South Florida veterans reflect on their years of service ahead of Veterans Day

Hal Silberman had his first conversation with God when he was in Okinawa.

Silberman, then 19, served as a communications and decoding officer aboard the battleship USS Arkansas during World War II.

“I said, ‘God, you get me out of here alive, I’ll never complain again,’” said Silberman, now 99. “People complain about this and that; I’m just happy to be here.”

Silberman, a retired doctor, is one of many military veterans living at The Palace, a senior living facility in Coral Gables. The Palace is home to nearly 20 veterans, including Silberman’s longtime friend Jay Ellenby. The two once lived in the same apartment building in Grove Isle in Coconut Grove and became neighbors once again at The Palace.

Ahead of Veterans Day, Silberman and Ellenby sat down with the Miami Herald to share their life experiences. These are their stories.

From Brooklyn to the Navy

For Silberman, his comfortable life at The Palace contrasts with his childhood growing up in New York City during the Great Depression.

He was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn and lived in a small apartment with his parents, his older brother, David, and his younger brother, Charles.

David got a fixed bed, while Hal and Charles had foldaway beds they packed up and wheeled out of the way each morning. The brothers did not have money for public transportation and would climb onto the back of trolleys before the conductor would force them off.

At 16, Silberman began attending Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore on a scholarship and joined the ROTC. At 18, when he was required to enlist, he chose to join the Navy, inspired by his father’s love of the sea.

“My father was a lifeguard at Coney Island, and he introduced us to the water at a very young age,” Silberman said.

In Iwo Jima, Silberman had his first experience with battle, one that lasted over 30 days. It was the first time he was exposed to kamikaze suicide pilots.

“They would fly right into a ship,” Silberman said. “And we lost many ships.”

It is estimated that about 3,000 Japanese soldiers were killed in kamikaze attacks, and there were more than 7,000 casualties among American, Australian and British personnel, according to National Geographic.

Following Iwo Jima, Silberman took part in the prolonged and grueling Battle of Okinawa. The battle was expected to last only two weeks, yet stretched into 82 days.

Silberman was part of the forces preparing for a potential invasion of Japan, a plan rendered unnecessary by the dropping of the atomic bombs.

“As servicemen, everyone was thrilled,” said Silberman. He understood it as a decision made to prevent a far greater loss of life on both sides.

After the war, Silberman resumed his studies and graduated from medical school at 26. Silberman was able to finish his studies at Johns Hopkins because of the 1944 GI Bill, which transformed access to higher education for veterans by covering tuition and living expenses.

Silberman met his first wife Ruth in college, and they went on to have four children. In 1951, the family moved to Miami, where Silberman established a medical career that included pioneering clinical research and founded PrimeCare in Coral Gables. When Ruth fell ill and died after 10 years of marriage, Silberman became a single parent before marrying his second wife, Cecily, with whom he had twin daughters.

Silberman now spends his days alongside his third wife, Susan. He stays active in his retirement community, serving as editor of the facility’s newspaper, Residents’ Gazette, and is the director of educational programs, hosting a once-a-week lecture on medical innovations. He has also become a table tennis master, earning him the nickname “Killer” by his coach.

Having benefited from the GI Bill and spending his career in medicine, Silberman believes people must have access to affordable education and healthcare, and also that they must learn to take care of each other.

“Try to do things for your fellow citizens and not be so self-centered,” he said. “I feel it’s important that people learn to do things for others as well as themselves, to be a more wholesome society.”

Surgery at sea

Fellow veteran and doctor Jay Ellenby, 89, was drafted into service at 26 after the Berlin Wall went up in 1961.

Ellenby, originally from Chicago, was in his third year of specialty residency, training for surgery, when he learned there would be a doctor’s draft.

“I was 26, single. I knew I was fair game to go, and I had no qualms about it,” said Ellenby.

After being drafted and choosing to enter the Navy, Ellenby would go on to serve as the first surgeon in Newport News, Virginia, where they were building the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, called the USS Enterprise.

Ellenby remembers the threat of another war during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. “It was a frightening episode,” he said.

He was then put on a three-ship convoy and was the only doctor on a goodwill tour to the Caribbean and Africa. Ellenby said his greatest operation was an appendix removal aboard a ship while on the goodwill tour in Africa.

“They called me to the main bridge, and one of the corpsmen from the destroyers said, ‘Doc … we have a sailor who I’m convinced has acute appendicitis,’” he said.

Ellenby knew right away he had to perform an emergency surgery, and with no anesthesiologist, he performed spinal anesthesia, where a local anesthetic is injected into the cerebrospinal fluid around the spinal cord, on the sailor.

“I couldn’t find the appendix at first, because it was not in its usual position. It was bent down and around. But I always used to say anyone can do the easy ones.”

Ellenby successfully removed the appendix and said the sailor had only one complaint: “Why can’t I go ashore, where all the women are waiting for me?”

After two years of service, Ellenby was honorably discharged and went back to Chicago to finish surgical training.

He went on to Sweden for a plastic surgery fellowship before moving to Miami in 1968 with his first wife and daughter after being invited to join a medical practice.

Ellenby had a long and impressive career as a plastic surgeon in South Florida, having been a founder of Palmetto General Hospital and the first chief of staff. At The Palace, Ellenby lives with his partner Carol Ann, known as “Teeny.”

Life at The Palace was an adjustment for Ellenby, who was used to an independent lifestyle, but he has grown to love his life there, with the constant events and entertainment.

Ellenby said The Palace always goes all out when decorating for holidays and hopes the same type of attention is put on Veterans Day.

“I served with honor,” he said. “I felt proud that I was there when they asked me to and was able to help out in my own small way.”

This story was originally published November 11, 2024 at 5:00 AM.