SEA CLIFF, N.Y. (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — William Olitsky, a Hicksville Navy veteran who served in World War II, was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and other medals during a Memorial Day ceremony on Long Island.
Olitsky was wounded in battle while going after a Japanese pillbox at Iwo Jima, and despite his injuries, found the strength to help his fellow service members.
“When they pulled him out, the ship that they put him on was hit, and people around him were wounded and fell out, so he jumped out of the ship after them to save them,” Douglas Olitsky, his grandson, told 1010 WINS/WCBS 880 reporter Sophia Hall.
Doug discovered his grandfather’s story while doing research for a family reunion, paving the way for Monday’s gathering of family and friends in his honor.
“Growing up, he was just always there. Thought he was just a big gentle giant, and who knew that, you know, he had done all these things, and it was almost like a movie,” Doug said of Olitsky, who died in the 1980s.
During the ceremony, Rep. Tom Suozzi—who represents both Hicksville and Sea Cliff, which are part of New York’s 3rd Congressional District—handed the medals over to the family. He discussed the importance of using Memorial Day to honor the values that late service members have fought for: freedom and democracy.
“You have to remember that people gave their lives for this country. And politics is so awful these days, but people died for freedom and politics,” Suozzi said. “The best way we can honor people is to really lift up the conversation of politics, because, you know, people died for freedom and democracy.”
The significance of the holiday for all service members stuck with ceremony attendees, especially the Olitsky family.
“We’re here today because people sacrificed their lives to protect us, and I think that’s a really important thing to appreciate,” Olitsky’s 20-year-old great-granddaughter Mackenzie said.