soul

veteran’s day

Distinguished Career

New JWV commander to participate in
Detroit’s Veterans Day parade.

T

iming is every-
thing. On
Monday, Oct. 29,
I left a dental check-up
and drove to a second
dental appointment; this
time with retired dentist,
Alan Muskovitz Dr. Edward “Ed” Hirsch,
83, of Farmington Hills.
I was meeting him for
lunch in advance of Veterans Day, Nov.
11, to prepare this article about his dis-
tinguished 27-year military career.
I met him initially in June, just after
his appointment as the new Commander
of the Jewish War Veterans (JWV)
Department of Michigan. He succeeded
Larry Berry, an Army captain in the
Vietnam era, who served with great dis-

tinction as commander for five years.
“I was an Army officer first, who also
happened to be a dentist.” That was the
humble way Col. Edward Hirsch, D.D.S.,
described his service to his country.
While he would use his profession in the
Army, the leadership skills he exhibited
so impressed his superior officers that
he was often assigned responsibilities
away from the dental chair. Ed received
dangerous counterinsurgency and intel-
ligence assignments, details of which he’s
not permitted to share to this day.
During a tour of duty in Vietnam with
Special Forces in 1970, Ed caught the
attention of the commander of military
operations and future Chief of Staff
of the Army, Gen. Creighton Abrams,
who reassigned him as a team leader in

Special Operations.
During that same
tour of duty, Ed
would be on the receiving end of his
third battle-related injury when, on an
airboat in South Vietnam, he took a hit
from a RPG (rocket propelled grenade).
A traumatic leg injury landed him in
Walter Reed Hospital for 9½ months
and earned him his third Purple Heart.
Ed was introduced to service to one’s
country at a young age. Born in Jersey
City, N.J., Ed’s father, the son of Lewis
and Fannie Hirsch, served during both
WWI and WWII as an aviation mechan-
ic and member of the Coast Guard.
1958 would be a pivotal year for Ed.
He married Shirley, 82, now his bride
of 60 years, after his first year of dental

school at Fairleigh Dickinson University
in New Jersey. The couple celebrated
their milestone anniversary June 15.
“My future mother-in-law, Rae Levine,
a wonderful woman, introduced me to
her daughter Shirley while attending
Rosh Hashanah services in 1956,” Ed
said. It turns out Shirley was literally the
girl next door. “I was renting a room in
the house directly next to hers.”

DISTINGUISHED ARMY CAREER
While working toward his dental degree,
Ed applied for and received a commis-
sion in the Army Reserves. Liking what
the service offered him “to fall back on if
dentistry didn’t work out,” he joined with

continued on page 60

UNIFIED IN GRIEF, WE

CRY OUT IN PAIN AND

ANGUISH OVER THE

SENSELESS, ANTI-SEMETIC

MASSACRE IN PITTSBURGH.

WE STAND IN SOLIDARITY

WITH ALL JEWISH COMMUNITIES

THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

OUR HEARTS ARE HEAVY

BUT WE REACH

OUT WITH LOVE AND

SUPPORT TO ALL. MAY

THEIR MEMORIES NEVER

BE EXTINGUISHED.

ENTERING OUR SECOND CENTURY
OF CARING AND RESPECTFUL SERVICE

HebrewMemorial.org | 248.543.1622 | 800.736.5033 | 26640 Greenfield Rd, Oak Park, MI 48237

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November 8 • 2018

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