For all of you who’ve been reading my stories about the court-martial of Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez in the murder of two officers in Iraq, the trial is expected to run until he end of the year. As you know, the 41-year-old Troy, NY, native is being tried for the premeditated murders of Capt. Phillip Esposito of Suffern and 1st Lt. Louis Allen of Milford, Pa. in 2005. Prosecutors say Martinez planted a claymore mine on the window ledge of Esposito’s office in Saddam Hussein’s Water Palace in Tikrit, Iraq, and also detonated grenades to simulate an enemy mortar attack, which was very common. He has pleaded not guilty.

Several witnesses have testifed that Martinez was openly hostile toward Esposito and had made threats against him. One witness told the jury that Martinez had sought her help in tracking Esposito’s movements and finding a key to his office. So it’s surprising that no one informed the Army top brass that Martinez was talking about fragging Esposito.

This has been a particularly disturbing issue with the family members of the deceased men. One wonders that with the history of fragging during the Vietnam war, the armed forces would have some rules in place that make it mandatory for soldiers to report threats against members of the armed forces.

With so many witnesses testifying that they heard Martinez using expletives against Esposito and making threats, the defense is finding it hard to deny it. It is arguing that Martinez was just venting because he was upset with disciplinary action that Esposito was contemplating against him because of his poor job performance.

Let’s see how it goes. The prosecution has a couple of dozen more witnesses to bring to the stand, and the defense has several dozen. Stay tuned.

P.S. The court-martial is taking place at Fort Bragg, NC. A live video feed has been made available to family members and the media at West Point. The widows and parents of the victims are attending the trial at Fort Bragg.

The Yonkers Pops Band and the city Parks Department will present musical “Salute to Veterans” at 2 p.m. Sunday (Nov. 9) at Saunders High School.

The band will play marches, a medley of tunes from Bob Hope movies and popular songs from the 1940s in a salute to the armed forces. Vocalist Kathy Hart will join the band for a number of songs, including “I’ll be Seeing You,” “White Cliffs of Dover,” and Boodie Woodie Bugle Boy of Company B.”

The free concert is being funded by a grant from the New York State office of Parks and Historic Preservation.

Saunders High School is located at 183 Palmer Road, just east of the Saw Mill River Parkway.

Military veterans and their families are invited to the Westchester County Center in White Plains tomorrow for the county’s Veterans Town Hall Meeting.

The meeting will feature a discussion about the effects and treatment of post traumatic stress disorder by Larry Winters, a psychotherapist and coordinator of veterans treatment at Four Winds Hospital in Katonah.

Also on tap is an update from County Executive Andrew Spano on efforts to create a Veterans Village on the grounds of the VA hospital in Montrose.

As always, at the twice-yearly meetings, former service members can meet with experts with info on veterans housing, health care and education benefits.

Representatives from the county clerk’s office will also be on hand to help veterans file their DD-214 discharge papers if they haven’t already done so.

For your convenience, there are two sessions scheduled. The first starts and 3 p.m. and runs until  5 p.m. The second is from 6 to 8 p.m. Parking for both meetings is free.

Westchester County Executive Andy Spano is in Washington, D.C. today to discuss the fate of the Montrose campus with officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

As many of you know, the county, most local officials and virtually all of the local veterans organizations have been pushing a plan to create a “Veteran’s Village’’ on the 184-acre Hudson River property. The idea is to renovate the facilities already there and to build affordable housing, a continuing care retirement community, temporary housing for the families of vets receiving medical care and other amenities.

Instead of embracing a plan that would benefit local veterans, the VA announced last month that it has decided to lease 100 acres to private developers who will almost certainly build luxury housing. They’re planning to hold an “industry forum” next week where developers will have a chance to pitch their bids for the project.

I’m hoping to talk to Spano after the meeting to find out if he made any progress in changing their minds. Look for my story Monday on Lohud.com and in The Journal News.

 The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Paralysis Resource Center (PRC) is reaching out to veterans with mobility impairments caused by spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries.

Joe Kaliany, a consultant with the foundation, tells me that its military outreach program “can be incredibly helpful to veterans,’’ and offers a number of resources.

“Becoming paralyzed raises an unthinkable number of questions and this campaign hopes to help veterans answer as many of those as possible,” Kiliany said.

The PRC military campaign is a one-of-a-kind effort that puts veterans with mobility impairments into one-on-one contact with specialists trained to assist them work through any confusion resulting from paralysis. Click here to check out their website and find out more. Those interested in speaking to an expert can do make arrangements on the website to have someone call them, or call  the PRC’s military and veterans hotline at 866-962-8387.

Hey Flyboys!

The “Wings of Freedom’’ tour, an educational display of vintage WWII aircraft, lands at the Westchester County Airport tomorrow and will be here through Monday.

Sponsored by the Collings Foundation, a non-profit “living history” organization, the display gives the public a chance to check out a B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, B-25 Mitchell and P-51 Mustang inside and out. They’re asking for a $12 donation for adults and $6 for kids under 12.

The planes are scheduled to land at 2 p.m. tomorrow and will be on display until 5 p.m. at Million Air, 136 Tower Road, Hangar M. Hours for the rest of the week are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. They leave on Monday at noon.

I’ll be there when they land tomorrow to do a story for lohud.com and The Journal News. Drop by if you have the time – especially if you’re a WWII vet. I’ll interview you and make you famous.

Check out the Collings Foundation’s website here to see some photos of the planes and find out more about the exhibit.

Members of Pelham American Legion Post 50 and the Sons of the American Legion are gathering tomorrow (Friday) to observe National POW/MIA Day in a service that is open to the public.

