Britain enabled Palestinian Jews (as Israelis were called at the time) to fight alongside the Allies in Italy when it established the Jewish Brigade in 1944.

Chicago native Chuck Olin, an award-winning filmmaker known for his 1998 documentary about the only all-Jewish fighting unit during World War II, died January 20 near Mill Valley, Calif. He was 68.

During World War II, Erem joined the Jewish Brigade of the British army and was decorated four times for bravery under fire.

The British Army’s Jewish Brigade Group was established in 1944. Fighting under the Zionist flag, it was composed of more than 5,000 Jewish volunteers from British Mandate Palestine and elsewhere.