Commemorating Veterans Day in Inwood

Eleven members of Pfc. John J. Oliveri Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1582 gathered around the memorial monument at the intersection of Doughty Boulevard and Mott Avenue in Inwood for another year.

Post Commander Miguel Martinez led the small company of men in commemorating Veterans Day on Nov. 11. This year is the 100th anniversary of the what became known as Veterans Day and began in 1919, one year after World War I ended, as Armistice Day.

The original day honored all those who fought in the “war to end all wars” and in 1954 was extended to include veterans of all the nation’s wars.

“Today we honor all our veterans who placed their lives on the line,” Martinez said. “We salute those who fought for our freedom. He noted that to put those freedoms into action, citizens should be exercising their right to vote and fighting against injustice. “We should be teaching our children what it means to be American,” Martinez added.

Korean War veteran Jerry Killane spent four years with the National Guard in Hempstead when he decided to enlist in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. “I enlisted for two years and served 18 months,” he said, adding that the VFW’s ceremony “shows loyalty to all the Americans” that served and “the WWII guys that served three to four year are my idols.” “I wasn’t up on the front lines. What I remember is all the food was powdered. The eggs were powdered, the milk was powdered.”

Nearly 18 months ago Post 1582 sold the building to M & R Catering. It had served as post headquarters upstairs and functioned as a catering hall downstairs. The new tenants now are Bais Tefillah of Inwood, an orthodox synagogue currently leasing space from Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island, also on Doughty Boulevard in Inwood, as the inside of the building are undergoing renovation.

Shul President Tzvi Sussman said that the post members can keep the monument at the corner location long they want. A gesture that the post members said they appreciate.