The question posed by seventh graders in the Mineola Middle School was the same for each of the members of the Mineola, Williston Park and Albertson Veterans of Foreign Wars posts: What does Veterans Day mean to you?
The veterans had served in different wars and endured different conditions, but there was a consistent theme in their answers.
“Freedom was fought for by many people. It’s very important that we remember that without veterans there would be no freedom,” said Manny Grilo, a Vietnam veteran who is commander of Mineola VFW Post 1305.
“To me, it’s a reflection of what I’ve done,” said Vinnie DeMartino, a career soldier who served in three wars – World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
“World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars. The original Veterans Day was called Armistice Day. It marked the end of World War One,” he told the students.
Charlie Boyd, Nassau County VFW commander, continued the history lesson for the students.
“At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the first world war came to an end,” he said. “To me, it reminds me of all the men who were in the service with me and all the veterans who didn’t come back.”
Boyd served with the U.S. Marines in the Korean War, often referred to as the Forgotten War by veterans – historically overlooked because it was never officially resolved and didn’t end in victory for the United States.
Boyd explained to the students that a soldier’s job is to follow the orders of the president, the supreme commander of the U.S. armed forces, to engage in any conflict as the president directs, rather than what one’s personal opinion might dictate.
“You should not pick the war you want to fight in,” Boyd said.
The other question the students posed as a more personal one: Did any of the veterans have any regrets about serving in the armed forces?
“I never regretted it. In Vietnam, we won every battle, but we lost the war because of politicians,” said Grilo, a lifetime member of Disabled American Veterans.
Wounded twice in a combat that took him into the clandestine war the U.S. carried on in Laos during the Vietnam War, Grilo said he suffers from the effects of being exposed to Agent Orange during the war.
He told the students that they didn’t have to join the military to serve their country, and he said that he thinks service is a responsibility all Americans should share.
“You should realize you can serve your country whether you’re in the military or not. It’s important to serve. That’s what we are in this country to do, to serve one another,” Grilo said.
World War II veteran Ray Paz recalled the moment he was motivated to enlist to serve his country. He was sitting in the audience of the Mineola Theater in 1941 when the movie was interrupted. He remembered a man coming out on the stage of the theater to announce the Japanese had attacked the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor.
He participated in the D-Day landings at Normandy and was wounded during his second day in combat. He came back from that to rejoin the 19th U.S. Infantry Regiment, he told them, and sustained a second, more serious wound after crossing the Mosel River into Germany.
But he didn’t regret a moment of his service, he said.
“I made a career in the army,” DeMartino said.
In a humorous aside, he added, “My parents had a store. I didn’t like working in a store, so I stayed in the army.”
