took Shaina, Daniel’s sister, with me to Germany to visit him before he got deployed to Iraq. I think we were the only parents who went there. There were some wives and family that lived in Germany with their husbands and children, but I think we were the only ones for his unit that flew in to see him off before he went off to Iraq. They gave him like seven days to be off to spend time with us before he got deployed, and we had a great time. But after the fourth day, he said, “It’s not right that I’m leaving the other soldiers to do a job. I’m supposed to be there.” We were like, “We totally get it. Do what you think is right.” And he went back to base.
I’m sure he wanted to just rip it down.
Yes. But you have to underWhat were his feelings before he was deployed to Iraq?
I think he was nervous because you don’t know what to expect. But he did what he had to do. It was his job. A very poorly paid job, but it was a job.
From the age of 13, he was a bodybuilder. His health was always just really important to him, and he helped train the other guys that were there. He gained a lot of respect from all of them, especially because most of them never even met a Jewish person in their life before. He kind of knew that he was going to be in for a little anti-Semitism, and he did, but he put an end to that immediately. He wrote that to me in a letter. He told one guy, “Don’t mess with me. You’re messing with the wrong person.”
He really, really wanted to serve on the frontlines, but it was so challenging for him. These other guys, they came from their little life living in Iowa, and they weren’t worldly. But Daniel was very worldly. He traveled a lot and had been around the world and seen other countries and understood the Middle East mentality. They all loved him.
When did Daniel enter the Army?
He entered the Army in 2005, and he was killed on June 21, 2007. It wasn’t very long, but he achieved a tremendous amount. He was in Iraq for close to a year. The last time we saw him was when he came home for Pesach in 2007. His brother got married 10 days before he was killed. It was a whirlwind of emotions. But everything has a purpose. He actually reenlisted right before he came home for Pesach.
Did he tell you about their missions in Iraq?
Yes. They were doing a lot. They were on daily and nightly missions. They were helping to
rebuild schools. They were friendly with the locals who lived there in the community, but, of course, no one could be trusted.
I don’t know how he did it. I was in the dentist chair one day, and he called me while they were drilling in my mouth. I heard bullets over his head. I knew why he was calling me – because he didn’t know if he was going to live for the next minute. He called me to talk. I said, “Oh my G-d.” But he was like, there are bullets, whatever, “I’m fine. I’m fine.” I was like, “Daniel, you’re killing me here.”
He came into a situation when he saved everyone in the tank on a certain mission. Daniel saw a sniper to the right who had a hand grenade in his hand. And he jumped out of the turret of the tank and cornered him and shot and killed the terrorist. Had he not done that, that hand grenade would have just killed them all immediately. So for that, he got the Army Commendation Medal.
Where do you think he got that bravery from?
This kid lived like this his whole life. No fear. Nothing’s ever going to happen to me. It was just his being. It’s just who he was. It was unbelievable. And he made a great soldier. He really, really, really did. I do believe it was his calling.
He came home for Pesach that year when he was on leave. We were living in Boynton Beach at the time. He gave a really beautiful speech on that Shabbat when he was home to the congregation. And then we had Pesach at the house.
This is a cute little story: So here we are at the table. Everybody’s over – family, friends, everybody. And he sits down, and he goes, “Oh my G-d. Wait a minute. I have to go get my Kombatica.” So all of us were like, “What is a Kombatica?” We were all looking at each other, and he came back in with his military-issued kippah. He called it his Kombatica.
Years later, my daughter Shaina was ready to be bat mitzvahed. And I was like, “Shaina, you need to do a project to raise money for a cause for Daniel.” So we did what was called the Kombatica Project. She raised $10,000 for the Aleph Institute. We sold the Kombaticas across the country. On the inside of each kippah, we wrote Daniel’s name, his date of birth, his date of death, and we wrote the words “The Hebrew Hammer.” Those are the words that Daniel wrote on the rifle that he wore in public on the streets of Baghdad. That’s another AKA that he went by: The Hebrew Hammer and GI Jew.
Daniel was one of the Jewish soldiers that they choppered into Baghdad to Saddam Hussein’s palace for a menorah lighting during Chanukah. Daniel had no idea where they were taking him. Bill O’Reilly of Fox News was there signing his new book, “The Culture Warrior,” and while Daniel was in line waiting to get the book, the producers pulled Daniel out of the line and asked if he wanted to be interviewed on the streets of Baghdad for the news. He agreed to do it. He ended up missing the book signing, but he had the book back at his base. I sent an email to Bill O’Reilly directly about the situation, and he mailed to my home an autographed book with an invitation for Daniel and our family to meet him at the Fox studios in NYC. Unfortunately, Daniel never made it there, but Bill invited my husband and I to meet him. We got a tour of the studios, and he made an incredible generous donation to The Hebrew Academy of Margate in Daniel’s memory.
It’s hard to find somebody who has such pride
in being a Jew. Not in the Army and not on the streets of Brooklyn.
That’s why it’s so unique. He didn’t care. He was like, “This is who I am. Take it for what it is.” One day – I’ll never forget – he was so distraught. They were driving down the street in Baghdad, and there was a big Israeli flag made out of chalk painted on the street so cars should drive over it. He sent me a picture of it, and he was so upset about it.
