Tuesday, May 28, 2002

SALUTING AMERICA’S HEROES
Boca Raton, Delray Beach ceremonies honor veterans,invididuals who died for freedom
Boca Raton News, Susanna Laurenti, 5/28/02
Organizers of South County Memorial Day ceremonies reported record crowds Monday, despite the day’s heat.
Ceremonies in Boca Raton and Delray Beach attracted thousands who turned out to honor war veterans and others, including the police and firefighters who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “There’s obviously a connection. A year ago, we thought we lived in peace, and now we’ve had a rude wake-up call,” said City Councilman Dave Freudenberg who attended the city’s annual Memorial Day event at Boca Raton Cemetery. “There’s a new spirit and meaning to Memorial Day.”

Freudenberg and city Event Planner Emily Lilly said the crowd at the ceremony was larger than they’d ever seen it, and included more young people than ever before. Boca Raton Mayor Steven Abrams agreed and pointed out that young people who grew up in the city are now serving in the armed forces as part of the United States’ war against terrorism. “We have young people who are in harm’s way now. This ceremony was a tribute to them, former service men and the community,” he said.

In Delray Beach, more than a hundred people attended a remembrance ceremony at Delray Beach Cemetery. Many than moved on to a wreath-laying ceremony at Veterans Park near the Intracoastal Waterway where a wreath was tossed into the water in memory of those who died in military service. “Memorial Day is a time to remember the guys who didn’t come back,” said Henry Balvin, a Delray Beach resident and member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4141 who served as a master sergeant for a year in Vietnam and worked with the Military Assistance Corps Vietnam Special Operations Group. He said Monday’s events reminded him of his best friend, Jim Kelly, who flew with him and died in combat. “This day brings back a lot of war memories,” he said.


Many of the officials who addressed crowds at South County Memorial Day ceremonies mentioned the events of Sept. 11 in their statements. West of Boca Raton, Marine Corps Veteran Neil Casey deviated briefly from his script while serving as master of ceremonies for a Memorial Day observance at Veterans’ Park on Palmetto Park Road to tearfully remember victims of the terrorist attacks.
“This is not on the program,” said Casey, “but let’s take a moment to reflect on Sept. 11, the ones we lost and the ones we’re losing now. God bless America.”

State Rep. Irv Slosberg and Florida Sen. Ron Klein, both South County Democrats, spoke at that event, as did county Commissioner Burt Aaronson, county Sheriff Ed Bieluch and Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore.

The ceremony was organized by a variety of veterans’ groups from suburban Boca Raton and attended by Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops and ROTC units from Deerfield Beach and Stranahan high schools in Broward County.

The ceremony at Boca Raton Cemetery was organized by the city and featured performances from the Boca Raton High School Band and Navy Junior ROTC, the Fort Lauderdale Highlanders bagpipe ensemble and singer Nancy Davis.

In Delray Beach, 21-year-old Suzy Law sang “The Star Spangled Banner” for the 13th year in a row.
“It’s really important for people my age to be supportive of this,” she said. “We don’t really know what it’s like to go through a war. We need to respect the people who gave their lives for their country, even if it’s the heroes of Sept. 11.”
Delray Beach’s events were organized by local veterans’ groups. At cemeteries in both cities, Boy Scouts marked veterans’ graves with American flags.

Freelance Writer Nancy Miller contributed to this report.

Monday, December 10, 2001

THE NIGHT BEFORE XMAS

'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.
I'D COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE WHO IN THIS HOME OF STONE PLASTER DID LIVE.

AS I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN A TREE.
NO STOCKING BY MANTLE, JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG SOME PICTURES OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

AND MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBERING THOUGHT CAME RACING TO MIND.
THIS HOUSE WAS SO DIFFERENT, SO DARK AND SO DREARY,
IT HOUSED AN OLD SOLDIER, THAT I SAW CLEARLY.

