Photo of the day: THE WORLD WAR II VET – In 2012 I spotted this old veteran outside Penn Station. He had the most determined walk and I loved his unique flair, so I followed him with my camera till he eventually got lost inside the cavernous train station. I approached him to ask if he needed help, he kept telling me he wanted to go to Central Ave in South Orange, New Jersey. So we looked for the train together. Everything about him touched my heart. His tattered clothes, the scraps of cloth he had tied as kerchiefs, he hadn’t shaved very evenly, his inside-out t-shirt and his perfectly tilted beret which was absolutely covered in (his favorite) cat hair, but his medals were perfectly polished and cared for. I just fell in love with him. He told me he is a lecturer on wars, esp. WWII in which he served. He was very spry, I believe he was at least 85 years old yet still filled with such gentille determination. We reached the Jersey bound train platform but no personnel in Penn Station knew of the address he wanted to go to, but I luckily found a kindly conductor who promised me he would look after our vet. I finally helped him get on the train and off we went, each our separate ways. . .
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May 26, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 85 year old WWII veteran, Central Ave in South Orange, Hans Von Rittern, Memorial Day 2014, Memorial day memories, New York City, New York photo, old World War II veteran, Pennsylvania (Penn) Train Station, Photo of the day, photography, South Orange - New Jersey, subway, transportation, Veterans Day | Leave a comment
A soldiers hospital in Germany, 1917, World War I
Mondays on Memory Lane: 1917, MY GREAT AUNT SINGS FOR THE SOLDIERS OF WORLD WAR I – On this Veterans Day, it is important to remember the soldiers of all nations. I have discovered this photo of my great aunt, Anny Cornelius, in a German hospital in 1917 during World War I. She was only 17 at the time and already a gifted singer, she went on to sing lead roles in the Berlin opera.
From what I gather, she took her fellow class mates and volunteered to sing for the wounded soldiers. Whatever country is fighting, music is always used to try to heal the soldiers spirits. When you look at the faces of the wounded soldiers, you can see – there are really no winners in any war, the only winner is the human spirit.
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November 11, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 1917, Anny Cornelius, Berlin Opera, Berlin State Opera, entertainers singing for the troops, entertaining the foreign troups, German hospital, German soldiers of World War I, Hans Von Rittern, New York City, Photo of the day, Queens, school girls serenadning the German troops, Ursula Von Rittern, Veterans Day, vintage war photo, World War I, wounded German soldiers World War I | Leave a comment
Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan B. Bruckenthal – 24
SSGT John C. Bene – 38
Specialist Jeremy Brown – 20
LCPL Brandon T. Lara – 20
SSGT. Eric James Lindstrom – 27
PFC Thomas F. Lyons – 20
PFC Jason F. Lemke – 30
CPL Brett L. Lundstrom
SGT Adrian J. Lewis – 30
Marble Collegiate Church at 272 Fifth Avenue, corner of 29th street in Manhattan founded in 1628, is one of the oldest continous Protestant congregations in North America. Built in 1851-1854, originally called the Fifth Avenue Church, has the facade covered in Tuckahoe marble for which now the church is named. Marble Collegiate’s senior minister between 1932 and 1984 was the famous Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, and in case you forgot precisely why he was famous, it’s because he was the man who, among other things, wrote “The Power of Positive Thinking.”
In honor of the old song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around the Old Oak Tree”, they have lined it’s old cast iron gates that surround the church, with yellow ribbons honoring the soldiers lives lost in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are over 4,000 of them . . .
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November 11, 2012 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 'The Power of Positive Thinking', 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around The Old Oak Tree', 29th Street, 4000 names, dead soldiers, Fifth Avenue, Hans Von Rittern, Manhattan, Marble Collegiate Church, New York City, Pastor Norman Vincent Peale, politics, soldiers names, Tuckahoe marble, Veterans Day | Leave a comment
