Military honors a long time coming

A Hewlett man who earned — but never received — seven medals during more than three years of military service in World War II has finally been presented with the honors.

Stanley Rosenfeld, 89, a graduate of Far Rockaway High School, earned the medals for his participation in ferocious battles in the war’s Pacific theater.

Prompted by questions from his companion, Esther Bogen, about his military service, Rosenfeld contacted U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy to see if she could help obtain the medals he deserved but didn’t have, assistance McCarthy has provided for other veterans. On Monday, at McCarthy’s office, Rosenfeld received his medals.

“What we have found is that a lot of veterans were very anxious to get home,” McCarthy said, explaining why many servicemen didn’t receive their medals. “Then there is lost paperwork [years later] and it is not as easy. But we have worked with a lot of different groups to get the medals.”

Most situations are similar to Rosenfeld’s, McCarthy explained: Family members ask about the former soldier’s experiences. “They are medals he earned, and we should respect the sacrifices made and it should never go without a thank-you,” she said.

Rosenfeld registered for the draft on his 18th birthday, Dec. 7, 1940, a year to the day before “a date which will live in infamy,” as President Franklin Roosevelt described the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. But his military service didn’t begin until late 1942, at Camp Upton in Suffolk County — now the site of Brookhaven National Laboratory. He was then shipped off to Fort Dix in New Jersey and Camp Davis in North Carolina for basic training.

“I learned that the hikes we took in the Boy Scouts, as tough as they seemed at the time, were a walk in the park compared to basic, but were a good foundation for what was yet to come,” said Rosenfeld, who played handball, basketball and baseball in his youth.

After nearly 18 months in the Army, he was selected for the Army Specialized Training Program, the prerequisite for Officer Candidate School, and was sent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. But the war intruded, and Rosenfeld was sent to the Pacific.

On Oct. 25, 1944, at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, the Japanese attacked, and Rosenfeld later learned that the assault included the first kamikaze attack on an American warship. Assigned to a two-man gun he didn’t know how to handle, he learned fast. “It was huge and had two seats, like bicycle seats, on which another gunner and I sat,” he recalled. “I quickly learned that what I had to do was turn the wheels, which made the gun turn in the proper direction.”

After the major battle for Leyte Gulf, the fighting continued for Rosenfeld as American and Philippine troops recaptured Manila from the Japanese. After the war ended in 1945, he was discharged in January 1946 as a sergeant.

He settled in West Hempstead, where he became the sales manager for a steel company. Rosenfeld also lived in North Hills for 25 years and served as the village’s mayor, according to his daughter, Dr. Lynda Rosenfeld, a cardiologist. He also has a son, Alan, who is an attorney.

“I think it’s a very nice thing that has been done,” said Rosenfeld, who has lived in Hewlett for the past year with Bogen, referring to the presentation of his medals.

He earned the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign medal with three Bonze Service Stars, a Philippine Liberation ribbon with one Bronze Service Star, an American Campaign medal, a WWII Honorable Service lapel button, a Good Conduct medal, a Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar and a WWII Victory medal.

“It’s kind of neat,” Lynda Rosenfeld said of her father’s getting the medals after all these years. “He’s getting a lot of pleasure from it.”