The weekends this time of year tend to bring us a great deal of enjoyment from all of the celebrations that tend to surround us. However for some we must deal with sad news on occasion. That was the case for many of us this last weekend when we learned of the passing of a great friend and wonderful citizen of our island, longtime islander Sal Sciarrino.
Sal was part of what was known as the Greatest Generation. Men and women of this wonderful country went off to Europe, Africa, and Asia in the early 40s and were destined to become the fabric of what has secured our nation’s place in the annals of history.
There were 16.4 million Americans who fought in World War II. By the end of the war, over 400,000 men and women would lay down their lives in the fight against tyranny and oppression. The only territory that was ever ceded to our nation can be found under the long rows of white crosses that dot the many cemeteries where our dead are buried as a down payment to secure the freedoms many now live under.
Today only about 70,000 of that special generation are still among us, and this weekend, we lost another.
I first met Sal early on my arrival in Marco but had the privilege to learn more about him as I traveled less for my job and began to meet him more often. He was part of a group that would meet in the afternoons at the local coffee shop and swap stories from their pasts as firefighters or law enforcement before retiring and moving south for warmer climates.
I would learn quickly that there was no such thing as a “former Marine,” and Sal would remind all those around him of that tidbit of information. He had a great sense of humor and was dedicated to his beautiful wife Ruthie to whom he was married for 55 years who he adored. They met when Sal was a police officer in Nassau County, New York, and Ruth worked as a school crossing guard.
He was devoted to his church (San Marco Catholic Church) and the Knights of Columbus, in which he stayed active until his passing. In addition to his church, Sal was a great supporter of the Marco Community and was a proud member and supporter of the Marco Island Police Foundation.
Like so many of Sal’s generation, he was a proud supporter of our nation. They were known for their patriotism, work ethic, and frugal lifestyles. Some might question whether our nation could have emerged as the world’s superpower that we did had it not been for those men and women of their generation. Their drive and ambition were the foundation of what made our nation such a formidable economic powerhouse. A young and vibrant President John F. Kennedy, would challenge them early on in his administration by inspiring their sense of duty, ingenuity, and civic responsibility to take us to the moon and beat the Soviets, and they did it.
We owe so much to Sal’s generation, as well as my parents and your parents, and we should never forget that. They provided us with the great country we have today. I saw that devotion to one’s country in Sal’s eyes, as I did in so many others of his and my parents’ generation. We must never forget that special gift that he and so many others who have come before us have placed at our feet as we think about America and the gift that keeps on giving.
We owe it to them all to not screw it up.
