An Evening to Honor Gold Star Families
In 2017, we remembered our fallen heroes and their families. We are honored that Mrs. Karen Kelly was our keynote speaker. Her son, 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, was killed by a roadside bomb during a foot patrol in 2010. Mrs. Kelly and her husband, Secretary of Homeland Security General John F. Kelly, chose to channel their grief into something positive to honor their son.
She spoke about her own experiences growing up in a military family, marrying a member of the military, and raising a family that moved constantly due to relocations and deployments. She described the feeling becoming the base mother when the units were deployed, how the families would work together, meet regularly, and offer support.
We are grateful that for all three events, seats were generously donated for local active duty personnel to attend.
In 2016, we held a celebration to thank the Liberators of the Nazi concentration camps, many of whom were members of the Jewish War Veterans. As Jews who freed the remainder of the European Jewish population from the Nazis, many connected with Holocaust survivors on a much deeper level. They spoke Yiddish or German to them, they led Jewish services in the centers of the camps, and they offered a sense of comfort and kindness the Jews had not seen for many years.
MG Sidney Shachnow was our keynote speaker. The General is a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Massachusetts in 1950 and joined the US Army after high school, and later became the commanding officer of the Green Berets.
Honoring the Liberators
An Evening to Honor Medal of Honor Recepients
In 2015, we honored Jewish, and all, Medal of Honor Recipients. At this Celebration, there was also another emphasis: honoring those who have chosen to serve their country, and those who are our future. During dinner, videos of Medal of Honor recipients Colonel Jack Jacobs, Corporal Tibor Rubin, and Lieutenant General Robert Foley were shown, courtesy of the Medal of Honor Foundation. The crowd watched in hushed silence as the Recipients described their war experiences. Following the videos, Colonel Jacobs, an NBC News military analyst, and Lieutenant General Foley, the Director of Army Emergency Relief, each offered entertaining remarks during the keynote address.
Over fifty seats were donated by generous benefactors so that active duty military personnel and their guests could attend in their stead. Also in attendance were members of the Military Coalition, including representatives from the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Air Force Sergeants Association, Marine Corps Reserve Association, National Guard Association of the United States, and Vietnam Veterans of America.
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