Historic Red Hook is documenting and highlighting stories of service in our community, especially from those who have been in the military and those of their family members and friends. Ideally we would like these narratives to become part of the community’s historic archives and for them to be published via Historic Red Hook’s social media and other sites. You can help us gather this information by either sharing with us your own story or interviewing someone else for theirs.

Submissions can be write-ups, photos with captions, TikTok or other video formats, or other genres. Historic Red Hook is here to help you with suggestions or support. Please send any questions to Historic Red Hook at info@historicredhook.org. If your interviewee gives permission for that, please fill out this release form.

Carl J. Estersohn

“My grandfather was a 1st Lieutenant during WWII, in what is now the Air Force. Carl J Estersohn was a fascinating guy. He was a splendid father, spouse, brother, and grandpa. He lived to the age of 93. The aforementioned was healthy and joyful for 92 and a half of those years… My grandfather changed the lives of so many, including my own. He was a war hero, an orthodontic surgeon, an entrepreneur, and a family man. He was and always will be a role-model…” Read and hear his story from his grandson Elio.

William Meyer

“I’m William Meyer and I did serve 30 years, 3 months and 8 days in the United States Airforce as an enlisted person, rising to the rank of chief master sergeant. It was a good experience—the military— for me and my family. We worked hard, we played hard. I started out, I was a farm boy in Minnesota with seven brothers and sisters…” Hear his story.

Ken Anderson

“I’m Ken Anderson. I was born in 1929 and I cam to Red Hook back in ‘76. If there is any place I would suggest to go, it would be Red Hook, because I think we have one of the nicest little communities that you could find anywhere. I went into the Airforce in 1950. At that time, I volunteered my services for four years and during those four years I experience what was possibly, could have been, a nuclear war… Hear his story.