Hopewell Valley Central High School students hear stories of war

Eight veterans of our country’s armed forces shared experiences at school forum

By John Tredrea
   They told stories and expressed viewpoints that doubtless will remain embedded forever in the minds of many of their listeners. They were eight veterans of our country’s armed forces, who spoke to students at Hopewell Valley Central High School on Nov. 14.
   One of the veterans, Joseph Nyzio, didn’t look much older than the students listening quietly to him in the auditorium. Mr. Nyzio, who graduated from Ewing High School in 1997, lost sight in his left eye two and a half years ago while serving in Iraq with the New Jersey National Guard.
   On his 25th birthday, a rocket grenade hit the windshield of the military vehicle in which Mr. Nyzio was riding on a search mission. "I happened to have my head turned to the side, to look down an alley, when the grenade hit," he said. "Otherwise, I would have gotten it full in the front of the face."
   Thus far, he has had 17 operations "to repair damage to my left eye and the left side of my face," he said.
   Making Mr. Nyzio’s story even more powerful was the self-effacing, matter-of-fact manner in which he told it and the context into which he put it. As it turned out, he was the last of the eight veterans to speak to the students before the panel began taking questions from them. Speaking before him were veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the First Gulf War.
   "Thanks for having us here today," Mr. Nyzio began. Then he indicated the seven veterans on his right and said: "The first thing I’d like to say is how honored I am to be next to seven such great Americans."
   During the question and answer period, the veterans were asked if they would still enlist if they "could do it over again."
   "Yes," Mr. Nyzio said. "Although I got hurt over there, not for one second have I ever regretted it. It was an honor. The camaraderie in the service is like nothing else. You depend on the guys on your right and left to come home alive every day. And they depend on you."
   Ed Mazzeo of Hamilton was so young when he enlisted in the Marines, right after graduating from high school, that he grew 2 inches while serving in the Corps in Vietnam. He had two dangerous jobs: walking point and tunnel rat.
   "I was the first guy in line wherever we went," he said. "My job was to check for booby traps. I found 11 of them without tripping any of them." Mr. Mazzeo paused, shrugged casually, and said something amazing: "I think that’s a pretty good record."
   Because of his relatively diminutive stature – 5 feet 4 inches and 125 pounds – Mr. Mazzeo also got the tunnel rat job. Doing it meant going down into enemy tunnels with a flashlight, bayonet and .45 caliber pistol to see if there were any enemy soldiers or supplies in there. He emerged unscathed from that daunting task as well.
   "As I’m sure most of you know, Vietnam was a very unpopular war," Mr. Mazzeo said, adding bluntly: "The American people treated veterans of that war like garbage. They should get down on their knees and beg our forgiveness for that."
   He also expressed great frustration with how the war was fought.
   "We were ordered not to bomb Hanoi (the capital of Vietnam), not to bomb Haiphong, its principal harbor, and ordered not to bomb the oil fields," he said. "We bombed rice paddies and mountains. We accomplished absolutely nothing but the loss of human life."
   But like Mr. Nyzio, he’s glad he enlisted and would again. "You grow up real quick in the military," he said. "It gives you discipline. That’s what it’s all about."
   The forum at which the veterans spoke resulted from a collaborative effort involving the high school social studies department, local veterans groups and the Mercer County Vets in the Schools program. That program was developed by Freeholder Liz Muoio, of Pennington, with the support of the Mercer County Office of Veterans’ Services, as a way to incorporate the first-hand experience of military veterans into social studies and history lessons.
   The first veteran to speak was Joseph O’Donnell, who was held a prisoner of war by Germany after the B-17 in which he was gunner was shot down over Vienna during World War II.
   Mr. O’Donnell said: "adjusting to civilian life after the war was difficult. When you got back home, you found out that some people considered ex-POWs to be cowards. That was pretty tough to take, considering what you went through to become a POW."
   He said his plane’s pilot and a gunner were killed when their craft was shot down. "From the POW camp, we wound up doing a six-day forced march across Germany in 15- and 20-degree weather," he said. "Helping one another was the best way to stay alive."
   Another World War II veteran of the Army Air Corps was Nicholas Loveless, who grew up on a farm in Lawrence, where he became chief of police after the war. "War is horrible and bloody," Mr. Loveless said quietly and decisively. "It takes a heavy toll on the mind and body."
   He enlisted when he was 17 and flew 60 combat missions as a gunner on a B-25 bomber. "We got combat hardened very quickly. Every other member of my crew was killed, severely wounded or taken prisoner," he said. Mr. Loveless also served in Korea. "I was recalled for that war and flew 40 more missions there," he said.
   Another Army Air Corps veteran was Sevy Di Cocco of Hopewell Township, who served in both World War II and Korea during his long military career, during which the Air Force became an independent branch of the service.
   "I grew up on a farm here in Hopewell Township and did some morning chores on a neighboring farm, too, feeding chickens and the like," he said. "It was that neighbor who told me about Pearl Harbor when it happened. I was 14 at the time. What does a 14-year-old kid know about things like this?"
   Mr. Di Cocco was drafted near the end of World War II. Recalled for Korea, he helped fly troops and supplies into that conflict. "And we flew the wounded out," he said.
   One of the veterans to address the students was a woman: Lu Pagano of the Marines. "The proudest day of my life was when I graduated from Marine Corps boot camp," she said. "After you finish that, you feel like you can do anything and are unafraid to try anything. The rest of life is a piece of cake after boot camp. It makes you mentally strong."
   "I joined right from high school, in 1970," Ms Pagano said. "I had already been accepted to college. But there were a lot of anti-war protests in colleges at the time. They disturbed me. So I joined the service."
   The Marines did not send women into combat then, and the Corps sent Ms. Pagano to journalism school. She eventually became editor of a publication distributed throughout the Corps. "My time in the Marine Corps taught me to challenge myself," she said. "It changed my entire outlook on life, permanently."
   Another Marine Corps veteran, James Csogi, served in the First Gulf War and Iraq. After serving several terms of enlistment, he decided to leave the Corps.
   "My wife and I have three daughters," he said. "Being in the military definitely takes its toll on family life. But the friends you make last forever. And people will know that you’re dependable and reliable if you’re a veteran. You’ve already been tested."
   Another First Gulf War veteran was Chris Swanke of Princeton, who joined the Marines after two years in college. "I was not that interested in academics," he admitted. He spent five and a half months in Saudi Arabia before leaving the Corps.
   "The camaraderie and brotherhood is very powerful," he said. "It was a great experience in my life, to be able to form those bonds while serving my country."