Unique Vets' Day Celebration

What was supposed to be a small neighborhood luncheon turned into what people called a “terrific tribute” for four World War II Veterans last Friday at Chelo’s Restaurant in Cranston.

The McShawn’s Pub Back Porch Veterans Association, which raises money to help support the Honor Flight Network, hosted the event, which honored World War II Veterans Louis Kelley, Joseph Joel, Norman Heckler and Irwin Shulkin.

“This is without question a special and unique Veterans Day observance,” said George Farrell, the former Providence Fire Chief who founded the RI Honor Flight Network that now has taken over 400 vets to the nation’s capital.

“This really turned into something special; everyone who’s here kicked in,” said Peter Smith, a Cranston resident who founded the McShawn’s Pub Back Porch Veterans’ Association that has raised nearly $20,000 to fly Rhode Island World War II veterans to Washington, D.C. to view their monuments.

Proud family members and friends of the four jammed into every nook and cranny of the private room at Chelo’s. A trio of West Warwick residents, Peter McConaghy, Jim Tiernan and Dan Griffin, were among those honoring Kelley, a “living legend” from West Warwick American Legion Post 2. “It’s really special that these people take the time to remember the veterans,” Peter McConaghy said. “We’re here for Lou [Kelley]; he’s quite the man. He’s still going strong at age 89.”

Kelley joined the U.S. Navy during WWII and was a machinist mate onboard the USS General AE Anderson. He served in the Pacific in the Marshall Island and was waiting to be part of the invasion of Japan when the war ended. After the war, he raised seven children and was a member of the Oaklawn Fire Department. He recently ended a 39-year career as an electrician and he’s now a driver for Inskip Auto Center and NAPA Auto Parts.

Joel was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and now lives in Cranston and has five children. He joined the U.S. Army in 1943 and was in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium and personally took out two German tanks with a bazooka and was later awarded a Silver Star, the third highest combat award. He also received the Bronze Star and Combat Infantrymen’s Badge. After his service to the country, Joel went to Johnson & Wales where he learned accounting. He had a 25-year career in the Box Office at the Providence Civic Center.

Heckler went to Hope High School in Providence and in 1943 enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He was a crewmember of the USS Arided in the Pacific and his ship received two Battle Stars. He was a manager with Benny’s store of RI for 30 years, after settling in Cranston after the war. He and his wife raised two children.

Like Heckler, Shulkin went to Hope High School and stationed on board the USS Amphitrite in the Pacific off Okinawa and was out of the Navy at age 21 after the war.

He told people Friday that he watched his father work for people his whole life and made it a point to become self-employed when he got home. Through the years, Shulkin was a salesman who started and succeeded in several business ventures. Although he enjoyed many career accomplishments, he’s most proud of his grandson, Nicholas Lowinger, who in 2011, as a 13-year-old, won a Jefferson Award for founding the Gotta Have Sole Foundation that gave shoes to kids in homeless shelters.

“And today, it’s not surprising that Irwin [Shulkin] in still very active in that unique non-profit,” a man offered Friday. “He’s like this tribute today: very unique.”