As our nation prepares to celebrate Veterans Day, there's a group in our Jewish community that works to honor, remember and help veterans every day.
Jewish War Veterans, a national organization, started as the Hebrew Union Veterans Association in 1896, after the Civil War. The organization was started in part to fight the perception that Jews weren’t doing their part in defending our country by serving in the armed forces.
JWV is the oldest continuous veterans organization in the United States, older than even the Department of Veterans Affairs and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Locally, Jewish War Veterans MO-Kan Post 605 has been around since after World War II, established on March 20, 1948. Founding members included Chester Kaplan, Louis Pelofsky, Irving Pelofsky, Dr. A.L. Kushner, Al Jacobs, Ralph Cohn, Ben E. Pener and Albert A. Levin.
Greg Quinn, a member of Post 605 since 2015 who serves as the post adjutant, says the group plays an important role in representing Jews in the armed forces.
“It shows that the Jews support the United States through serving in the military,” he said, “and we’re setting an example for people who are not aware of us.”
Post 605 meets on the second Tuesday of each month at the Jewish Community Campus. During the pandemic, the group made the transition to virtual meetings for six months. Bill Greenberg, Post 605 commander, said it was important for members to continue their meetings, even if it was virtually.
“I didn't think the organization would survive if we just quit,” he said. “And then, when everybody felt comfortable coming back, when The J opened up to have meetings again, we immediately went back because I think it's important for these guys to actually physically see each other.”
In addition to providing social interaction and camaraderie for its members, Post 605 serves several functions. It funds and supports a couple of scholarships for college students, including its own scholarship awarded to college students who are relatives of Post 605 members (living or deceased). Individual members of the post also help fund Johnson County Community College’s Pay It Forward Student Veteran Scholarship, which is given to a veteran student each year.
Post members attend the funerals of fellow members who pass away, and even act as pallbearers in some instances, according to Quinn. Post members also make appearances at various events throughout the year, including the Veterans Day wreath-laying ceremony at the Korean War Memorial and the Holocaust Commemoration at the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka.
One of Post 605’s biggest focuses is its Holiday Gifts for Vets (HGV) program, which was started in 2003 by post member Mike Katzman. (Katzman, a WWII veteran, is the oldest post member at 102 years old.)
Pre-pandemic, post members would collect donations of essential items like toiletries, dental hygiene products, and clothing for veterans in the Kansas City area. The gifts were donated to veterans (of any faith) at the VA centers in Kansas City and in Leavenworth, the St. Michael’s Veteran’s Center and the Veteran's Community Project.
During the pandemic, COVID-19 restrictions prevented them from bringing outside items to those communities. The post found a way to continue the program and switched to donating gift cards to the veterans; last year, the post gave out more than 400 gift cards. The post is in the process of securing donations and gift cards for this year’s HGV. The gifts are given out in the first weeks of December.
The future of Post 605
Like many organizations, Post 605 faces the possibility of membership going down as current members pass away. However, the post has been successful in recruiting, mostly by word of mouth among Post 605 members and those they know in their synagogues.
“We are actually a pretty vibrant post,” Greenberg said. “Other posts are declining, and we’ve actually expanded. We haven't got hundreds, but we've had a raise in our population. And so I feel it's a success.”
Greenberg said Post 605 has approximately 60 members at any given time.
Members of the community from any military branch can join the post. The group is also open to non-military members who can join as patrons. Some members spent a few years serving, and others made it their entire career.
Overall, Greenberg says he sees a long future for Post 605 in the community.
“It will take a lot of energy to keep the post going, just as it will JWV as a whole to keep it going… but I'm kind of optimistic,” he said. “I think it'll still go on for a while.”
Those interested in joining or learning more can email Greenberg at . There is more information on the post’s Facebook page at facebook.com/JWV-605-113534657113204.
