Fall 2011 - Jewish War Veterans of the United States

NOTES from the committeesDevelopment CommitteeBy Chairman PNC Monte MayerAt this point in time, most of youhave received our 2012 calendar.We certainly trust that you haveenjoyed reading the true to life storiesof Jewish men and women inthe armed forces of the USA. Aswe have mentioned before, thestories come directly from youand our friends who have servedin the military. They are not fromFacebook or YouTube, but fromour people who have gone throughtheir own archives and submittedthem to us for publication.We appreciate, and urge youall who are reading this, to lookthrough your own memories andphotographs, and share them withus for all who read our calendar.Please be sure the photos are clearand sharp and not newspaper pictures,as they do not reproducewell. You may send them to us bymail or e-mail. Everything submittedwill be returned to you on yourrequest.In the event you have not receivedthe calendar, but have receivedit in the past, it’s possibleyou may have not sent in the muchneededdonation. Feel free to callour office and ask for a copy of thecalendar which we will be happyto mail to you, of course in returnfor your much-needed donation.The premiums our DevelopmentCommittee put together forour mailings are not a benefit ofmembership. Our function is theraising of money to maintain ourorganization into the future andyour donations go to this end. Weare all aware that these are difficultfinancial times, but the purposeof our organization cannotbe overlooked and to maintain ourmission, your help is absolutely required.We look forward to yourcontinuous support, and we lookforward to providing you withthe memories of those who haveserved our nation.Homeless/Stand DownCommitteeBy Chairman PDC Maxwell S.ColonWomen make up a growing numberof homeless veterans and, as of thisreport, account for 3 percent to 4percent of the national population ofhomeless veterans. Homelessnessamong female veterans of theIraq and Afghanistan wars has increasedevery year for the last sixyears according to the Departmentof Veterans Affairs, and they arefour times as likely as their civiliancounterparts to be homeless.Female veterans contend withthe same stresses that can lead tohomelessness among male veterans;brain injuries, drug and alcoholabuse, and post-traumatic stressdisorder. Many women also contendwith sexual trauma, domesticabuse, and pregnancy often whiletrying to raise children alone.Women today make up 14.5percent of active duty personnel andnearly 20 percent of the Reserveand National Guard. Researchershave found that at least half the ofthe homeless women veterans hadtroubled childhoods with a historyof abuse, a traumatic experienceor homelessness before they enteredthe military. Over 75 percentstated they’d been victimized orstigmatized while on active duty.More women have been appearingat the VA centers in recent times.Researchers have also shown thatthe female veterans are less likelyto seek help.In the next edition of The JewishVeteran, I will further enlighten youon the homeless veteran.Hospital CommitteeBy Chairman Jerry BlumDear Comrades,This is the time of year when wehave all, hopefully, been very involvedwith our hospitals. I hopethat you and yours have had ahealthy and happy holiday, butplease remember, for our hospitalizedveterans the need doesn’tend when the holiday season ends.Here in Connecticut we are involvedwith our three institutions.At West Haven Veterans Hospitalwe supply holiday chit bookswhich the patients who are left atthe hospital collect from many differentgroups and then spend inthe canteen or hospital store. Wehave offered different gifts, butthe men and women really like receivingthe chits. Our Norwalk,CT post holds barbeques duringnice weather, which is very muchappreciated by the patients. AtNewington CT Federal VeteransHospital, which is an immediateservice hospital rather then a longterm hospital, the General MauriceRose Post provides coffee once amonth for people entering the facility.Rocky Hill Veterans Homeis a State run facility where weare very involved. The Hartford-Laurel Post does a monthly bingothere as well as an annual barbeque.The Department of CT is also veryinvolved in the yearly Stand Downduring the summer. At Christmas/Chanukah time Post 45, alongwith the Department, provides anice special gift to the Alzheimer’sward at the home. There are alsoother events in which we try toinvolve JWV during the year, butthe bottom line is this: If there isanything that we as Jewish WarVeterans can do for our veterans,Jewish and otherwise, we owe it tothem to do it!I am sure that many of us dosimilar or even more to help ourhospitals... mazel tov and keep itup. We owe it to our veterans, andif we are going to grow our membership,we must be willing to helpour needy veterans.Holocaust CommitteeBy Chairman PDC BernhardStorchThe purpose of the HolocaustCommittee is to be up front onthe issue of the Holocaust and theLiberation of Camps.To this end, on October19, 2011, I visited West Pointand spoke to Dr. David Frey’s“Modern East and Central Europe”18 The Jewish Veteran Fall • 2011 www.jwv.orgclass. I spoke to an assembly ofAcademy faculty from variety ofdepartments and distinguishedvisitors (including a retired generaland a Medal of Honor winner).As a Polish-Jewish survivorand decorated war veteran, I toldthem about my experiences fightingacross the Eastern Front as avolunteer in the Soviet-organizedPolish Army and about liberatingSobibor, Majdanek, Chelmno, andSachsenhausen between the years1944 and April 1945.I also discussed my pre-warlife, wartime experiences, andpost-war emigration to the USwith both audiences. This was mysecond visit to Dr. Frey’s class andthe Department of History at WestPoint.I first visited in 2009, and thestory still reverberates among studentsand faculty.INVESTMENT COMMITTEEBy Chairman PNC LawrenceSchulmanThe volatile market has made investingan interesting time. Wehave two investment advisors thatdo our investing for the organizationwith our approval. We tendto lean towards being conservativewith investments and have nottried to time the market.A portion of our investmentsare in fixed income and a portionis invested in common stocks.This balance has served us wellin the many years we have beeninvesting.This philosophy has helpedus in not trying to reach for thehighest yields or to try to time themarket and not try to be active asa trader.Since this is an institutionaltype of an account we have to tendtowards the conservative side ofinvesting.If any of the membership wishesto donate appreciated securitiesto our organization, please contactour office for instructions on howto complete this very importantgift.