Edward Kirschenbaum
Edward Kirschenbaum’s Personal Narrative was derived from information found in public records, military personnel files, and local/state historical association materials. Please note that the Robb Centre never fully closes the book on our servicemembers; as new information becomes available, narratives will be updated to appropriately represent the life story of each veteran.
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Military Honor(s):
Distinguished Service Cross
Citation: The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Edward Kirschenbaum, Private, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Moulins, France, July 15, 1918. Private Kirschenbaum carried numerous messages through heavy artillery and machine-gun fire from the front-line companies to battalion headquarters. Due to his efforts communications were maintained during the period when his organization was successfully defending its position against powerful enemy attack. On one of his trips he captured three enemy prisoners, who had infiltrated through our lines.
Life & Service
- Birth: 27 April 1895, New York, NY, United States
- Place of Residence:
- Race/Ethnicity: Jewish American
- Death: 14 March 1982 Brooklyn, NY, United States
- Branch: Army
- Military Rank: Private
- Company: [F]
- Infantry Regiment: 38th
- Division: 3rd
Edward Kirschenbaum was born to Anna Kramer (1877-1963) and Herman Kirschenbaum (1869-1948), Austrian immigrants, on 27 April 1895 in New York City, New York. Kirschenbaum was the eldest of six children, Jack (1896-1979), Samuel (1899-1986), Murray (1903-1974), and Edmund (1905-1987). The family lived at 1510 Brook Avenue in the Bronx into the 1910s, where Kirschenbaum, Sr. worked as a tailor. In his teens, Kirschenbaum worked as a clerk- he lived at 1534 Webster Ave., New York.
Details regarding Kirschenbaum’s early life are largely unknown.
Kirschenbaum enlisted in the U.S. Army on 9 December 1917; he was assigned, as a Private, to Company F, 38th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division. Pvt Kirschenbaum arrived in France on 29 March 1918, he was promoted to Corporal on 29 October 1918.
Then-Private Kirschenbaum received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions near Moulins, France on 15 July 1918;
“The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Private Edward Kirschenbaum (ASN: 550986), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company F, 38th Infantry Regiment, 3d Division, A.E.F., near Moulins, France, 15 July 1918. Private Kirschenbaum carried numerous messages through heavy artillery and machine-gun fire from the front-line companies to battalion headquarters. Due to his efforts communications were maintained during the period when his organization was successfully defending its position against powerful enemy attack. On one of his trips he captured three enemy prisoners, who had infiltrated through our lines.”
Cpl Kirshenbaum and Co. F left Brest, France on 12 August 1919 aboard the U.S. Army Transport Ship USS Nansemond.
Cpl Kirschenbaum was Honorably Discharged on 23 July 1919, only to re-enlist, serving as a Sergeant at Camp Pike, Arkansas until 23 July 1920.
After his second Discharge, Kirschenbaum lived in Queens with his parents and siblings; on 27 November 1926 he married Esther Oesthreicher (1904-1983) in Manhattan, New York. The couple had two children, Armand Raymond (1929-2019) and Arthur Samuel (1932-2009). The family settled in Manhattan at 620 W. 189th St., where Kirshenbaum worked as a chauffeur for a taxi service in the 1930s. In the 1940s-1950s, living at 204 West 106th St. and working as a patrolman at the Naval Medical Supply Depot (Brooklyn).
Little else is known of Kirschenbaum’s adult life; he died of an unknown cause on 14 March 1982 in Brooklyn, New York. He is buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery, Flushing, New York.