The Milwaukee-area posts of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA —Morris R. Guten, Marsack-Feldman Horenstein-Katz — are hoping to attract new members who are veterans of service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The three posts had a joint meeting at Horenstein-Katz Post in Shorewood on Sept. 25 to discuss this and other matters, according to a report provided by Peter Gilbert, adjutant for the Horenstein-Katz Post.
Gilbert wrote that it is not easy to identify new potential members due to privacy rules of the U.S. armed forces. Currently, more than 10,000 Jewish men and women are serving in the five branches, he wrote.
[Admiral Harold Robinson, a Reform rabbi and director of the Jewish Welfare Board’s Jewish Chaplains Council, estimated that 10,000 to 14,000 Jews currently serve in the U.S. military, according to a May 28, 2010, article on the website rj.org.]
“We cannot have access to any of these personnel to invite them upon their release,” according to Gilbert. “So the only way to gain new members is by word of mouth.” He added that many veterans in the community do not know about the local JWV.
“Many of our members are World War II or Korean War vets,” he wrote. Veterans “returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and other theaters would be most welcome as this is vital for readjustment back into civilian society.”
Guest speaker was Dan Buttery, Wisconsin fund raising director of The Fisher House Foundation. He discussed plans to establish a residence for guests at the Zablocki Veterans Administration Center.
Currently, wounded soldiers from many states are recovering there, and for families who live more than 45 miles from the hospital, visiting them is difficult. When built, the Fisher House will be able to house such families.
JWV is the oldest of U.S. veterans’ organizations and allows Jewish veterans of other countries to join. Gilbert is an Israel army veteran who served in the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
The local JWV holds a Jewish service every Tuesday at the VA Chapel and an annual Passover seder. One of Gilbert’s personal projects is to help organize new flags for all the Jewish Veterans’ graves for Memorial Day.
Recently, Gilbert reported, “a most valuable World War II archive” was found at the Jewish Home and Care Center, “which relates the history of the hundreds of Jewish veterans from Milwaukee who participated in the war.” Gilbert and Ed Goldman are working on this archive, he wrote.
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