Jewish Brigade Group arm patch with blue and white stripes and a Star of David worn by a Brigade soldier

Military arm patch worn by Leo Englard when he served as a soldier in the Jewish Brigade Group during World War II. This patch is modeled on the emblem previously adopted by the Jewish Agency during the British Mandate in Palestine that became the national emblem following the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The British Army established the Jewish Brigade Group in September 1944. It included more than 5,000 Jewish volunteers living in Palestine and was the only independent, national Jewish unit to serve in WWII. The unit served in combat during the final battles for the liberation of Italy. The British dissolved the Brigade in the summer of 1946. Leo remained in Palestine and married Fanny Dominitz, a German Jewish Holocaust survivor who emigrated to Palestine in 1947. The couple had known each other in Germany and had corresponded throughout the war.