last word
Nelson Mellitz
ELECTED COMMANDER OF JEWISH WAR VETERANS
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
Photo by Lou Michaels
N elson Mellitz, 74, is a man
defined by commitment.

He’s been married to his
wife Debbie Markowitz Mellitz for 42
years, and they have two daughters. He
served in the Air Force for 32 years,
including during the Vietnam and Iraq
wars, and retired as a colonel, accord-
ing to a news release about his career
from Jewish War Veterans of the USA.

And since the early 1990s, he has
continued his “family’s 80-year legacy,”
per the release, of helping JWV fulfill
the mission that is self-evident in its
name. Over the past three decades,
the Cherry Hill, New Jersey, resident
has helped Jewish veterans through
a variety of leadership roles within
JWV, including national chief of staff,
department of New Jersey commander
and others.

And now he is stepping up to lead
the national organization in its top
rank of national commander. JWV
announced Mellitz’s unanimous elec-
tion at its 127th National Convention
in Savannah, Georgia, on Aug. 11.

Mellitz will serve in the position for
one year.

His goals as the leader of the
Washington, D.C.-based advocacy
organization will be to fight antisemi-
tism, support Israel and communicate
with federal, state and local leaders
about helping veterans.

Mellitz said the JWV should play a
major role in helping to fight antisem-
itism on campuses because there are
thousands of veterans at universities.

He also wants to build relationships
with soldiers as they return home
because returning service members are
often unsure about how to access state
and federal benefits. As for supporting
Israel, he said it’s important for Jews
to do that “wherever the opportunity
presents itself.”
JWV was formed in 1896 by Jewish
Civil War veterans who wanted to
disprove the rumor that Jews never
served. That, Mellitz explained, was the
rumor at the time. He sees it as his duty
to play a similar role today.

“We’re going to be showing where
antisemitism exists, how to knock it
down,” he said.

Mellitz grew up in Philadelphia’s
Oxford Circle neighborhood and grad-
uated from Northeast High School.

Though he had a bar mitzvah, his com-
mitment to Judaism started in earnest
at 22. Mellitz’s father had just died, and
his grandfather, Morris Mellitz, came
over to his house to tell him they were
going to synagogue.

They went to the now-defunct Beth
Emeth Congregation and kept going,
week after week. Today, the veteran
remains a synagogue member but at
Congregation Beth El, a Conservative
shul in Voorhees, New Jersey.

As he explained, “I believe in God
and Judaism.”
After coming home from his tour of
duty during the Vietnam War — in
which he served but not in Vietnam
itself — Mellitz started to see the
importance of helping fellow veterans.

He had friends committing suicide or
ending up on the street. Many did not
know where to go for federal Veterans
Administration (now Veterans Affairs)
benefits. Some also did not have fami-
lies for support.

Mellitz tried to help veterans he
knew who were living on the streets of
Philadelphia. He took them to the VA
office, but “back then they didn’t help
people very much,” he said. So, it fell
on Mellitz to give them money, food
and even socks.

“The big thing they ask for is socks,”
he said. “There just wasn’t much of a
support network.”
That was why, later in life, Mellitz
tried to become his own support net-
work. With other JWV members, he
started taking annual trips to Capitol
Hill to talk to representatives and sena-
tors about the needs of veterans.

Over the past year, he helped suc-
cessfully lobby for the PACT Act, an
expansion of benefits to veterans deal-
ing with toxic exposure. President Joe
Biden signed the bill into law earlier
this month.

“Commander Mellitz and myself
were integral pieces in speaking up for
the JWV in many different ways,” said
Ken Greenberg, the national executive
director of JWV. “It’s a major win
for veterans no matter what area you
served in.”
According to Mellitz, the VA sys-
tem has improved a lot in the past few
decades and continues to get better. But
the necessity of offering practical help
to veterans remains.

Mellitz said he wants “a welcome
home for every military member that
comes home after being deployed.”
He also plans on working with Our
Community Salutes, a nonprofit with
a chapter in Cherry Hill, to host an
informational dinner about benefits
and important contacts for high school
graduates who have enlisted in the
military. “In the United States of America, we
have the resources to help these peo-
ple,” Mellitz said. JE
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