The City of Lauderhill held a special ceremony for veterans that live in the city. They sent special invitations to a few residents and my dad was one of them. During the ceremony the commissioners presented each veteran with a plaque and read a short bio about their tour of duty in whichever war they served.
The veterans ranged from their 20s to 90s and every war you can think of from WWII and the Korean War to the current conflict in the mideast.
My dad joined the Navy after working in the Naval Shipyards in Philadelphia. He was shipped out on a destroyer into the South Pacific. This ship would mine the ocean, cut the connectors to the underwater bombs and then shoot them to detonate them so that other ships could pass through safely.
Not only did my dad go to Nagasaki but he also went to Hiroshima but after the bombs had been dropped. He really didn't talk about these experiences much in the past, but as I was interviewing him to get this information for the city, he told us about the experiences and he said it wasn't really something that he wanted to remember.
But he was thrilled that he was being honored and he was beaming the entire evening as you can see from these photos.
In this first photo, Vice Mayor Margaret Bates is standing among several of the honorees.
Mayor Richard Kaplan reads my Dad's bio as my Dad listens to his story.
Director of the City of Lauderhill Parks and Recreation Department Irv Kiffen and our friend Gert Wolder who is on the Inverrary Association Board of Directors with Joel. Irv was a professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs and was was a member of the U.S. national team at the 1978 FIBA World Championship. He is 6'9" and I purposely shot this from a low angle to emphasis the difference in height between Irv and Gert!!
Joel and my Dad looking rather dapper, huh?
During the City Commission meeting (which is televised on Comcast) the Mayor presented each veteran with an official plaque from the city!
Even Adina got dressed up for the occasion.
And I even got into the photo this time!
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