THAT SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN HIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.
HIS FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM SUCH MESS,
HARDLY THE WAY I THOUGHT SOLDIERS WOULD DRESS.

WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I HAD READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED?
I KNEW THAT THE FAMILIES I'D SEE THROUGH THE NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO SUCH SOLDIERS -- THOSE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD, OUR CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD ENJOY A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.
THEY ALL OWED THEIR FREEDOM EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
TO SOLDIERS, LIKE THIS ONE, LYING RIGHT HERE.

I COULDN'T HELP THINK THAT MORE LIE ALONE,
ON COLD CHRISTMAS EVES IN LANDS FAR FROM HOME.
THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I KNELT BY THE SOLIDER AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY, THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;
I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT, HE'D SLEEP AND I'D WEEP.
I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL
WE SHIVERED IN SILENCE FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.

I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE THAT COLD AND DARK NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR SO WILLING TO FIGHT.
THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER, WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
"CARRY ON SANTA, ALL IS SECURE."

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."

This poem (edited by this website) was reported to have been written by a Marine stationed in Okinawa, Japan. The following is his request. "Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit to due to our U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us. Please, do your small part to plant this small seed."

Thursday, May 31, 2001

In Honor of My Parents
Jacob ("Joe") and Lucille Mirsky


by Ellis Mirsky
General Counsel
The Network of Trial Law Firms
http://www.TRIAL.COM


[Note: Ellis Mirsky designed and maintains our website, http://www.TamaracMCL.com/ as a hobby. In real life he is a lawyer in New York, as well as Executive Director and General Counsel of an international association of law firms known as The Network of Trial Law Firms. Recently, at a meeting of his organization in San Diego, California, the group visited Miramar Marine Air Station. This is a report on that event, including the talk that Ellis gave at dinner. We think you will enjoy reading about it.]

Background:

Friday evening, April 27, 2001, I had to good fortune to bring 215 attorneys and spouses/significant others onto the base at Marine Air Station Miramar near San Diego, California. We arrived in 5 luxury busses, each of which was boarded at the gate by a sharp "Tom Cruise" type Marine Captain of all of 27-33 years old who took command of each bus and narrated as we rolled onto the base and then past a guard and onto the air field. 215 professionals and family then "fell out," mouths open, eyes-wide open, as we looked into what appeared to be a Sears Auto Repair for F-14s and F-18s. We could hardly believe our eyes, or our good fortune.

For the next hour or so, we were treated to a guided tour of the jet aircraft in the hangar. We crawled over, under and around a half dozen single seaters, each larger than the busses that brought us there, as the Marine Captains explained everything they could, short of divulging anything confidential. Each of us touched these jets, and were, in turn, touched by them and by the Marines who daily operate, fly, maintain and train in them.

To see the cockpit from atop a set of wheeled metal stairs and realize that there's just no space there to fit anything more than a relatively modest-sized pilot really drove home the seriousness of their
business.

We were told that the day prior to our visit the pilots had dropped bombs in Utah. One of our members remarked that he did know that we had declared war on Utah. Now that was funny.

After more than an hour, we had to get going. Our busses then ferried us to the Officers' Club (in the Tom Cruise movie, "Top Gun" the "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" scene was filmed there) where we
enjoyed a first class dinner with entertainment by a California beach band playing Beach Boys and other 60s and 70s music.

As the coordinator of the event, I had an opportunity to address the group prior to dinner, welcome them to Miramar and also to tell them something of my connection with Miramar as well as to pay tribute to
my parents who had a very big connection with Miramar. My remarks, reprinted below, were very well received. They are reprinted here for your reading and, I hope, your enjoyment.

Ellis Mirsky
Son of Joe and Lucille Mirsky

Welcome to Miramar:

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. And good evening Jarheads [we invited the Marine officers to join us for dinner . . . and they did! We fed about a dozen Jarheads that evening].

"We are delighted to be here at Marine Air Station Miramar, also known as the place where Tom Cruise showed Kelly McGillis some of his best maneuvers.

