November 19, 2004/Kislev 6 5765, Vol. 57, No. 12
Honoring Jewish veteransEvent celebrates Jewish life in Arizona
DEBORAH SUSSMAN SUSSER
|
 Phil Adelman |
| Related stories |
| Rabbi Koppell promoted to colonel |
Adelman was one of five Jewish veterans on the program at the Nov. 11 Veteran's Day event, which honored Jewish patriotism and service to country as well as marked the kickoff of Celebrate 350: Arizona. Irwin Harris, chairman of Celebrate 350 Arizona, read a proclamation regarding Celebrate 350 from Gov. Janet Napolitano. The event, with about 75 attendees, was sponsored by the Arizona Humanities Council, the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, the Jewish Community Foundation and the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix.
Other veterans present included Mistress of Ceremonies Rabbi Bonnie Koppell (see box), Dr. Gerald Becker, Irv Shaffer and Clarice Fortgang Pollard, author of "Laugh, Cry, and Remembrance." Eleanor Hersh, who organized the Valley of the Sun Jewish War Veterans Post 194 Women's Auxiliary in 1946, delivered the opening prayer, and Rabbi Albert Plotkin closed the ceremonies by leading the audience in a rousing version of "God Bless America."
Shaffer, who flew 65 combat missions in World War II, said he had encountered only one instance of overt anti-Semitism during his more than two years in the service. "I was playing cards with one guy who kept making anti-Semitic comments," he remembered. When Shaffer asked the man to stop, "the guy said, 'What if I don't?' I said, 'Stand up and I'll show you.'" When the man went to stand up, Shaffer punched him, first in the sto-mach, then in the face. After that, Shaffer and the man went out of their way to avoid each other.
"We were a novelty," Clarice Pollard said of herself and other women, Jewish and otherwise, who joined the newly formed Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in World War II. The word "auxiliary" was eventually dropped, but still, Pollard said, prejudice against the so-called WACs persisted. Although Pollard, who worked at six Army posts, had the privileges of an officer by the time she was discharged, at the end of the war she remained a corporal.
"I think you need to put in for some back pay," Koppell quipped as Pollard left the stage.
Adelman spoke on the topic of raising a Jewish family while having a rewarding military career, no mean feat in a culture that "is not friendly to family, let alone Jewish family."
"You can do it," he said. "The thing is, you have to be involved."
When Adelman was stationed in Bermuda in the 1960s, the nearest kosher butcher shop was 700 miles away. "And some people have trouble driving to Segal's," he joked. Lucky for the Adelman family, Phil was flying what he calls "big planes" by then, so when the family needed food, he'd schedule himself to fly to Miami.
During his tour of duty in Vietnam, Adelman said, "I would call all the lay leaders and say, 'What do you need for your oneg?'" Then he would fly to the Philippines, go the commissary, and shop for every-body. "That was my contribution to the war effort."
The Adelmans' son is a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, stationed in Italy. His wife serves as the Jewish lay leader there.
"If there isn't anybody there, you do it yourself," Adelman advised. "If there is somebody there, you join."
After Adelman spoke, Koppell pointed out that for Jews wanting to maintain a Jewish family and a Jewish way of life as civilians, the lesson isn't very different: "You need to seek out the Jewish community and support the Jewish community."
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