[1][2] He had a highly unusual military background for a U.S. Navy chaplain, having been drafted into the Russian army when he was a teenager, then deserting to make his way to the United States where he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving in an infantry unit in Europe during World War I before beginning rabbinical school studies in New York City after the war.

[1][3][5] He arrived in Seattle and traveled to New York, where he returned to the military, enlisting to serve with artillery units in the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I.

"[5] Goldberg followed the recruiter's advice, secretly spending "many an hour at night in the latrine at Fort Slocum, hiding with my [Russian-English] dictionary, trying to maintain my goal of mastering 50 new words every day.

[7] After the war, he returned to America to teach Hebrew,[6] then began rabbinical studies at the Jewish Institute of Religion in Manhattan, and was ordained in 1926, accepting the position of rabbi at New York's Astoria Center of Israel in 1926.

[1] In 1952, during a visit to Spain, Goldberg (wearing his U.S. Navy uniform) became the first rabbi in 461 years to preach during Jewish services in Madrid, in an "improvised" synagogue.

"[3] The trip—March 8, 1944 – May 20, 1944—covered more than 28,000 miles, including visits to naval installations in the Caribbean, South America, North Africa, and the United Kingdom, and was led by then U.S. Navy Chief of Chaplains Robert Workman.

[2] After the establishment of the State of Israel, Goldberg was sent on a visit as a "special representative of the Chief of Naval Operations—"concerning matters of a delicate nature and with important implications in the area of international understanding.

[13] After the conclusion of World War II, Goldberg continued to work with chaplains of other faiths, including participation in two NATO conferences on "building ecumenism among the military clergy.

"Josh" deserves the love he has gained.Following his January 1, 1960 retirement from the Navy, Goldberg continued to support military personnel in many ways, including his decision to pay his own expenses in order to travel to Naples for a number of years in a row to lead services for the Jewish High Holy Days for overseas Jewish military personnel.

[2] Upon his Naval retirement, Goldberg was appointed assistant to President Nelson Glueck at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion.

[5] On December 24, 1994, Goldberg died in West Palm Beach, Florida[1] and was buried on January 6, 1995, in Arlington National Cemetery.

[1] Much of Goldberg's family, including his mother and younger sister, died during World War II in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

[19] General Omar Bradley made the award presentation, with remarks by former Secretary of the Navy Charles Thomas and Roman Catholic Cardinal Francis Spellman.