In a special ceremony on April 20 at Post 1333 in Neptune, New Jersey, World War II veteran Stanley Dubroff, 97, was awarded this year’s Neptune Township/VFW Hometown Heroes Award.
Nominated by Post 1333, where he serves as the oldest living member, Dubroff was selected by the Neptune Township Veterans Committee as its annual Hometown Hero for continued activity in assisting his Post reach its community goals.
“I was humbled to receive the award,” said Dubroff, who spoke of his being drafted at the age of 18. “I was in the Army as the son of a naturalized citizen. My father was a fierce American. I had two brothers who were medically unable to serve. It was a matter of personal pride on his part that he had a son going to fight for his country.”
Dubroff went on to serve in the Army from December 1944-46, his original enlistment into the Navy being rejected because of color blindness. He did his basic training at Camp Croft in South Carolina before being deployed with A Co., 382nd Inf. Regt., 96th Inf. Div., to the Philippines in July 1945.
“I didn’t feel that I did anything special,” Dubroff said. “I was serving in the Philippines preparing to go into combat as a BAR man when I learned we were to be in the lead for the invasion of Japan. The atom bomb saved Company A from being at the forefront of the invasion of Japan as not invading Japan undoubtedly saved my life.”