In 1995, Eli Martinez enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. As a Private First Class, he
was immediately sent to basic training at the USMC Recruit Depot, Paris Island, South
Carolina. Eli says the ethos of the Marine Corps is "Every Marine is a rifleman" and that is
what he was trained for. After 3 months of basic training followed by 4 weeks of Marine
Combat Training, he began training for his assigned MOS which was Finance Technician.

He was assigned to his first duty station at Camp Pendleton, California. In 1998, he received
orders to the 3rd Force Service Support Groug in Okinawa, Japan. His group served as the
primary combat logistics and service support command for the Asia-Pacific region. At this
time, Eli had attained the rank of Corporal, but it wasn't easy. He had been selected for
meritorious promotion competing with five other top performing Marines for a single NCO
billet. To his credit, Eli was selected. This achievement was very special to him.

In May of 1999, then Sergeant Martinez was honorably discharged from the USMC, having
received numerous Medals and Commendations. He continued in the inactive Ready
Reserves for 4 years with a 1 year "stop loss" extension following the 9 -11 attacks.

He joined Hoag in 2017 as a recruiter and is currently the manager of Learning and
Development. He and his wife live in Irvine. He feels his time in the Marine Corps played a
major role in allowing him to realize his potential.

The Hoag Classic is pleased to honor Sergeant Eli Martinez, USMC retired, for his service not
only to our country, but to the citizens of Newport Beach and Orange County thru his Service
to Hoag Hospital.

Born January 27, 1928 in Philadelphia, PA, Harry enlisted in the Army in 1946. He served his county for two years in Japan at the end of World War Il.  During his time in Japan, his friend signed him up for paratrooper's school. On the first jump, during turbulent weather, many of the paratroopers were injured. That was the first and last time he ever jumped. Harry was also very creative with his money during his time in Japan. They would ration out cigarettes and he didn't smoke. He would sell them to the Japanese to make a little extra money.

Following discharge from the Army, he went to school for aircraft repair and maintenance. He purchased a small plane and restored it in his aircraft repair school. He went on to get his pilot license. Harry enjoyed flying the plane for a few years.

In 1948 he joined the Navy Reserves  and 1950 was activated and stationed in Barbers Point Hawaii during the Korean War. After serving in the reserves, he entered college in 1953 at Long Beach State University and received his degree in Industrial Arts. He then began teaching in Orange County California.

He met his wife Joy in 1952 at the Methodist Church. They got married in 1954 and had three sons Mark, Scott and Curtis. They raised their three boys in Garden Grove California. In the 1960's he received his master degree from Whittier College. After 30 years he retired from teaching. Harry and his wife decided to retire in Prescott Arizona. They lived there for 25 years. During his time in Prescott he volunteered at the VA Hospital. Harry and Joy now reside in Orange County California and enjoy their 12 Grand Kids and 12 Great Grandchildren.

Patrick Zilliacus was born in Helsinki, Finland, May 11, 1926.  Also lived in Sweden and Italy,  coming to the US in December 1939.   He was inducted into the US Navy on June 30, 1943 in Indianapolis, IN.   Following Boot Camp, Torpedo and Submarine Schools, he was assigned to the USS Spot in Mare Island, CA.  He made four successful war patrols sinking 17 enemy ships and destroying a radar station.  He and the crew survived numerous depth charge attacks, surface gunfights, and tells an amazing story of escaping depth charge attacks by sailing submerged thru minefields in the Formosa Strait, along the way hearing mine cables scraping the hull of the ship.

Patrick left the USS Spot at the end of the war and stayed in the Active Reserve.  He attended Officer Submarine School and sailed on several submarine cruises.  He was urged to go into Naval Intelligence due to his extensive travel and language qualifications.  Nuclear Subs were coming in then and diesel boaters were becoming obsolete.  He declined the honor since going to the Navy Language School was impossible due to civilian career demands.  He was honorable discharged as  Lt. J.G. in June 1961.

Married to Mercedes Zilliacus, they have four children, five grandsons.  At age 97, started writing action novels (including "Blockade", "Cerberus","Cerberus on Mars", "Stops Along the Way"), and he painted the original watercolor illustrations for the books.

Born on August 16, 1927, Leon Silverman graduated from Cleveland Ohio Technical High School where he majored in Aeronautics; hoping to become an Aeronautical Engineer.  In January 1945 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy to become a Navy pilot.  He took the required tests, was sworn in, and placed on 24 hour call.  7 months later he received orders to go to boot camp in Samson, NY.

He completed boot camp and was assigned to the Great Lakes Naval Station to attend Storekeeper disbursing school.  After training, he was assigned duty loading box cars.  He was later re-assigned to the Lido Beach separation Center in Long Island, NY where he was assigned to the motor pool and drove trucks and buses until being discharged in August 1946, never having been a Navy Pilot as he had hoped.

Leon attended UCLA and tried out for the Freshman basketball team under Legendary Coach John Wooden.  He completed his B.S. degree and spent many years as an accountant with the U.S. Air Force that took him to Germany, France, Australia and South Africa amongst others.  He once hosted Coach Wooden while living in Germany.  Leon then Space Systems in CA and after 30 years of service retired in 1984.

Leon met the love of his life,  Anna, in 1996.  Married in 2000, they recently celebrated their 25th anniversary.  Leon loves to sing and has sung at many events.  At his young age of 98, he will be singing the National Anthem on July 4th for the LA Galaxy Soccer match.

