Created in partnership the the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, William Shemin: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty features artifacts from the collections of The Weitzman and the National Museum of American Jewish Military History (NMAJMH).
In 1918, fighting in France, William Shemin earned the Distinguished Service Cross at the Vesle River, South East of Bazoches, France when he crossed enemy fire multiple times to rescue wounded comrades. Shemin was injured himself but continued with the fight. Shemin’s family always believed he deserved the Medal of Honor and initiated the long process of having the records reviewed for an upgrade to the medal.
in 2015, President Barack Obama presented his daughters with Shemin’s posthumous Medal of Honor. In that ceremony, President Obama also gave a posthumous Medal of Honor to William Henry Johnson of the 369th Infantry, an all-Black unit better known as the Harlem Hellfighters.
President Obama said “Sergeant Shemin served at a time when the contributions in heroism of Jewish Americans in uniform were too often overlooked. But William Shemin saved American lives. He represented our nation with honor. And so it is my privilege on behalf of the American people to make this right.”
Philadelphia’s Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History (The Weitzman) and the National Museum of American Jewish Military History (NMAJMH) have launched this collaborative virtual exhibition together using objects, photographs and archival materials from both museum’s collections.
See Shemin’s Medal of Honor citation in our exhibit Hall of Heroes: American Jewish Recipients of the Medal of Honor.