Memorable Medals

dedication, all of the veterans will gather in our
own areas to reminisce.
Epstein, a graduate of Cass Technical High
School and the Detroit Institute of Technology, is
a retired Farmington Hills architect.
He entered the army after high school and
served in New Guinea, and Leyte, Luzon and
Manila in the Philippines, "chasing the Japanese in
the mountains," he said.
"I was a `point' man, like a scout, who went out
and pinpointed the enemy locations. One day, I
fell off of a hill and woke up in the hospital with a
broken ankle. I was lucky." He received a Bronze
Star and three battle stars.
Bertram Ellstein, 78, of Redford, can't make it to
the dedication, but, as current commander of JWV
Post 510, will lead the veterans' annual Memorial
Day weekend observance at 10 a.m. Sunday, May
30, at Machpelah Cemetery in Ferndale. The
Detroit Central High School graduate was a sailor
aboard a destroyer in the South Pacific, protecting
aircraft carriers and.battleships around the
Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
"I remember the hordes of Kamikaze planes corn-
ing in at us low over the ocean from the sun to
make it hard for us to see them, but they missed us
twice," he said. Ellstein worked for 20 years in the
Chrysler.truck plant in Warren, and spent 17 years
as a volunteer with the federal court's immigration
department.
Morton Margolis, 80, of Novi, a retired manufac-
turers' representative, another of the -100 active
members of post 510, also will observe Memorial
Day here. He was one of three Jews in his 30th
Infantry Division who landed in France four days
after D-Day. He was at the north end of the
Battle of the Bulge in the freezing winter, then
met the Russians coming from the East at the
Elbe River.
He entered the Buchenwald concentration
ple, so we had to go fight him. That service
camp in time to help release a mixture of Jewish
by the railroad tracks took us back to our
National Memorial
and German prisoners. "The Germans only
talked about getting back on their feet and
The ongoing fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan along Jewish roots."
—
World
War
II
Veteran
Sherwin
Vine
rebuilding
Germany," he recalled.
with the dedication of the National World War II
As an army radio operator, Margolis, a graduate
Memorial on Saturday, May 29, in Washington,
of Detroit Mackenzie High SchAl; was hit by
D.C., make this year's Memorial Day observance
shrapnel and spent five months convalescing in a
even more meaningful.
retired architect, "But I'm glad I got them so I
British hospital — then returned to action, staying
The monument is equal in size to the length of a
could
show
them
to
my
children
and
grandchil-
overseas
for 18 months. "The Jewish people in
. football field on a total 7.4-acre site on the National
dren."
England were nice enough to include the American
Mall between the Washington Monument and the
Marvin
Also attending the dedication will
soldiers in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services
Lincoln Memorial. There are 43-foot arches at each
Epstein,
78,
of
Southfield,
a
longtime
member
and
that year," he said. Margolis received a Purple Heart
end, one marked Atlantic and the other Pacific, sym-
past commander of Charles Shapiro Post 510 of the
and three battle stars.
bolizing the two theaters of war. The $174 million
Jewish War Veterans. "My wife, Marilyn, and I have
Do these veterans consider themselves heroes?
project, launched 17 years ago, is financed by contri-
tickets-for
Section
3
and
we're
excited.
We'll
be
"The
guys who we buried are the heroes," answered
butions ranging from school children to major corpo-
looking for the banner of my First Cavalry
Roy Albert, "not the ones who are still living." ❑
rations.
Division, 12th Regiment, F Troop. After the official

The Distinguished Flying Cross, the World War II
U.S. Navy Air Corps' highest medal, was awarded to
David Zimmer, now 86, of Bloomfield Township after
he logged more than 10,000 flying hours in 25 differ-
ent planes during his dual navy career. Zimmer, who
proudly lists himself in the phone book as "command-
er," retired with that rank after a 23-year navy stint.
He later spent 20 years in Ford's Industrial Relations
Department.
As an ensign on a destroyer, Zimmer found himself
right in the middle of the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. "The exploding ammunition
of the battleship Arizona narrowly missed our destroy-
er," he said. "That ship was bombed and sank instant-
ly about 400 yards away. We roamed around the sink-
ing ships trying to find survivors." To this day, oil still
Sherwin Vine received the Purple Heart, Bronze Star
seeps from the Arizona, which is a tomb for 1,177
and
three battle stars.
sailors.
Zimmer later went to flight school and earned sever-
al medals bombing and strafing Japanese island bases.
Roy Albert, 79, of Beverly Hills, whose story is in
"I never cared about the medals — just the sacrifices
the book, will attend the dedication along with
made by my buddies," he intoned. "But I would never about 150,000 others who were issued free tickets.
throw my medals away.
He will be looking for former buddies who were
The impact of The Wars of Our Generation is even
prisoners of war with him for six months at a POW
greater this weekend as the nation observes Memorial
camp in Potsdam, Germany.
Day for the 137th time — while at war again. When
Albert, an infantryman, had his knee shattered by
the Senior Men's Club, mainly a social club with 450
shrapnel on the same day he was captured. He was
active members, gathers at its weekly meeting Friday,
freed on VE Day, May 8, 1945. But due to an
May 28, at the Birmingham Community House, they
administrative mix-up, he didn't get 10 medals he
will hear a special invocation recognizing the day set
earned until last year — 58 years later — when
aside to honor the dead of all wars.
they suddenly arrived in the mail. "The medals
Memorial Day was first proclaimed by Union Army
were never really that important to me," said the
Gen. John Logan May 30, 1868, to remember the
•
Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the
Civil War. The term Decoration Day, now intei-
"The war was really our fight as Jews; We
changeable with Memorial Day, was used originally
because the Civil War families beautifully decorated had heard that Hitler was killing our peo-
the graves of their fallen relatives.

"

.

5/213
2004

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