In 1952, at the age of 20, Robert Duff was drafted into the United States Army as a private.  The Korean war had been going on for roughly two years.  He was trained to become a combat infantry soldier, becoming proficient with the tools of that era; rifles, mortars, chemical and biological warfare, grenades, you name it.  Upon completion of training, he was sent to Korea with the 224^th Infantry Regiment, 40^th Division.  He spent nearly 15 months in Korea where his company was continually engaged in battle.  His primary goal each day was surviving the war, living conditions, and often brutally cold weather.  He was obviously a natural leader.  He advanced in rank to Private 1^st class, then corporal, then sergeant, and lastly Sergeant 1^st class.  Many have been known to take 20 years to accomplish what he did in 11 months.  He says life got better as you advanced in rank.  On July 23^rd, 1953, an armistice was signed which effectively ended the Korean conflict and created the cease fire area still known today as the DMZ.  No official peace agreement was ever signed.  Sergeant Duff returned to the US in 1954 and says he couldn’t wait to get back.  He was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, numerous battle stars, and an Ambassador for Peace award from Korea.  He has continued to support the military through his involvement with the American Legion in Newport Beach for 32 years.

Upon his return to civilian life, Robert got into the title insurance and escrow business, working for a small title business in Orange County with 71 employees.  He worked several years for them while that company became 1^st American Title, a nationwide company with 33,000 employees.  He later started his own real estate business, owns multiple properties, and is still active today running his business which manages over $100 million dollars worth of assets.

In 1972 at the age of 22, Ed enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as a 2^nd Lieutenant.  Graduating with honors from basic training at Quantico, he moved on to flight training in the A4 Skyhawk, receiving his wings in May 1974.  Ed spent 10 months attached to a Marine Attack Training Squadron in Yuma, AZ and was later assigned to the infamous VMA-214 Black Sheep Squadron based at El Toro.   He was later assigned as a Basic Jet Flight Instructor at NAS Kingsville, Texas.  After having completed 7 years of active duty, he then served 21 more years in the Marine Corp reserves. Almost all of his reserve duty was local to southern California at either Long Beach, El Toro, or Camp Pendleton.  He was the Officer in Charge of the Peacetime/Wartime Unit located in Long Beach and in April 2000 retired from the Marine Corps reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel.  Ed received a Meritorious Unit Citation while serving with VMA-214 and was named Junior Officer of the Year by the Kingsville, TX Chamber of Commerce for 1975.  For several years, Ed was a pilot for TWA flying the L1011 as well as other aircraft.  He has volunteered at the Hoag Classic for approximately 10 years.

Ed would like all veterans and active duty soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, along with your spouses, to please rise;  This includes any parents who have had children serve in the military.

A young husband, father, and New York firefighter when he joined the Army in 1944, Bill deployed with the 4th Infantry Division to Utah Beach ten days after D-Day to start six months of fighting the German army on the frontlines in Normandy, through France, across Belgium, and into Germany to the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. The longest single battle the U.S. Army ever fought, Bill recalls Hurtgen Forest as “a terrible place, that when we left was not a forest anymore.” Next up, the Battle of the Bulge, the last major offensive by the Axis Powers on the Western Front, where Bill eventually found himself “inches from a rifle to his head.” A prisoner of war, after a few hours he escaped to successfully rejoin his platoon. Though extremely outmanned, they continued to battle until relieved on Christmas Eve. The six surviving and uncaptured members of his original 40-man platoon then deployed to hold the recently captured Remagen Bridge, crossed the Rhine, and continued through Germany and into Austria encountering only sporadic resistance. The war in Europe was essentially over. Despite fighting three major battles, his company was reassigned to invade Japan, so returned secretly to the U.S. While there, Japan was bombed, WWII ended, Bill was discharged and returned to the NYFD. Bill’s medals and badges include the Bronze Star with Oakleaf Cluster “for exemplary conduct in ground combat against the armed enemy” in Hurtgen Forest, the Order of Leopold II with Palm Degree of Chevalier from Belgium, and the Croix de Guerre with Palm Leaf from France. Bill resides in Huntington Beach, is a member of American Legion Huntington Beach Post 133, is 101 and a stellar example of The Greatest Generation.

Bill served in the US Army, 70th Division Infantry, 276th Regiment, during World War II. In January 1945, he and 180 platoon mates were captured by German troops during the battle of Wingen-sur-Moder and were held in a church in Wingen, France where Bill was hit with a piece of shrapnel from a shell that came through a stained glass window and exploded near the alter of the church. After four days in captivity, his platoon was liberated by American forces as they re-took the town. His decorations are a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. His army unit received a Presidential Unit Citation for its collective valor. Bill received undergraduate and law degrees from USC and practiced law in Southern California for over thirty years. Bill is 94 and lives on Balboa Island.

Tom joined the Army at age 19 in 1940 and served in the 101st Airborne Division’s “Screaming Eagles.” Shortly after midnight on D-Day, June 6, 1944, Tom parachuted into Normandy from a C-47 that had been hit by anti-aircraft “flak,” as part of the largest military campaign ever undertaken. Tom, armed with a submachine gun, landed near Utah Beach and heavily armed German forces, fought in Normandy for over a month while sheltering in hunting holes, helped capture hundreds of German soldiers, and was wounded by shrapnel and a sniper bullet in his left knee. Tom also parachuted into Holland during Operation Market Garden and fought in the Battle of the Bulge where he was seriously wounded when sniper bullets tore a leg and the radial below an elbow. After one month, he re-joined his regiment in Austria. Tom’s military honors include a Purple Heart with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, 2 Invasion Arrows, Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star with Cluster, Good Conduct Medal, French Fourragère, Belgium Fourragère and the Parachutist Badge (“Jump Wings”). In 2015, France honored Tom as a Knight in the National Order of the Legion of Honor, the highest award granted to foreign nationals for military service on French soil, in recognition of his heroic service during the Invasion of Normandy in the liberation of France. Tom is 98, lives in San Diego with his wife Brenda, and jumped in tandem last year during the 75th anniversary celebrations of D-Day and Market Garden.