Come Celebrate Memorial Day in Monroe, Woodbury.

I'm off for Memorial Day. I hope to see you at one of these parades.

My Great Grandfather, Isidore Mendelson, joined the Army and fought on behalf of the United States in World War 1. He was an immigrant to this country, and wanted to do his part for the land that gave him an opportunity to live free of persecution many Jews faced in Russia.

My Grandfather, Louis Mendelson, joined the Army not long after Pearl Harbor, and spent three years in North Africa and Italy. He didn’t talk about it much. The only thing he ever said to me about World War 2 was that it was the “worst three years of my life.” I later learned from My Dad that Louis helped build bridges and was part of the Army Corps of Engineers

My Dad was drafted 1A to go to Vietnam, but found a loophole. He was a hippie and, like a lot of the Baby Boomer generation, knew that the war in Vietnam was based on a load of bullshit. The loophole led him to teaching in the Bronx for over forty years. So although he didn’t serve his country in the Army, he served it in another vital way.

Me? I just turned 1…