The call went out and five Sloatsburg veterans from the Greatest Generation answered and will fly to Washington, D.C. Continue Reading

Hudson Valley Honor Flight is helping fly WWII veterans to Washington, D.C. for day trips to various national monuments.

It’s been 70 years now since the U.S. officially entered WWII, after declaring war on Japan the day after Pearl Harbor in 1941. Continue Reading

Sunnyside’s Bar & Grill was the sight of a recent dinner celebrating Sloatsburg’s WWII veterans.

Sloatsburg’s fabulous five WWII veterans were celebrated during a recent dinner at Sunnyside’s Bar & Grill. Continue Reading

Hudson Valley Honor Flight participants gathered at Stewart International Airport for Mission #7 to Washington, D.C. as part of the Hudson Valley Honor Flight program. / Photo courtesy of Mike & Daphne Downes

Veterans of WWII and the Korean War from throughout the Hudson Valley gathered together recently for a day of celebration and more. Continue Reading

Sloatsburg Village Historian Harrison Bush stands at the entrance to Sloatsburg Cemetery, a National Register of Historic Places site. 

Harrison Bush has worn many hats during his years living in the Village of Sloatsburg … from a student at Suffern High School in the 1940s to WWII veteran awarded a Purple Heart and to elder of the Sloatsburg Historical Society to helping establish Harmony Hall as a landmark to serving as keeper of local lore and history as Village Historian. Continue Reading

These days, those people still alive who fought in WWII is shrinking. According to U.S. Veterans Administration estimates, in the next 15 years the country will lose nearly all of its 16 million WWII veterans — many of whom are already some 80 years and older. Continue Reading

Longtime Sloatsburg resident George Heller went through Hell and back during his days fighting for the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) of the 101st Airborne Division during WWII.

Sloatsburg resident, decorated WWII veteran and ex-chief of the Sloatsburg Fire Department, George Heller died on June 8 and was buried Monday, June 13 at the FW Loescher Veteran’s Cemetery in New Hempstead, NY. Click the photo to view George Heller’s WWII recollections as told to the West Point Center for Oral History.

Heller’s WWII adventure sounds like something out of Captain America — he participated in a few combat infantry air jumps but they all counted — one at Normandy before D-Day and one near Veghel for Operation Market Garden. And then, during the battle of the Bulge, Heller was hit by German counter-attack shrapnel and seriously wounded at Bastogne, France. Continue Reading

Sloatsburg Mayor Carl Wright (middle) greets Richard Jarcho (right) and a local veteran at one of the recent Sloatsburg Veteran Food Baskets held at the Village Municipal Building.

Sloatsburg has become something of a cornucopia for area veterans. Mayor Carl Wright has always advocated for U.S. veterans — from acknowledging local service men and women at Village Baord meetings to celebrating Memorial Day with the annual Sloatsburg Parade, where American Legion Post 1643 leads the red, white and blue festooned way along Route 17. Continue Reading