Remembering Corporal Ruben Silver

This American hero, a 1939 graduate of Riverside-Brookfield High School, was killed in action in the Pacific on March 5, 1944.  He was the Assistant Radioman/Ball Turret gunner  aboard a B-24 Liberator that crashed off the coast of Rabaul after taking two direct hits from anti-aircraft fire.

He was a Brookfield neighbor of Niles resident and World War II veteran, Ken Lee, who is researching the names and records of other Brookfield residents who died in World War II. He is working with area groups to establish a local public memorial commemorating those heroes.

Ken found the Niles Public Library's  Ancestry Library Edition genealogy database helpful in finding a high school yearbook picture of Corporal Silver and a casualties card among the U.S. WWII Jewish Servicemen Cards.

A Niles neighbor of Ken's, Benny Costes, recently visited the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial. He found Corporal Silver's name on the engraved tablets honoring the 36,286 Missing in Action who gave their lives, including 21 Medal of Honor recipients.  The American Battle Monuments Commission oversees 24 permanent U.S. military burial grounds where 124, 918 US War Dead are interred.  Three of Benny's  pictures from Manila follow:

Of the 405,399 Americans that lost their lives during World War II, 93,233 are interred at our overseas American military cemeteries and 78,983 are commemorated on the Tablets of the Missing as missing in action, lost or buried at sea.

The 8th Annual Veterans History Project Breakfast

The Niles Public Library presented its 8th Annual Veterans History Project Breakfast on Thursday morning, November 6, 2014, to honor the community's heroes and especially those participating in the national memoir service of program. After a very moving roll call recorded by Young Adult Librarian Donna Block and placed at  http://youtu.be/w31wuhmqwrs,  Sasha Vasilic, the library's Digital Marketing Coordinator, stepped up to take the group  picture.

Seated in the front row from left to right are Bill Shipp, Martha Shipp, Celine Tymczuk representing her late husband Wally, and Felix Priola. Sitting in the second row from left to right are Irv Abramson, Dr. Irwin Williger, Don Spitzer, Matthew Wojtaszek, Jack Weinberg, Tom Vana, Dick Vana, and Art Shapiro.
In the 3rd row seated from left to right are Rich Hyland, Sam Schechter, Charles Matz, retired Army Lieutenant Bette Horstman, who also represents her late husband Henry, Judith Carlson, representing her late father Norman Berkman, and Ken Lee.

Standing in the back row are Chuck Jacobs, Mike Lake, Ken Radnitzer, Russell Zapel, Jerry Levin, and Mike McNulty. Albert Dominick also attended but does not appear in the picture.

The breakfast was co-sponsored with Tracy Sember and the Regency Rehabilitation Center of Niles. Chris Hanusiak, President of the Friends, announced a renewed and increased donation of $500 to  Honor Flight Chicago. Inspired by their special guests, the effective teamwork of the Niles staff ensured a tasty breakfast was served with efficiency and charm. Library Director Susan Dove Lempke officially welcomed the veterans and the Legacy Girls as the Andrew Sisters topped off the breakfast with a musical salute to the community's heroes.

The transcripts of the oral interviews of these veterans can be read and heard via the Niles Public Library  website. 

Additional details and photographs as ably provided by reporter Igor Studenkov can be viewed at
http://niles.chicagotribune.com/2014/11/10/niles-public-library-honors-local-veterans/ .