New York-New Jersey Club pays tribute to our community veterans
By Doug Kates, Editor, On Top of the World Newspaper
On May 30, we recognized Memorial Day - a tribute to the service men and women we lost in the armed forces.
Also in May, the New York-New Jersey Club held a memorial tribute service, but for the second consecutive year, its ceremony not only centered around those we lost, but also paid tribute to the survivors who still call On Top of the World home.
“Memorials, like the New York-New Jersey Club service, give credit to where credit is due” said resident Mike Kaplan, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
“It is always nice to be recognized,” said Air Force veteran Paul Miller. “Always nice when someone walks over and says, ‘we appreciate what you did.’”
Overall, 11 of our own residents stepped forward to get recognized at the May 25 ceremony. There were many others who chose not to be there for their own personal reasons.
Jim Smyth, former Marine was one of the organizers for the New York-New Jersey Club, said this will become an annual event and each year the club plans to recognize the new veterans who move into our community.
“As long as I am able, I will be there,” Mike Kaplan a World War II veteran said. “I think, what the New York-New Jersey Club is doing, is wonderful.”
Each World War II Veteran attending the evening service received a honorary plaque from the club. The honored were:
David Bowman, Charlie Coffman, Gerard Lamothe, Carl Leiby, Alfred Higgins and James Richute from the Navy. Fritz Kocka from the Army, Sidney Roth from the Coast Guard and Ken Roberts from the British Army.
For Paul Miller a World War II Veteran, who flew in combat missions over Italy, the true memorial service takes place once a year when he is reunited with former service personnel from around the country. Many years ago, his reunions included many, many fellow Air Force veterans. But last October, during a reunion in New Orleans, there were only six left who attended. Paul flew in B-25 bombers. At the reunion in New Orleans, he was privileged to fly in a B-25 once again, where he was reunited with his former pilot. “To hear the engines roar, definitely a thrill,” Paul said. “I flew in 60 missions. My pilot got me back everytime.”
Mike said he attends memorial services in respect to his own military career, but even more so, to those who never made it back home.
Mike Kaplan tells a story which emphasizes the need to thank our World War II veterans now and not later. Recently, Mike attended a show with more than 2,000 people in the crowd. The show was also a tribute to service men and women from across the country.
At the end of the show, everyone who had served in the most-recent Iraqi war was asked to stand and be recognized, of which Mike looked around and saw many young people get honored. The recognition continued from war to war to war with the most recent battles first. Then, finally, it was time for the veterans of World War II to be applauded.
When WWII service men and women were asked to stand, Mike was the only one in the entire theater who left his chair.
After a brief moment of feeling alone, Mike said he realized he wasn’t by himself - he was also standing for those who couldn’t be there. “Memorial Day publically remembers those who laid down their lives for us,” he said. “I lost dear friends overseas. For me, this day is personal.”
The New York -New Jersey Club tribute was attended by family, friends and other OTOW residents.
If a community veteran would like to be recognized next year, all they have to do is talk to someone from the club.
Here is the link to our video:
http://www.ontopoftheworldnews.com/clearwater/MemorialTribute.avi
Here is the link to the photoshow....
