Interviewed by Rachel Wu
Edited by Lou
I was born in Pennsylvania, near where Rocky ran through the Italian market. My Mom used to take me with her when she shopped at the open stalls along the street. I had wonderful parents; we didn’t have much, but they taught us that family came first. There were five of us; two brothers and two sisters. Our grandparents came from the poor, southern part of Italy. We moved when I was 9 years old; we lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same elementary school that Tina Fey eventually went to. I graduated from my high school in 1960, along with Jim Croce, a future folk singer star. For the next 4 years all I did was study and graduated at Villanova University in 1964 with a degree in chemistry. The only thing I really learned was that I didn’t want to be a chemist; however, I did learn how to think and how to be a good citizen.
After graduation, I joined the United States Air Force, being influenced by my older brother, Pete, who enlisted several years prior. I spent several months at Lackland AFB, Texas, (currently one of the quarantine locations for the people suspected of the Coronavirus) at Officer Training School and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant. In April 1965, I was assigned to Chanute AFB, IL, training as an aircraft maintenance officer. In January 1966, I was assigned to Dover AFB, DE as a C-141, Starlifter jet cargo aircraft, Flight Line Maintenance Officer. My job was to make sure the C-141’s were safe and ready to fly the important missions to South East Asia.
In July 1967, I was ordered to the little known island of Mactan, in the middle of the Philippines. As the Maintenance Control Officer and flight line officer, I was responsible for the maintenance and safety of C-124, Globemasters (“Old Shaky”), and C-133, both extremely large and propeller driven aircraft, the former referred to as a million leaky rivets, flying in formation, the latter resembling a big cigar! The best part of my assignment at Mactan Air Base was that I met my future wife while there and of all places, a Tupperware Party!! Mactan Air Base was not my assignment of choice, since I had no experience with C-124 and/or C-133 aircraft. The first several months were not pleasant for me; lots of personnel/training issues and very little supply parts to repair incoming aircraft.
Making matters worse, a major aircraft accident occurred the first week I was there while I was processing in, initiating a major investigation. I basically just wanted to finish up there as quickly as I could and be reassigned. But one day, a friend asked me to go with him to buy a painting and said his secretary knew where to buy one. He had noticed that all I was doing for my first two months was working and sleeping and he thought that I might go crazy if I didn’t get out of my “Hooch’ (a small wooden/metal roof tent) and leave the base. So I took him up on his offer and went with him. After we had purchased the painting, we had nothing to do, so I said let’s go back to the base; however my buddy said, no let’s follow my secretary.
I had no choice but to agree, since I had no idea of how to get back to the base. We arrived at a building, but we didn’t go inside because it was just a room full of women; at this point, in fact, I was doing my best to just duck away. But suddenly, the women came walking by as they departed the room and my eyes met with the most incredible eyes I’d ever seen! For just a split moment, our eyes met as Helen, who would become my future wife, walked by. That was the very first time we met; I found out later that her eyes were greenish, probably due to her Spanish heritage. Later that week, my friend’s secretary asked me if I had noticed someone at the Tupperware Party; apparently Helen had remembered me too. Helen and I had to follow Philippine tradition and met chaperoned much later at a Christmas party. I was made captain and in August 1968, my assignment at Mactan Air Base was completed, but since I had always told myself that I would not consider marriage until I was 30 years old, I departed the Philippines as a single man.
I was next assigned to Travis AFB, California (another current Coronavirus quarantine location) as a Contract Airlift Survey Officer, part of a team that reviewed commercial aircraft carriers that were awarded contracts and also conduct pre-award surveys of carriers that airlifted military service members to various locations, including Vietnam. Of course, I had not forgotten about Helen and I wrote to her every day; she did the same.
