The Patriotic and Celebration of Our Freedoms Inaugural Party was organized and coordinated by, standing left to right, Janet Medeli, Jan Wagner, Amy Kerth and Rosemary Culler. Seated is Army veteran James Stanzak who is receiving an envelope from Mrs. Cullen containing the net proceeds of the Inaugural Party. Veteran Stanzak is the Interim Chapter Commander of Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Chapter #63 (Clermont County). One hundred (100%) percent of the donation, according to Stanzak, will be used to support the Chapter’s programs and projects for disabled veterans in our area. Photo courtesy DAVA Unit #63 Life Member Connie Stanzak.
Holocaust Survivor and U.S. Air Force Veteran Lisa Isaacs-McVitte, on left, speaks to over ninety (90) attendees of a Patriotic and Celebration of Our Freedoms Inaugural Party held on Jan. 20, 2025. She, and her family, fled Nazi Germany and traveled to China in 1939. Later, they survived World War II in a Japanese concentration camp in Shanghai, China. Re-settling in New Jersey after the War, she became a U.S. citizen in 1955 and immediately joined the U.S.A.F. She is a life member of American Legion Stuart G. Luginbuhl Post 72 in Clermont County. Inaugural Party’s Master of Ceremonies Graham Galloway, on right, is holding the microphone. Photo courtesy DAVA Unit #63 (Clermont County) Cdr. Shirley Plahovinsak,
Over ninety (90) party guests recognized three (3) local veterans, who were “distinguished veterans” guests of honor, at an Inauguration Party held at the Terrace Park Community Center on January 20, 2025.
The Inauguration Party was organized by Rosemary Cullen; Amy Kerth; Janet Medeli; and Jan Wagner. The Inaugural Party “was designed to be very patriotic and a celebration of our freedoms and hope for our future.”
Air Force veteran and Holocaust Survivor Lisa Isaacs-McVitte was the guest speaker for the event. Born in 1931, she and her family fled in 1939 from Nazi-controlled Germany and sailed to Shanghai, China.
According to Ms. McVitte, China was the only country in the world to accept refugees without valid visas and they disembarked into a strange culture in a foreign land. They subsisted for two (2) years in Shanghai while the Chinese fought the Japanese during the invasion of China.
The Japanese were able to capture Shanghai and then the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor to start a war with the United States. The situation changed for the Isaacs family when Nazi Germany declared war on the United States and formed an agreement with Japan.
The Nazi government requested that Japan locate all people of Jewish ethnicity, who migrated to China after 1938, and be placed in concentration camps. Ms. McVitte, and her family, were herded into one of these camps, where they subsisted on very meager rations until the end of the war.
As a 14-year-old youth, she was placed on a ship to the United States and then on a train to New Jersey, where she was met by her father’s brother.
She gained employment and later obtained United States citizenship.
One day after obtaining her citizenship, Ms. McVitte enlisted in the United States Air Force, where she met her future husband. She served only two years in the military because USAF regulations prohibiting married couples from serving in the military. She is a current member of the American Legion’s Stuart G. Luginbuhl Post 72.
Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Chapter #63 (Clermont County) Interim Chapter Commander James Stanzak was recognized for his twelve (12) years of military service, his completion of two (2) tours of duty as an Army combat medic in Vietnam and his receiving of two (2) Bronze Stars with a “V” (for valor) device.
The DAV has returned him to his love of training horses, particularly with the SOULSTANG organization, which provides PTSD therapy for veterans with mustang horses gathered from the western plain. He was inducted into the Ford Motor Corporation’s Military Oval of Honor in 2022.
The last veteran to be recognized at the Inaugural Party was Army veteran John Plahovinsak, the Adjutant of DAV Chapter #63 (Clermont County), who served a total of thirty-two (32) years. After four (4) years of enlisted service in 1971, he received a Direct Commission to Second Lieutenant and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1999.
He has served as the DAV’s Department of Ohio State Commander from 2019 to 2021 and is a Board of Directors member for the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Chapter #649 (Clermont County). He was inducted into the Ford Motor Corporation’s Military Oval of Honor in 2013.
Inaugural Party Coordinator Cullen indicated that the net proceeds of the event would be donated to DAV Chapter #63 for their many projects and programs, which directly benefits disabled veterans.
Interim Commander Stanzak distributed copies of the Chapter’s Annual Report to attendees, citing all donations received and the programs and projects these donations supported.
“We were blessed to receive recognition as “guests of honor” at this Inaugural Party,” said Stanzak, “and I would like to personally thank Rosemary Cullen, Amy Kerth, Janet Medeli, Jan Wagner and all those people, who participated in this patriotic celebration of our freedoms!”
“We will be providing them with a detailed accounting of how their kind donation will impact the lives of our disabled veterans,” concluded Stanzak.