Mayor Jim Avena led a moving Sept. 11 morning ceremony at Manorhaven Village Hall to commemorate the 2,977 who died 18 years ago in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks and in attacks on the Pentagon and on United Airlines flight 93. Nine residents of the Port Washington area and 56 North Hempstead Town residents died that day. More than 100 people attended the ceremony. Among the attendees were local government officials, fire department, EMT and police department members, two…..

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My wife Lynn and I sold poppies for four hours at the Italian Festival at North Hempstead Town Beach Park on Sept. 7 to raise funds for indigent veterans. Other members of Henderson-Marino VFW Post 1819 in Port Washington who participated were: Jerry Tedeschi and his wife Debbie, Maria Salazar, John Chalker and our service offier Andy Tollefsen. The poppies are sold in memory of our deceased and living veterans who served overseas. The practice started during World War I……

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By Jim Smith Did you ever encounter a Viet Cong? Do you think we should have stayed in Vietnam as long as we did? Did you get drafted? What were the conditions like? Would you say the U.S. won or lost the war? The students at Weber Middle School in Port Washington kept coming in groups of five to ask intelligent questions and take notes on May 30 in an annual program with 15 military veterans of World War II,…..

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1. Military Writers Society of America 2018, silver medalist for memoirs: In his book Heroes to the End, author Jim Smith provides us an excellent perspective of the waning days of U.S involvement in the Vietnam War. As a young man employed as a Newsday reporter, the author received a very low draft number ensuring he’d be picked up in the next draft, he took the initiative and enlisted for three years. This kept him from going straight into the…..

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Nov. 10, 2018: “Heroes to the End” (www.heroestotheend.com) won a silver medal for best memoir at the annual Military Writers Society of America convention in Charleston, S.C. The book is based on more than 80 articles I wrote as an Army Stars and Stripes correspondent in 1972 in Vietnam. I am donating all book sales proceeds and speaking fees to United Veterans Beacon House (www.uvbh.org), a Long Island nonprofit that runs homeless shelters for veterans.

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I will be one of the participating authors from the Long Island Authors Group Saturday, Nov. 3 from 2-5 p.m. at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church’s annual Fall Author Fair at 270 South Broadway in Hicksville. I will be autographing my Vietnam memoir “Heroes to the End” (www.heroestotheend.com) for $20 and donating all proceeds to United Veterans Beacon House (www.uvbh.com). My memoir nominated as a possible winner of the best memoir award for 2018 by the Military Writers Society of America.

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Military Writers Society of America review: In his book Heroes to the End, author Jim Smith provides us an excellent perspective of the waning days of U.S involvement in the Vietnam War. As a young man employed as a Newsday reporter, the author received a very low draft number ensuring he’d be picked up in the next draft, he took the initiative and enlisted for three years. This kept him from going straight into the infantry and on to Vietnam……

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Oct. 6 — I was told by Linda Marie Frank, host of a cable TV show called “The Writer’s Dream,” that two half-hour interviews I recently gave will be shown on Cablevision Ch. 20 on Thursdays at 3 p.m. In the first one, I was interviewed solo about my Vietnam memoir “Heroes to the End” and my work with United Veterans Beacon House, where I am the Board vice president. Beacon House, a Bay Shore nonprofit that runs homeless shelters,…..

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Sept. 17: “Heroes to the End” is a finalist for an award at the Military Writers Society of America convention banquet on Nov. 10 in Charleston, S.C. I am awaiting a posting on the group’s website in the next few days to inform me whether I won a gold, silver or bronze medal in the memoir/biography category. The award will be helpful in promoting the memoir of my 1971-72 Vietnam tour. I have sold about 600 copies of the self-published…..

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