Royal Oak — Art Fishman’s Naval captain told him he’d be going home.
It was 1945, and Japan had surrendered, marking the end of World War II. Fishman and the other sailors aboard the USS Robinson, most in their late teens and early twenties, would be heading back to their families. For Fishman, that meant heading back to Detroit.
Although all the men who served with Fishman received full discharges after the war, they all reenlisted, he said. Fishman served as an engineer on a Naval destroyer because, in his words, he was smart enough to know that “a red or yellow light (on the controls) meant you were in trouble.”
Fishman recounted this story nearly 81 years later at the Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial in Royal Oak. The event, held by the memorial, honored the 81st anniversary of Victory in Europe Day on May 8 and the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The event also featured the completion of a statue of Rosie the Riveter and the raising of new flags at the memorial.
John Maten, president of the Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial, said it was important to hold events like Friday evening’s because learning from those who served and contributed to the war effort is important.
“We thought this was a perfect and fitting thing to do,” Maten said. “It’s VE Day. The weather’s nicer, we’re coming into spring. We have fresh flags. We have Rosie done. … This is a chance to help continue to tell some of these stories.”
Fran Goran was among the dozens of attendees at the event. She was there to honor those like her father, Newt Friedman, who served in WWII. He was part of the Air Force’s 442nd Troop Carrier, and Goran said he was lucky to have never seen combat. Instead, she said, he was part of the critical effort to get supplies to the U.S. soldiers fighting in Germany.
“He wrote letters to my mother almost every day, and my mother kept all the letters,” Goran said. “Luckily, he didn’t see battle, but it was still hard because he was separated from my mother.”
One of the bricks on the memorial’s “Walk of Honor” bears his name, and Goran said she was glad she knew where it was and could come. She said she planned to purchase another brick for the memorial and put the names of more family members who served on it.
“It’s nice they have a way where we can honor all those who served,” Goran said. “They even have the Navajo codebreakers (on one of the bricks).”
The memorial is still being built, Maten said. Friday, the memorial launched the “250 Club” to encourage donations to complete it.
satwood@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan memorial honors WWII veterans, America’s 250th anniversary
Reporting by Sarah Atwood, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
