Maurice Sands is a retired vice president and military sales administrator for Kayser-Roth Intimate Apparel, a military history researcher and author and a former commander and active member of the Jewish War Veterans, Buffalo Post #25. Prior to Buffalo, he was also an active member of Jackson Heights- Elmhurst Post 209 in New York City. Born in Romania on January 17, 1922, to parents Rachel and Samuel Strigewsky, Maurice emigrated with his family to New York City in 1930, after a circuitous journey from Eastern Europe to Montreal where the family lived for seven years. In America, they settled initially in Yorkville and then moved to the East Bronx. His father was trained as a dental mechanic and his mother did “piece work” and was a member of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Both of his parents were members of the Workmen’s Circle. Attending public schools in the East Bronx, Sands’ high school average was high enough to qualify for a free place at City College. After his third year, however, he was drafted into the military and was sent to Camp Upton, Long Island and USAF in Atlantic City, NJ. He then entered an Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) at Syracuse University studying civil engineering. Completing infantry training at Camp Shelby, MS, he joined the 1262nd Combat Engineer Battalion overseas, serving in England, France, Belgium, and Germany from October 1944 to March 1946 disarming anti-tank mines. He was the only Jewish member of his unit. After discharge, Sands finished school at City College gaining a Bachelor’s degree in statistics and subsequently received a Master’s in Business Administration at New York University. Before marriage, Sands changed his name from Strigewsky to Sands. He married Florence Landy and they have raised two daughters.

Sands first joined the Jewish War Veterans (JWV) in 1987 following his retirement and quickly became involved in researching the history of American Jewish military service and the organizational history of the JWV. In the early 1990s Maurice Sands worked for the Queens County Council which was an oversight body for all the Posts in Queens County, New York City. He wrote articles for national and local newspapers and journals including The Beacon and more recently the Buffalo Jewish Review. Maurice Sands was the Commander of Jewish War Veterans Buffalo Frontier Post 25 from 2000 to 2006. He also organized the Buffalo observation of the Jewish War Veterans National 100th Anniversary in 1996. He complied an 80th Anniversary booklet on Buffalo Frontier Post 25. Maurice Sands received the Four Chaplains Award in 2002. In his spare time, Sands paints oils and collages, many of which have military themes or explore the Holocaust.

As much of the material included in this personal collection relates to a local Jewish War Veterans group: Buffalo Frontier Post #25 (JWVBF#25), an historical note for this group is included for the benefit of researchers. In 1927, Sol Feldman organized a Jewish War Veterans Post with a different name: JWV Louis Marshall Post. As this name was already in use by another group, National JWV issued a charter in the name of Buffalo Frontier Post #25 in 1929.

With this two-year delay, Buffalo Frontier Post #25, dates its official beginnings from 1929, and celebrated its 80th Anniversary in 2009. Although this post has a continual history from this time, it was not the only JWV post in Buffalo. At one time another post: JWV Post 259 was active, however this post eventually merged with Post 25. Post 259 was formed immediately after WWII when the ranks of the JWV swelled and there was a need for two posts.

In 1935, the Post, with the assistance of Erie County, JWVBF#25 acquired its own cemetery plot in a section of Temple Beth El Cemetery located on Pine Hill, in Cheektowaga, New York. The plaque was dedicated on May 30, 1935 for the Jewish War Veterans of Erie County who served their country through seven wars (folder 1.10). In 1941, the 46th National Encampment of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States, met in Buffalo, in August (Oversize: Box3). Benjamin Kaufman (a Buffalo native) and a national commander of the organization during the encampment in 1941, presented a checked for $50,000 to Bell Aircraft for the purchase of P-39 fighter plane for the war effort.

During the 1930s to 1940s maintained a post office and meeting place at a building located at Herkimer and Grant. During the 1950s the Post moved to various locations including 277 Linwood Avenue and rented a smaller facility at 576 Taunton Place. This building on Taunton was destroyed by fire in the late 1950s and meetings subsequently took place at Temple Sinai at 50 Alberta Drive, Amherst, NY.

In 1961, JWV purchased 1460 Hertel Avenue and continued to meet at the building for over twenty years. This site was eventually sold on September 4, 1998. From 1998, JWV Post 25 began to meet at the veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) 416 building at 18 E. Spring Street in Williamsville. From the 2000s, the post began to meet at the former Temple Beth Am (now Congregation Shir Shalom) on Sheridan Drive in Williamsville.

A high point in the Post history was a dinner dance at the Hotel Statler Ballroom in honor of the post’s 25th anniversary with guest speaker, Eleanor Roosevelt. In November 1995, the Post organized a special program for the 50th anniversary of WWII and in 1996 another significant program for the hundredth anniversary of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States. In 2009, the Buffalo Frontier Post celebrated its 80th Anniversary.