On Saturday, 19 June 2021, local American Legion Riders, National Service Ride, and Hudson Valley Veterans Task Force and especially Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club riders led the first Juneteenth Underground Railroad Freedom Ride through Orange County, NY. To commemorate the new national holiday, the nearly 40 riders started at Port…

The pandemic we’re coming out of is presenting us an opportunity to rethink how we can relate to each other than in Zoom meetings and social media memes. One of the more encouraging things to see is our expanding understanding of service and sacrifice beyond those in the armed forces. …

This is the eulogy I gave for my mother last weekend — we were finally able to lay her to rest on August 22nd after she passed away from COVID-19 on May 2nd. May it be as inspirational for you as my mother’s life was for me. [From Travels with…

As editor of my high school newspaper, I interviewed our principal, Herbert Fliegner. Starting in the Hitler Youth, he was pressed, as a child soldier, to defend Berlin, then again involuntarily inducted into the Young Pioneers in the Soviet zone before escaping to West Germany. After he emigrated to the…

Over the past few years, every time I heard people thank me for my military service, I responded by asking them about their own careers. Some tell me about their public service as police officers, firefighters, emergency responders, civil servants, teachers, journalists, and so on. Others talk about their volunteer…