"We are indeed fortunate to be here and honored to be in the presence of our Marine Corps hosts. The United States Marine Corps is universally acknowledged to be the finest military organization in the
world. Other services seek to emulate the Marines. Other countries try to build their own corps. But there is only one Marine Corps. And it’s ours.

"On behalf of The Network of Trial Law Firms and all of our corporate guests, spouses and significant others, I want to thank the Marines here at our dinner whose selfless dedication to our country is part of the bedrock on which our liberty depends. As lawyers we know all too well that without law, there can be no order. However, without order, there can be no law. The Marines give us order, on a global scale.

"I want to acknowledge some of the folks in our own group with ties to the Marine Corps.

-- Fredrick Block, father of my partner, Richard Block, served in the Marine Corps.
-- Captain Alex Chotkowski, of the Rome, McGuigan law firm (Hartford, CT)
-- Captain Richard Fox, husband of Kathy Fox of the Wildman, Harrold law firm (Chicago, IL)
-- Corporal Timothy Patrick Rooney, active, with service in Kosovo, Bosnia and his father
-- Timothy Patrick Rooney, retired, having served in Viet Nam, nephew and brother-in-law of George Murphy of the Hecker Brown Sherry and Johnson law firm in Philadelphia, PA)
-- Gary Robinson, Navy flight-surgeon based in San Diego in the early 60's, father of Brett Robinson of Pro Bass.

"I am sure that there are more, but that’s what we were able to come up with just from the folks attending our program.

"Now, I want to tell you a little bit about Miramar from a very personal perspective. And I want to tell you about two very special Marines -- my parents. Now I don’t call them Marines just because they are strict,
demanding, principled, and honorable people, which they are. I call them Marines because they were, or, as they like to say, are: Marine Sergeant Lucille Mirsky and Marine Staff Sergeant Jacob ("Joe") Mirsky
– Mom and Dad.

"Against the wishes of the then commandant, the first Women Marines during WWII began arriving February 13, 1943. At that time, women were trained at Hunter College in the Bronx. Mom enlisted in June, 1943, and was called up in August, 1943. By that time the training center had been moved to Camp LeJeune, NC.

"Mom is proud to say that Women Marines have always been called Marines, as opposed to the other services. Although her duties during WWII were largely clerical and office work at Headquarters at the Naval Annex in Arlington, Virginia, she was/is a Marine.

"Mom was stationed at Henderson Hall, a compound specifically for Women Marines, in Arlington, Virginia. She says that when they fell out for calesthenics at 0500 each morning, Arlington Cemetery was just over the wall.

"Sunday, December 7, 1941, Dad went down to a recruiting station in Manhattan to enlist. It was 7:00 p.m. He couldn’t get near the building because of the lines of men waiting to enlist. Cops were all over the street trying to control the crowds. People were told to go home. They just couldn't accommodate the number of volunteers who turned out.

Dad returned several times until he was permitted to enlist in May, 1942. He waited until August 17, 1942 when they called him. That day he traveled 26 hours in box cars with wooden seats to Yemassee. Then 30 miles by cattle truck to boot camp at Parris Island, SC. From there on in, he says, it was double time all the time. The Marine Corps had no dungarees or boots to give them and for a week they trained in their civilian clothes. A week later they were issued dungarees and boots. 8 weeks in PI, and they were shipped to Camp LeJeune, NC for 4 weeks on the rifle range. Dad qualified as a Marksman (that means, he said, he could hit the target). He was then transferred to Quantico, Virginia where he was able to practice his shooting. He qualified as an expert and earned $5 per month extra for a year.

"In February, 1945 every Sergeant and better at Quantico (there were 117 of them) who had not been overseas, was put on a three-part troop train (Army, Navy, Marines). The Army slept 2 per bunk, and the Navy stacked their men 4 high. Each had their own galleys. The Marines, though, had individual bunks with a Pullman Porter to keep the train car neat. The train stopped 3 times each day at “Fred Harveys” to eat. But only the Marines left the train for meals. And they did so at every stop. The Army and the Navy ate from their galleys.