One day, in autumn 1969, I proposed to Helen and in November that year, I went back to the Philippines and married the girl that I fell in love with the first moment our eyes met at that Tupperware Party! It wasn’t easy getting back, but I managed to get a “hop” on a C-141 flight as a courier and flew to Clark Air Force Base, Philippines, following a hectic stop at Guam, where I had to account for additional courier material. Somehow, I managed to fly to Mactan Island, and on 29 November 1969, Helen and I were married in the Sacred Heart Church. We recently celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. Our first son, Louis, was born in July 1971, and is named after my father; it’s an Italian tradition to name your first son, after your father (I also was named after my father). Our second son, Joseph, was born in February 1973 and we named him after my mother’s father, Giuseppe (Italian for Joseph). Our youngest son, Brian, was born in 1975 and is named after the Brian Piccolo, the Chicago football player.
After a Quality Assurance training assignment in New York in 1973, I was assigned to the General Electric engine plant in Ohio. I was the Deputy of Quality Assurance at the Air Force Plant Representative Office (AFPRO), a resident unit to assure contract compliance to the numerous military engines that General Electric was manufacturing for the military. I was promoted to major while stationed there, and then moved on to Kirtland AFB, NM, serving as the Quality Assurance member of the Air Force Contract Management Division (AFCMD) team, under Air Force Systems Command. The team visited each of the AFPRO’s throughout the country to major weapon system contractors. Our job was to make sure the AFPRO’s been following AFCMD procedures, assuring that taxpayers’ money was being spent wisely. The commander of AFCMD assigned me to the AFPRO in Florida to help solve some of the personnel and Quality Assurance issues that had surfaced there. I was assigned as Deputy Commander of that AFPRO in 1980 and quickly went to work soothing relationships among the working personnel and the commander. The commander was a brilliant guy, but a bit hard-nosed, trying to get things done. I managed to hire a new Quality Assurance director and things immediately improved. It was there that I made Lieutenant Colonel.
In 1983, I was assigned to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska as the Director of Logistics of the 11th Tactical Control Group; my job was to ensure the successful completion of the Seek Igloo program, an aggressive plan to replace the aging radar units at the remote radar stations throughout Alaska with state of the art Long Range Radar units, as well as reducing manpower/costs with Minimum Attended Radar facilities, that were to be operated by contract personnel. In addition, I was the Source Selection Officer for determining the follow-on contractor, under the newly written Alaskan Air Command, minimum attendant radar site, service contract, saving the Air Force millions of dollars.
In 1987, my family and I departed Alaska and headed to my home town in Pennsylvania, where I was assigned as the Deputy Director of Contracting at the Defense Personnel Support Center (DPSC), part of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the contracting center for buying all of the Department of Defense (DOD) medical, food, and clothing/uniforms through civilian/contract agencies. Also, the center dealt with emergency purchases; once, when I was the Duty Officer of Day, there was a patient in Hawaii who was dying and needed a rare medicine. I was able to expedite the necessary arrangements to have the proper medicine located and sent directly to Hawaii; fortunately, the medicine got to him in time to save his life.
In 1988, I retired from the United States Air Force and we moved to Delaware. I went back to school, Delaware State University (DSU) and graduated in 1995 with a degree in Plant Science/Horticulture. I currently do volunteer “work” at the Herbarium/Arboretum there. The Herbarium is like a plant library/museum; collected plants are identified, pressed/dried, mounted on paper sheets, and filed by plant family, in special metal cabinets. Also, the Herbarium teaches students, including special sessions for local kindergarten/elementary students. DSU’s Arboretum is a special place where one can learn so much about all types of trees.
Now-a-days, I spend much of my time in our yard and garden, just enjoying Mother Nature. I try to read more, mostly about the wars our country has fought and make up for all the reading my Dad told me to do when I was young, but didn’t do. What a mistake I made then! That mistake put me way behind others while growing up. I also enjoyed riding motorcycles until I tore my right Achilles tendon, just by bumping my foot into the bedroom dresser! My wish is that our young people today, look ahead and prepare for the future, of course; but also spend some time learning about those who came before their lifetime and find out what obstacles they had to face and how they overcame them. You’ll find that lots of good things happened and there were lots of good people who accomplished amazing things.