By Bryan Schwartzman
More than 60 World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War veterans cheered each other on as if it were a high school commencement ceremony while Maltese presented them with the New York State Conspicuous Service Award and the New York State Merit Award.
“Too many of our young people are not aware of the sacrifices of our veterans,” Maltese told a crowd of more than 300 people at the veterans hospital auditorium.
Maltese said it was very difficult for young people to picture their frail grandparents or great grandparents as war heroes.
“It is hard to envision them in the prime of their life going to the top of a hill trying to save a buddy,” he said.
Maltese, himself a Korean War veteran, said foreign war veterans are dying at the rate of 1,000 a day in the United States. He said the average age of Korean War veterans is 68, while the average age of World War II veterans is 78.
This was the third year in a row that Maltese had held a New York State medal awards ceremony.
The senator was joined on stage by state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans), a fellow member of the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. State Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Rockaway Beach) and Queens District Attorney Richard Brown also took part in the awards ceremony.
Smith said it was appropriate the awards were given out the day before Thanksgiving.
“The senator in his wisdom chose to select this time of year to say thanks to so many of you,” he said.
Brown spoke about the powerful impression war veterans made on him during his childhood.
“As a youngster I would pass by the Naval Hospital and I remember vividly many returning war heroes carrying their wounds,” said Brown, who grew up in Cambria Heights.
The St. Albans Veterans Affairs Hospital was formerly a U.S. Naval Hospital.
Members of the Forest Hills American Legion Post presented the colors at the start of the ceremony.
Paul Pedota, principal of Franklin K. Lane High School in Ridgewood, said he tells his students to look to the examples of responsibility and dedication set by veterans as models to follow.
Students from the Franklin K. Lane honor guard escorted the awards recipients to the stage. George Decker, 92, of Maspeth slowly made his way to the stage as he looked into the crowd searching for friends and family.
Decker was a staff sergeant with the 330th Army Air Force Base Unit during World War II and has also been awarded the Bronze Star.
Flushing's Arthur Goldenbaum, 85, approached the stage with the use of a cane, but Maltese, Smith and Pheffer got off the stage to present the award and save Goldenbaum a climb.
Goldenbaum was a technician fourth grade with the 736 ordinance company during World War II. He received the State Medal for Merit.
Joshua Adams, of South Jamaica, also received the State Medal for Merit. Adams, a specialist technician fifth grade with the 511th engineers during the Vietnam War, was the first veteran to move into a low-cost housing facility for veterans on Sutphin Boulevard which opened several months ago.