"In California, the train stopped at Linda Vista, a train station, and the Marines were transferred by truck to Miramar. Upon arrival they were put in barracks near the airfield. No mattresses, they slept on wire
webbing. One day everyone had to fall out. My Dad and another Marine were told to get their sea bags and report to a jeep. He thought for sure, this is it. He was finally getting to go overseas -- the reason he enlisted.

"Instead, he was taken to an airplane hangar with a sign “Construction and Maintenance School.” Dad attended that school and earned a 3.9 average, so they kept him on to teach at the school and work on the base as a carpenter. One of the projects he worked on was a 10'x10' portable broadcasting booth that was sound-insulated.

"That was April or May, 1945. Mom, having been discharged from the Marine Corps previously, followed by train about that time.

"Dad stayed in the Corps until May, 1946 until he was discharged, having earned his 36 points, pretty much just by being in the Corps and doing his job. Prior to discharge, Dad took a 3-4 day course, “how to become a civilian.” Dad thinks he did very well in that course. Mom thinks that’s a matter of opinion.

"So, discharge papers and $200 “travel allowance” in hand, Dad left the gate, seabag over his shoulder, and took a bus into Linda Vista. Mom had lined up a house to live in. I arrived about a year and a half later in November, 1947.

"Mom (78) and Dad (79) are alive and well and retired in Boca Raton, FL. Both are active members of the Marine Corps League; both are officers in the Tamarac Detachment of the Marine Corps League
(http://www.tamaracmcl.com/). Mom is an active member of the Women Marines Association. And both are proud to say, they are Marines.

"Thank you and enjoy dinner."

* * *

Thursday, December 21, 2000

Manor Care Nursing Home, Sunday, December 10, 2000 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM

Where:
Manor Care Nursing Home
375 NW 51st St.
Boca Raton, FL

What:
Veterans Day / Pearl Harbor Day presentation with Deerfield Beach MCJROTC to WWII veterans at Manor Care Nursing Home with presentation of award certificates confirming "YOU DID MAKE A DIFFERENCE."

On Sunday, December 10th, 2000 at 1:30 p.m. Tamarac Detachment #755 of the Marine Corps League presented a Veterans Day program for veterans who currently reside at the Manor Care Nursing Home, 375 NW 51st Street in Boca Raton.

Due to their frail physical condition, these veterans were unable to attend the Veterans Day program in Veterans Memorial Park, Boca Raton, on November 11th. Therefore, the Tamarac Detachment brought Veterans Day to them. The program was planned to take place as close as possible to December 7th, a date that is meaningful to the World War II veterans. The program consisted of presentation of Colors by the Deerfield Beach High School Marine Corps Junior ROTC Color Guard, presentation of a Certificate of Appreciation to each veteran, and distribution of an American Flag to each resident of the Home.

Abe E. Wilen, an Air Force veteran of World War II, was the guest speaker. Mr. Wilen flew 20 combat missions as a navigator on a B-24 Liberator in the 8th Air Force. Actor Jimmy Stewart was his Operations Officer. He spent one year as a Prisoner of War in Germany after his plane was shot down.

Mr. Wilen is a member of the 'Former-POWs Speakers Bureau' at the West Palm Beach Veterans Hospital. He is also the Coordinator of the program that brings the World War II bombers into Boca every year. He is a lifetime member of American Ex-Pows, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Jewish War Veterans, and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

All residents of the Nursing Home and their families were invited to attend. Refreshments were served.
Memorial Service for Lost Squadron. Tuesday, December 05, 2000 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM

Where:
Flight Control Tower at Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport.

What:
Detachment Color Guard leads the Parade of Color Guards in Memorial service for The Lost Squadron at Navy Park at the foot of the Tower at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport.