WWI memorial in Belmar, New Jersey. Nov. 2013, Paul Goldfinger photo ©

Korean War vets march in Middletown parade. Nov. 10, 2013. Asbury Park Press photo. Nov. 11.

Today, November 11, 2022, a Veterans Day Ceremony was held in Ocean Township. In attendance were representatives of 3 local veterans groups, and the new Ocean Mayor presided, Mayor John Napolitani.   Also in attendance was State Senator Vin Gopal , members of the  Ocean Twp Committee, and other officials.  Taps were played by an Ocean Twp. High School Marching Band trumpeter—–Christopher Wilson.

An elementary school student sang the National Anthem, and Boy Scouts in uniform handed out flags and programs.

Eileen Goldfinger of Ocean Grove, wore her Statue of Liberty hat which we bought in New York at the 200th anniversary of USA.  And I wore my authentic JWV hat .

Here we are on the way to the meeting. It was inspiring, and we represented our uncles, cousins,  and her dad.

Commander Robert McKnight, Post 714   Catholic War Vets. Mayor John Napolitani  (L) welcomed the well attended event.  All photos by Paul Goldfinger.

Commander Jim Mack, post 2226, Oakhurst VFW

Commander Mark Rubenstein, Post 125, Jersey Shore,  Jewish War Vets. (JWV)

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger. Re-post 11/11/22.

In WWI, the US mobilized over 4 million people.  We had 323,000 casualties.

In WWII we mobilized 16 million and had over 1 million casualties.   Of course we lost people in many other conflicts as well.

Goldfinger family album.  Paul’s uncles.  Bayonne, NJ, 1945. Upper left clockwise: Al Demby, Marty Litinger, Duke (Samuel) Demby, Ben Demby.  Not shown is Bernard Harkavy, Eileen’s Dad who served in Europe. Photo by Aunt Jean Litinger.

Marty was in the Coast Guard and traveled with the convoys going to Britain and Russia via the North Atlantic.  Ben was in the Army and won a Bronze Star for valor.  Duke was in the submarine service, while Al was a Sea Bee. They were children of immigrants who were always grateful for what America offered our family.

These four uncles served in WWII.  They were my mom’s  4 brothers, and they all came back to the family home on the Boulevard in Bayonne. We were so lucky.   As a young boy, I was proud of them—-my heroes.  

They resumed their lives and had families.  One was an electrician, one ran an ice cream business, one was  a postal worker and one opened a hat store.  They’re all gone now. 

My cousin Harold Demby was an infantryman in Vietnam, and he did see combat. He is a retired draftsman.  Harold will join us for Thanksgiving this year.  And my cousin Ernie Bergman was an officer in Vietnam.  He’s a retired Middlesex County prosecutor  (“Ernie the Attorney”) now playing a lot of golf in Florida.

I served in the US Navy Medical Corps for 2 years during Vietnam, but I stayed in Portsmouth, Virginia as a cardiologist in a 1,400 bed  Navy hospital. Although I have a sword (mandatory and ceremonial) from that time,  which is in my bedroom in Ocean Grove in case a Barbary pirate shows up, I never saw combat. 

We took care of returning prisoners of war and wounded servicemen as well as retirees.    I am a proud member of Jersey Shore Post 125, Jewish War Veterans.

It was an honor to follow our family’s  leads and take part in the heroic traditions of our military and to represent our family in thanking this great nation.

GARRETT HEDLUND