Engaging our local retired veterans and their special stories of military service

On Oct. 23, 2027, I had the opportunity to meet several veterans residing at The Bristal Assisted Living at Mount Sinai.

The first veteran was 93-year-old John Kirch Jr., who grew up near the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Fort Greene. Kirch was a talented baseball shortstop who attended Metropolitan Vocational High School and graduated in 1951.

He enlisted in the United States Air Force and served from 1952 to 1956. Ordered to Sampson Air Force Base, Kirch recalled that it was “cold as hell.”

Kirch trained as a radar mechanic at the electronics school in Biloxi, Mississippi. He also played baseball in a Special Services military championship game in Morocco and competed against future New York Yankees catcher Elston Howard.

He visited New Orleans, served at Bentwaters Air Force Base in England and traveled to France and Germany. Kirch married, raised a family and lived in Copiague, Smithtown and Florida.

Louis DeMartinis is also a 93-year-old Brooklyn native who played football and softball. After high school, DeMartinis entered the United States Marine Corps and trained at Parris Island, South Carolina.

While detesting the bugs in the South, DeMartinis maintained Marine Corps aircraft and was promoted to sergeant.

After leaving the service, DeMartinis became a New York City police officer. He lived in Plainview, raised his family and earned a master’s degree.

Retiring as a detective lieutenant, DeMartinis went on to work for the Justice Department under President Ronald Reagan. He calmly described his work as “nothing notable.”

Stephen J. Petrosky, an 80-year-old veteran who grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant, attended East New York Vocational High School. He became a tool-and-die maker’s apprentice and thrived while playing sandlot baseball.

After graduating from high school in 1963, he was drafted into the Army and served from 1966 to 1968. He trained at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and became a military police officer.

Petrosky was ordered to South Korea, where he was stationed at Camp Ames. He patrolled the base with German shepherds and recalled the foul smell of human waste used to fertilize the nearby rice paddies.

For 27 years, Petrosky worked as a mechanic for the New York City Transit Authority. He later managed 175 workers and was promoted to general superintendent because of his skill in handling serious mechanical situations.

Petrosky married, lived in Deer Park and helped raise his son and daughter.

James J. Gerardi, a 92-year-old native of Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, played roller hockey, kick the can, war, stickball and handball.

He graduated from high school in 1951, attended Colgate University and completed degrees in psychology and business at St. Francis College in Brooklyn.

In 1957, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Fort Dix. Gerardi recalled living in abandoned World War II barracks that were poorly insulated and barely kept warm by a “potbelly stove.”

He was ordered to Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis to study military finance and was later assigned to Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn.

Gerardi financially mustered out thousands of soldiers, earned extra money by tending bar at the Officers’ Club and was able to sleep at home.

After being discharged in 1958, Gerardi immediately became an elementary school teacher and quickly advanced to an administrative position.

He recalled the racial unrest that affected the South Country Central School District in Bellport in 1969.

Years after retiring in 1999, Gerardi was asked to serve as interim superintendent of the Rocky Point School District for six weeks. The position ultimately lasted six years.

He guided the construction of the middle school and oversaw several major district infrastructure projects.

Gerardi has a large family that includes three great-grandchildren. He warmly reflected that he has had a “very pleasant life” and thanks God every day.

Robert E. Humphrey is a 93-year-old resident who spent the first five years of his life in the Bronx before moving to Virginia. He later returned to New York and lived in a Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, apartment that faced the Statue of Liberty.

During World War II, Humphrey delivered the Brooklyn Eagle for four years.

He graduated from high school in 1951 and spent six years studying at a seminary to become a missionary priest.

In 1957, Humphrey enlisted in the Army Reserve and served as a clerk in a Medical Corps unit attached to an armored unit.

He taught social studies at St. John’s Prep in Brooklyn for 10 years before being hired by the Half Hollow Hills School District.

He married his wife, Helen, in 1967 and worked as a middle school teacher for the next 33 years.

In retirement, Humphrey counseled people about the dangers of substance abuse at Hope House in Port Jefferson.

Thank you to The Bristal Lifestyle Director Jennifer Macaluso for arranging this incredible interview and taking such wonderful care of these proud veterans and citizens.