During the 7 p.m. service at Pelham Veteran’s Plaza on Fifth Avenue, the veterans will remember the 12 Pelham residents designated as missing in action since World War II.

The Hudson Valley chapter of Nam Knights, a motorcycle club comprised of veterans and police officers, will remember POW/MIAs Saturday in an annual event at Central Avenue Field in Pearl River.

“The whole idea is just to remember these kids who never came home and to urge our government officials not to stop trying to locate them,’’ said Russ Williams, a Marine Corps veteran and secretary of the Tappan-based chapter.

The event kicks off at 7 p.m. and will feature a parade of colors feature color guards from local police and fire departments, VFW and American Legion posts and other local organizations. Speakers will include Rockland Count Legislator John Murphy, a Marine Corps vet and a number of Gold Star mothers from the lower Hudson Valley.

The Nam Knights’ annual POW/MIA Recognition Day is just one of the great things this group does around here. Just a few weeks ago they donated $1,000 and 5,000 lbs. of food to the Veterans Food Pantry at Montrose VA hospital.

I hope they get a great turn out.  If you want to find out more about the Knights, here’s a link to their website.

The worst things that happened to me when I was in the Army in the late 1970s were probably getting KP for a week for ticking off the first sergeant and pulling overnight guard duty during a blizzard in the field.

When Joe Cohen was in the Army in 1955, he had to duck into a trench in Nevada while they detonated an atomic bomb 1,000 yards away.

“They kept telling us not to worry, that it was perfectly safe,’’ Cohen, of Hastings, told me during an interview at his house today. “We never thought they would put us in harm’s way.  What did I know? I was just a dumb 20-year-0ld kid, doing what he was told.’’

Cohen’s company commander volunteered his unit for “Operation Teapot,’’ a series of tests conducted to study the effects of atomic blasts on military operations.

You can read the full story about Cohen and his experiences, and see a video interview this weekend on lohud.com and in The Journal News.

A 107-year-old World War I veteran – the last U.S. soldier from “the Great War’’ – went to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to lobby for the creation of a national memorial to the four million Americans who fought “over there.’’

According to this story in the Stars & Stripes, Frank Couples was born in Misouri in 1901 and lied about his age to join the Army in 1917.

Buckles has the support of U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, who announced Tuesday that he will introduce legislation — the Frank Buckles World War I Act — that would fund the restoration of the existing D.C. War Memorial and expand it to commemorate the all the nation’s veterans of that conflict.

The current monument, built in 1931, honors only local veterans, and is in a state of disrepair, the Stars & Stripes story says. The entire monument, situated between the Korean and World War II memorials, is largely hidden by overgrown trees.

“Most visitors and residents of D.C. don’t even know it’s here,” said Edwin Fountain, former president of the D.C. Preservation League, an organization that placed the memorial on their list of Most Endangered Places in 2006.

How sad. Here’s hoping the memorial gets the attention it deserves and is expanded to acknowledge the sacrifices of the doughboys who served.

Earlier in the summer I wrote about Westchester’s Vietnam Veterans of America chapter sponsoring a very successful food drive to help out the veterans food pantry at Montrose.

Fred Hillman, a member of the VVA in White Plains, also happens to be vice president of the “Nam Knights,‘’ a motorcycle club of veterans and police officers based in Tappan. Hillman brought the idea to the Knights and they did their own drive in Pearl River last week. The result was the delivery of 5,000 pounds of food and $1,000 to the pantry.

“I was overwhelmed,’’ said Duke Searles, director of the pantry. “It’s the biggest single donations we’ve ever had.’’

With his own shelves filled, Searles was able to bring some food up the to pantry at Castle Point.

Great job by vets on both side of the river!

Army Sgt. Adam Jackson, of Hopewell Junction, is pictured on the Stars and Stripes website today with a story on U.S. troops training Afghan police in small unit tactics.

You can see his photo and read the story here.

Pretty cool.

As thousands of people decend on Denver for the Democratic National Convention,  Andy Roberts of Suffern will be there to add his voice.

But he’s not there to root for any candidate; Roberts is part of a Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, or IAVA, which is there to meet with delegates and convention guests. The aim is to raise awareness about critical issues facing the 1.7 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and highlight the fight for the new GI bill.

The group is planning a major community service event for delegates as well as Denver residents that includes preparing care packages for troops serving overseas.  A delegation of IAVA veterans will also travel to the upcoming republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul to press their case.

Roberts, a West Point graduate, is a former Army officer who served in the field artillery brancj from 1997 to 2004. In 2004 he deployed to Iraq with the 4th Infantry Division. He currently lives in New York City.

Maybe this will finally come to an end.

Fort Bragg says tomorrow will start the last phase off pretrial motions in the murder trial of Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez of Troy who is accused in the 2005 killings of Capt. Phillip Esposito of Suffern and 1st. Lt. Louis Allen of Milford, Penn.  Their deaths are considered the first fragging incident since the U.S. invaded Iraq. Pretrials  motions started in Oct 2005, four months after their deaths, and they continue three years later.

But the Aug. 20 to Aug. 22 motions, a whopping 49 in all, will be the last phase, Thomas McCollum, a spokesman for Fort Bragg assured me. The actual court-martial is set for Oct. 6 to Dec. 31, and this time JAG will hold to the date, he said. A couple of court-martial dates have been thrown around before, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

The families of Esposito and Allen have already left for Fort Bragg, keeping to their 2005 promise of attending every hearing that is held, whether it is in the Middle East or stateside.  So far the widows of the two men and their families have made more than 10 trips to the military base. If the military keeps to its word, the next time the families go, it will be for the court-martial. Perhaps that will bring some closure to their pain.