eNewsletter
According to the Westchester County Veterans Service Agency, there are 100,00 veterans representing all periods of conflict living in the county. These men and women are a part of the millions of Americans who have served their country in the army, navy or air force.
This Friday, November 11 is Veterans Day. In 1919, Woodrow Wilson declared November 11 to be Armistice Day to commemorate the soldiers who served in World War I. It was officially recognized as a federal holiday in 1938 for veterans of that war. Veterans Day as we know it formally began in 1954 where, after the service of American soldiers in World War II and Korea, November 11 became a day to honor veterans of all wars.
Local veterans organizations organize parades to honor the service men and women across the country. The American Legion Ernest Pasqua Post #1506, a local post of one of the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organizations, is organizing a motorcade in the Crestwood section of Yonkers. The parade begins at 12:30PM on St. Eleanora’s Lane. The parade route and more details are available on the post’s website.
The Yonkers Public Library Archive has several interviews with World War II veterans like Alex Strohmeyer, Frank Fortuna, Stan Bernstein and Bill Moye. There is also an interview with Robert Abate, who describes the process of getting Tyrone Pannell, a Marine Lieutenant who was killed in Vietnam, inducted into the Manhattan College Hall of Fame and meeting Tyrone’s daughter. This experience and getting to know World War Two veterans, moved him to interview two hundred World War II veterans.
All of these interviews were conducted by Michael Walsh from the Will Library.
If you want to support the troops and veterans in Yonkers, visit the Department of Veterans’ Service website. Be sure to check out some of these books as well to learn more about the experience of service men and women throughout our nation’s history.
Alison Robles is a part-time page at the Crestwood Library. She is an avid reader with a passion for fantasy, history and science fiction. A Yonkers native, she graduated from Iona University in 2020 with a dual-degree in Marketing and Public Relations.