By JOHN HOWELL

Salvatore Soscia lost track of some of the medals he was due to receive for his service in the Navy during World War II. It’s not that the recognition didn’t mean anything to him. He appreciated that but actually having the medals, to get put away in a drawer, wasn’t important until now.

With three great-grandsons and two more soon to be born, Sal wants to leave behind something more than stories and photos for the next generation. Those medals for distinguished service are now important.

On Friday, U.S. Senator Jack Reed fulfilled Sal’s wish during a presentation ceremony at the Cranston Public Library’s Central branch. There was the pomp that accompanies such events with the award being read as Reed affixed a medal to Sal’s shirt. For his participation in the war, Sal earned the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and Honorable Service Lapel Pin.

The ceremony wasn’t hung up on protocol. Quite the contrary, it was more of a family gathering.

Reed was greeted like a longtime friend of the family, joining to listen to Sal recount how he ended up in the Navy. It was 1941. Sal was 17 and looked to join the war effort. He was ready to sign up for the Marine Corps when Navy officers at the recruitment center convinced him it would be a mistake. His brother Bamby L. Soscia also enlisted in the Navy. The Navy didn’t waste time. In short order, Sal was off to Grand Lakes boot camp for training.

“I didn’t even know of Grand Lakes,” said Sal. Reed surely knew of it, not that they compared notes.

Sal served as an Electronics Technicians Mate Second Class aboard the USS St. Paul, with responsibilities that included overseeing the ship’s electrical systems. The USS St. Paul was a heavy cruiser that saw combat action in the Pacific during the war, fired the last shots of the war at Tokyo Bay, and was on hand for the surrender on Sept. 2, 1945.

At the end of the war, Sal went on to URI and after graduating landed a job with General Electric where he designed several patented products. 

Sal met his future wife, Lucy, at a dance and married in 1951. They had two daughters, Lori and Cheryl, four grandchildren and three great-grandsons. Two more great-grandsons are due later this year.

Lucy passed away after the couple celebrated their 60th anniversary. 

Asked about his designs, Sal said one of the projects he most enjoyed was for the Green Bay Packers. He designed an underground heating system for the Green Bay field that he said had players fearful of the wires. He said Vince Lombardi convinced them otherwise and the system remained functional for years.

After retiring, General Electric retained Sal as a consultant with one of the lengthiest assignments being a four-week tour in Far East Asia where he looked at and assessed different projects.

The Soscia family is a tight-knit family in more than one way. They all live in Cranston close to one another. On Friday, they gathered for pictures with Sal standing tall in their midst. But they don’t dawdle over him. At 97 years old, Sal is not only mentally alert but active. He’s on the golf course and – as his family notes – he finds more golf balls than they know what to do with. He is also active in the St. Joseph Men’s Guild where he assists with blood drives.

At his age, Sal finds life in family and – now that his service to this country is memorialized in the medals he earned – the legacy he will leave will be that much brighter.