Veterans honor Jewish service members at Memorial Day event Saturday in Joliet

Veterans of World War II and the Vietnam War spoke in support of Jewish service members at a Joliet synagogue and encouraged people to consider the real meaning behind Memorial Day.

Tony Arellano, a Vietnam War veteran, and his friend Joe Belman, a WWII veteran, along with Belman’s family, attended a Shabbat service Saturday at the Joliet Jewish Congregation. The service also included prayers for veterans who made sacrifices in times of conflict.

While Arellano intended to speak about Memorial Day, he also took a moment to remark on the tragic killing of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

The two were staff members of the Embassy of Israel.

Arellano said his “heart is heavy.”

“May it never happen again but we know the reality is there’s an awful lot of hate in this world. And that’s what we want to combat, by reaching out to each other and realizing how important we are to the whole of America that is made up of so many different segments that need to know and understand each other,” Arellano said.

Arellano is a senior vice commander for Cantigny Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 367 in Joliet. He told the audience that some people may view Memorial Day as a time for shopping, and it may mean the end of school for youths.

But he said he wanted people to think about what the day really means, especially when some say, “Happy Memorial Day.”

Arellano recalled one time he was hospitalized after being hit by a drunk driver while out for a walk. He said his children’s classmates sent him get-well cards.

One of the cards stood out. He said the card showed a picture of a car and a mangled body in the middle of a road. The card said, “Happy accident.”

“It didn’t really convey what it meant, and that’s what happens when you say, ‘Happy Memorial Day.’ You’re saying, essentially, ‘Happy Death Day.’ What Memorial Day, as a holiday, means is the day to honor the over 1 million people that have died defending freedom,” Arellano said.

Arellano said the contributions of Jewish people in WWII were “fantastic.”

“The women who volunteered to be nurses or staff positions in the military. The women who made victory gardens so that the troops could be fed. They would not have to buy that type of item. The women who worked in factories, producing all the gauze for the war. The leaders, the admirals and the generals that led us in war,” Arellano said.

He said more than 60% of American Jewish doctors volunteered for the military to “ease the suffering and heal the wounded.”

Arellano said many Jewish people who died in battle during WWII were buried under a Christian cross. He said that happened because of the “heat of the battle” or because soldiers decided to declare their religion as Christian on their dog tags.

“If they were captured by the enemy, they did not want to be treated differently,” Arellano said.

Arellano noted recent legislation called House Bill 2701 introduced in the U.S. House Of Representatives. The legislation is called the Fallen Servicemembers Religious Heritage Restoration Act.

The legislation would establish a program to identify Jewish American service members buried in military cemeteries overseas under markers that incorrectly represent their religion and heritage.

Belman, a gunner on a B-17 bomber who flew on 36 combat missions in WWII, turned 100 last year. He spoke at Saturday’s service about his experience participating in a mission in 1945 that involved the bombing of Berlin, Germany.

American commanders were under “great pressure” to bring an end to the war and agreed to end their strategy of targeting only military sites by bombing Berlin, according to a PBS article for a 2010 documentary called “The Bombing of Germany.”

Belman said he was haunted by the bombs dropped on innocent people in that city. He said soldiers, whom he said were either 18 or 19, did not know about the Holocaust at the time. He said they were mainly fighting to end the war.

“We did not know it and now, even now, it haunts me that we had to go through that kind of a situation,” Belman said.

Arellano said the U.S. became involved in WWII not only because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor but also because of the Nazi oppression of Jewish people in Europe.

“They were taking away the freedoms of the people – the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the freedom of the press. They were passing laws that allowed discrimination,” Arellano said.

He said freedom is only equal to the “willingness to fight for it.”

“But in fighting for it, we have to remember that a lot of people die and we have to remember the debt we owe those people by honoring them on Memorial Day, not with ‘Happy Memorial Day,’ but ‘Remember Memorial Day,’” Arellano said.