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16

March 8 • 2018

jn

continued from page 14

Hall of Fame, and the Combs Gates
Award for contributions to the preser-
vation and/or promotion of America’s
air and space heritage from the
National Aviation Hall of Fame.

STANDING BY ISRAEL

Doing good works is paramount to
Handleman, who said he’s “not reli-
gious in the classic sense,” but that
Judaism is “very important in our
lives, but in a way that doesn’t nec-
essarily involve daily ritual.”
In October 1993, he traveled
to Israel to volunteer in the Yom
Kippur War. He was hoping to see
action but instead “was given a very
menial job, taking the place of a
reservist who was called to the front.
I gritted my teeth and did what I had
to do.”
Loss of Israeli Air Force aircraft
to Soviet surface-to-air-missiles
spurred the development of stealth
technology, to which Handleman
devotes a chapter in his latest book.
“Israel was on the brink, and I
doubt Israel would have survived if
not for the U.S. resupply operation
called Nickle Glass,” he said. “As a
Jewish American, it was important
not to allow another Holocaust. This
was just 30 years after the last one,
so I got a real sense of purpose in
being there.”

RENAISSANCE MAN

Handleman’s myriad achievements
soar far beyond the field of aviation.
As a producer and director, his com-
pany, Handleman Filmworks, made
several television documentaries.
“Our Missing in Action” is about
Vietnam-era soldiers and their fami-
lies. “Remembering the Holocaust,”
which includes interviews with survi-
vors, won a Best Documentary Emmy
from the Michigan Chapter of the
National Academy of Television Arts
and Sciences.
“I made it to address the disturb-
ing claims by those who suggest the
Holocaust never happened or wasn’t
as bad as they say,” Handleman said.
An accomplished photographer,

two of his images grace U.S. com-
memorative postage stamps. One
celebrates the U.S. Air Force’s 50-year
anniversary in 1997 and features a
shot of four Thunderbirds speeding
across a crisp blue sky above the old
Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscada.
The second, issued in 2004, is a
painterly photo of the U.S. Air Force
Academy’s Cadet Chapel in Colorado.
That site, Handleman said, illustrates
the best of America because of the
way it welcomes and accommodates
all faiths.
“For me, this image makes a state-
ment about who we are and what
differentiates us from the enemy,
who is fixated on an ideology that is
very intolerant,” he said. “The chapel
symbolizes universal values that we as
Americans hold dear.”
Growing up in Bloomfield Village,
Handleman remembers events his
parents, Paul and Sonia, held for the
annual kickoff of the Allied Jewish
Campaign in the 1960s and early
’70s. Paul, who also headed Temple
Beth El’s building campaign, served
in the Air Corps in World War II.
“He was not a pilot or hero in the
classic sense, but to me, as a son, he
was very much a hero,” Handleman
said.
His love of aviation was greatly
influenced by Sonia, who grew up on
the periphery of the groundbreak-
ing Cleveland Hopkins International
Airport. She loved watching the air
races and eventually went to work at
the airport.
“She would impart to me these
marvelous stories about working
for the airlines in the early days,”
Handleman said. “The U.S. manned
space program also influenced me.
All of us kids on my street wanted to
grow up to be astronauts.”
While he hasn’t gotten to launch
into space, Handleman did have
the honor of introducing legendary
astronaut John Glenn at an aviation
event.
“We were backstage, just the two
of us talking,” he recounted in won-
der. “I’m still not over it!” •