When he came home for Pesach, on the way to the airport, he told us, “If anything happens to me, I don’t want to be buried in Arlington. I want to be buried in a Jewish cemetery and close to home.” We were like, “Daniel, come on. Stop it.” But less than two months later, he was killed. We’re just so grateful that he told us that, that we knew we were honoring his wishes. When he was in Iraq, he was the driver of a Bradley tank. There were four other soldiers and one Iraqi interpreter in the tank with him. When you’re the driver of a tank, you’re like encased inside of a cage. They were driving, and there was an IED, and it exploded and that was everyone’s end. I guess I’ll never really, really know the truth about this, but this is the information that I got back from the Army: that he tried to release himself out of the cage, and he couldn’t get himself out, so he went up with the tank. And the only miracle behind all of that – if you want to call it a miracle because to us it is – is that he was the only one that came out with enough of a full body intact and so they were able to ship his body back to the United States. It took them almost a year to identify the remains of the other men in the tank with him. We were able to have a timely funeral for Daniel, which is a blessing. Rabbi Jacob Goldstein flew back with Daniel on a private jet from Dover, Delaware, Air Force Base and flew into Fort Lauderdale with him. That’s where we received him – at a private airport there. And, from there, we headed over to the funeral.
With his sister Shaina In Saddam Hussein’s palace with a giant menorah How did you receive the news
that Daniel was no longer alive?
The day before, both Itzhak and I had a bad feeling. We saw stuff going on in the news in Iraq, and we were like, “This isn’t good.” And then, sure enough, I get the knock at the door. My daughter, Shaina, was home that day. She was only like 7 at the time. She’s 21 today. She opened the door not knowing anything. And there they were, standing at the door, two soldiers in their Class A uniforms. And they didn’t have to say anything because you just know.
They were very, very compassionate. The way they tell you and explain it to you…what’s going to be next, what do you do. It was unique for them because we were assigned a liaison, but he had never dealt with anyone Jewish before. So this was a learning lesson for him.
There were around 2,000 people who showed up at the funeral. People came in from all over the country. Rabbi Lipskier came in. The ambassador from the consulate came. It was a military-Jewish funeral. It was really huge.
That must have been very overwhelming.
It was overwhelming.
We had this ceremony inside at the Star of David, and then after that, they typically do a 21-gun salute. But, for Daniel, they did an 18-gun salute. After they did the gun salute, somebody picked up the bullet casings and put them inside the folded flag that they handed me, that they took off of the coffin. When we got into the limousine driving down to the plot, I felt something weird inside of it. We were all in the car, and I pulled out two bullet casings. One, was round, which is normal after you shoot a gun. But the second casing, at the top, was in the shape of a Star of David. I was just blown away. I said to myself, “This is a sign from Hashem right now.” It’s a sign from Daniel, “I am here.”
And then we went to the plot for the burial. After that, we sat shiva. It’s interesting, I feel like my husband felt more comforted by the Jewish community than me during shiva. During shiva, the men came over and made minyanim and davened. But for me, I was just there with the women. So it wasn’t as good for me as it was good for my husband, but it is what it is.
Are there groups in which Gold Star moms can connect?
There’s a Gold Star mother’s organization. It’s across the country. I am friendly with a mother who happens to also be Jewish who lives here in South Florida. Her son was killed shortly after Daniel.
I’m asked to speak a lot, and I never turn down an invitation to speak. As a matter of fact, I’m speaking in Parkland on Sunday night for an event. It never ends. on in my life. The truth is, it’s very much appreciated that after all this time, people go out of their way to keep his memory alive by writing about him and his sacrifice and the life that he had, which was unique.
What message do you give to audiences when you speak?
Well, it depends on the audience. At this one that I’m going to do for Parkland, it’s going to be about explaining the differences between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. I have to explain that because, like you said earlier, people just don’t get it. They don’t understand what that even means. And then I always tell Daniel’s story. Even if it’s a non-Jewish audience, I’m going tell them about his pride of being a Jew because you got a lot of strong, Christian-minded, Gold Star mothers living in this country. They are very proud to announce about their son’s or daughter’s relationship with G-d and the whole Christian message behind it. And I will do the same thing. I bring out a Jewish message or talk about Daniel’s belief and how strong he felt about Israel and why he hung the Israeli flag over his bunk and was very Zionistic. How can I not say that? Because that’s exactly who he was.
Do you appreciate the opportunities to speak or is it hard for you?
I appreciate it, but there were times when it was overwhelming – it was so much of it. I couldn’t handle it. There was so much going What does your family do on Memorial Day?
Normally, I’m either speaking at an event or I’m invited to an event. This year, we’re driving to Cape Coral where they put up a beautiful memorial. It’s about two, three hours away. They asked me to put Daniel’s dog tag that they had specially made for the memorial there.
In Florida, in Coconut Creek, there was a post office that was renamed after Daniel. And then there was a Jewish war veteran post in Deerfield Beach that was also renamed after Daniel and two other soldiers that were killed. There’s a plaque in Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem for Daniel. His Class A uniform is hanging at permanent display at the National Jewish Military Museum in Washington, D.C. At the Hebrew Academy in Margate, we dedicated the office to Daniel, and there’s a big bronze plaque at the gate for him. And there are different monuments and pictures in his memory in Tampa, Cleveland, where he was born, and in Fort Lauderdale. The Parkland Library has his picture hanging in the entrance. There’s a lot out there in his memory.
What is your final message for our readers?
Well, just to let Jewish Americans know that we are very blessed to be living in this country and that our young men and women put themselves on the frontlines every day keeping us safe and dedicating themselves in defense of our country. They risk their lives every day while they’re away from their spouses and their children and parents and their friends. I feel it’s our obligation to show our appreciation to our active duty servicemen and women and to veterans and to thank them A photo from a private visit at the White House in which for their service on MemoBeth, Itzhak and Shaina met President George W. Bush rial Day and every day.
