After graduating from Yeshiva Universit, Shalom Lamm spent several years working in the real estate industry. Over the years, he oversaw the acquisition, restoration, and development of almost 10,000 apartments. Outside of his professional responsibilities, Shalom Lamm is one of the leaders of Operation Benjamin, a project that aims to put Star of David on graves of Jewish American soldiers who died during World War II.
The seed of Operation Benjamin was planted in 2014 when Rabbi JJ Schacter visited the cemetery where the U.S. soldiers died during D-Day was buried. He concluded that there were too few graves marked with Star of David. Several weeks later, Shacter talked to Mr. Lamm, who calculated that there should be around 270 Jewish soldiers at the cemetery. However, only 149 graves were properly marked.
The two started researching all buried soldiers who could have possibly been Jewish. The first grave to receive a gravestone with Star of David was that of Private First Class Benjamin Barney Garadetsky from the 66th Regiment of the 2nd Armored Division.
The project was initially named Normandy Heritage Project, as it was focused on the grave in Normandy. However, the initiative widened in scope over time to encompass various other American Military cemeteries around the world. Finally, in 2016, the project was renamed Operation Benjamin after Benjamin Garadetsky.
