20 | JULY 15 • 2021 

I 

had the privilege of witnessing three 
inspiring, heartwarming events 
recently courtesy of our beloved 
Detroit Jewish War Veterans (JWV). 
Being vaccinated and the easing of 
COVID restrictions 
allowed me to experience 
two of those events in 
person.

IKE AND GUY
On May 13, I was a 
bystander to a wonderful 
conversation between two 
pillars of our community 
— Dr. Guy Stern, director of the 
International Institute of the Righteous 
at the Holocaust Memorial Center 
(HMC), and Dr. Isaiah (Ike) McKinnon, 
former Detroit police chief and deputy 
mayor of the city of Detroit under 

Mayor Duggan.
At 99 years young, you will still 
find Stern, who enjoyed a long and 
distinguished career in academia, 
working six days a week at the HMC. 
McKinnon, 78, today is the CEO of 
City Shield Security Services and a 
contributor on law enforcement issues 
on The News with Shepard Smith on 
CNBC.
Stern had been featured on CBS’ 
60 Minutes on May 9, along with 
two other surviving members of the 
“Ritchie Boys,” the elite WWII military 
unit that trained at Fort Ritchie in 
Maryland. The television appearance 
was previewed May 7 on the JN website, 
thejewishnews.com.
Like Stern, many of the Ritchie Boys 
were Jewish German immigrants whose 
language skills were relied on by the 

U.S. Intelligence Service to interrogate 
Nazi prisoners of war. Ultimately, 
Stern and his comrades would be given 
credit for securing 60% of the vital 
intelligence in Europe during WWII. 
That contribution earned Stern the 
bronze star.
McKinnon had seen the 60 Minutes 
segment and was so moved by Stern’s 
story that, as the former chief said to 
me, “I just had to meet him.” A doctor’s 
visit would pave the way for that 
introduction. 
Ironically, neuroradiologist Dr. Steve 
Seidman, with whom Ike was scheduled 
to meet two days after the 60 Minutes 
story aired, happened to bring up the 
Stern appearance during their visit. 
(Ike told me, so no HIPAA laws were 
broken!) 
It turns out that Seidman’s office, the 
Michigan Institute for Neurological 
Disorders, is just north of the HMC on 
Orchard Lake Road where his brother-
in-law Tim Zimmerman has been the 
building manager since 2004. Seidman 
made a call to Tim. Tim then informed 
HMC events director Sarah Saltzman 
about Ike’s desire to meet Stern. That’s 
when he learned Saltzman worked with 
Ike at the University of Detroit Mercy 
when she was special events manager 

Jewish War Veterans hold heartwarming events.

Alan
Muskovitz
Contributing
Writer

Keeping Up
with theJWV

OUR COMMUNITY

The Jewish 
War Veterans’ 
Memorial Day 
ceremony

ART FISHMAN

