Lee Mish described his childhood as “like any other Jewish kid in Sharon.”

Mish, 48, became a bar mitzvah at Temple Israel in Sharon in 1990 and visited Israel a few times as a young adult.

“I always connected with Judaism from a cultural standpoint and celebrated the big holidays with my family,” Mish said. He would later make three trips to Israel, including a tour with Birthright.

The prospect of joining the U.S. Army was always there in the back of his mind. “It was something I always wanted to do – I was drawing tanks since I was a little kid,” Mish said.

Mish was a three-sport varsity athlete in football, baseball and basketball at Sharon High School. In 1993, he intercepted three passes during a game – tying a record for most pickoffs in one match.

After graduating in 1995, he earned the opportunity to play the first two sports at Springfield College.

Despite some success on the diamond at Springfield, Mish chose not to continue his time in western Massachusetts. Instead, he headed out west to Arizona to live with his older sister in 1998.

“I walked to the recruiting center in Scottsdale, Arizona, signed up and shipped out 30 days later,” Mish said. “I realized that if I didn’t do it then, I’d never do it.”

Mish’s first assignment of his 15-year Army career was in South Korea, where he drove M1A1 tanks. Three years later, he was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri on Sept. 11, 2001, where he was part of the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) – the Army’s equivalent of the FBI.

“At first, it was fear and anxiety of what was happening on Sept. 11,” Mish said. “Then after a week or two, it turned into, ‘OK, let’s go do this.’”

The CID’s responsibilities included felony investigations of U.S. Army personnel.

Twenty-six months later, Mish deployed to Iraq for 13 months. He would go to Iraq and Afghanistan around 20 times between 2005-2011.

In Afghanistan, Mish was awarded a Bronze Star, as an officer who led troops into a combat zone.

During tours, he would have a month-long leave. In 2011, Mish returned to Massachusetts, timing his visit with a birthday for his oldest child, who was a toddler at the time. The occasion was chronicled by the MetroWest Daily newspaper.

Mish went from an enlisted soldier in 1998 to a chief warrant officer in CID by the time he retired from the Army in 2012.

Veterans Day is always a special time for Mish, who appreciates the recognition but doesn’t see himself as “a superstar.”

“Serving in the military means a long time being away from family,” Mish said. “During my service, we got shot at and lost friends. It teaches you a lot about what you can handle and what you can do.”

During his time in the service, Mish returned to college and earned his bachelor’s degree in criminology from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.

Shortly after retiring from the Army, Mish earned master’s degrees from Northeastern University in criminology (2013), business leadership (2014) and human resources management/personnel administration (2015).

Since his military retirement, Mish has worked as a sales executive in the private sector. Mish credits his military service with enhancing his communications skills.

In Plainville, only 15 miles southwest of his hometown of Sharon, Mish has served on the town’s Veterans Memorial Committee since 2021. He’s involved in the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion in Plainville.

Mish began serving on the board of New Englanders Helping Our Veterans (NEHOV) in 2023 and serves as co-chair of the nonprofit’s golf tournament. The nonprofit was founded in 2016 by Jim Collins to honor a friend who returned from the Vietnam War with PTSD. Θ