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Jewish War Veterans hold heartwarming events.
I
had the privilege of witnessing three inspiring, heartwarming events recently courtesy of our beloved Detroit Jewish War Veterans (JWV). Being vaccinated and the easing of COVID restrictions allowed me to experience two of those events in person. IKE AND GUY On May 13, I was a bystander to a wonderful Contributing Writer conversation between two pillars of our community — Dr. Guy Stern, director of the International Institute of the Righteous at the Holocaust Memorial Center (HMC), and Dr. Isaiah (Ike) McKinnon, former Detroit police chief and deputy mayor of the city of Detroit under Alan Muskovitz
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Mayor Duggan. At 99 years young, you will still find Stern, who enjoyed a long and distinguished career in academia, working six days a week at the HMC. McKinnon, 78, today is the CEO of City Shield Security Services and a contributor on law enforcement issues on The News with Shepard Smith on CNBC. Stern had been featured on CBS’ 60 Minutes on May 9, along with two other surviving members of the “Ritchie Boys,” the elite WWII military unit that trained at Fort Ritchie in Maryland. The television appearance was previewed May 7 on the JN website, thejewishnews.com. Like Stern, many of the Ritchie Boys were Jewish German immigrants whose language skills were relied on by the
U.S. Intelligence Service to interrogate Nazi prisoners of war. Ultimately, Stern and his comrades would be given credit for securing 60% of the vital intelligence in Europe during WWII. That contribution earned Stern the bronze star. McKinnon had seen the 60 Minutes segment and was so moved by Stern’s story that, as the former chief said to me, “I just had to meet him.” A doctor’s visit would pave the way for that introduction. Ironically, neuroradiologist Dr. Steve Seidman, with whom Ike was scheduled to meet two days after the 60 Minutes story aired, happened to bring up the Stern appearance during their visit. (Ike told me, so no HIPAA laws were broken!) It turns out that Seidman’s office, the Michigan Institute for Neurological Disorders, is just north of the HMC on Orchard Lake Road where his brotherin-law Tim Zimmerman has been the building manager since 2004. Seidman made a call to Tim. Tim then informed HMC events director Sarah Saltzman about Ike’s desire to meet Stern. That’s when he learned Saltzman worked with Ike at the University of Detroit Mercy when she was special events manager
