102岁二战老兵将领队Charleston退伍军人日游行：退役后做志愿者30年、陪住院战友到最后
在美国南卡罗来纳州 Charleston 市，102 岁的二战海军老兵 Charles "Charlie" Passarello 将于11月8日担任该市 2026 年退伍军人日游行的大礼官，走在队伍最前方。游行上午10时从 Concord 街与 Market 街交口出发，沿 East Bay 街与 Broad 街行进，至 Colonial Lake 结束。
Passarello 每天早晨起床都会提醒自己：「站起来了，就做点事。」1942 年，他在 Charleston 高中毕业后于11月11日应征加入海军，当时只有 18 岁。他早年负责维护 Charleston 港的防潜网并在东南沿海巡逻，后来主动申请调往太平洋，加入海军工兵营（Seabees），在 Johnston Island 参与搭建雷达塔，最终升任二级电工士官、带一个 10 人小队。
战后他回到 Charleston，1951 年进入 Charleston 海军造船厂，从电工一路做到电气车间主管，管理约 368 名员工，1986 年退休，在造船厂干了 35 年。
退休没有让他慢下来。此后约 30 年，他通过 Ralph H. Johnson 退伍军人医疗系统与 Charleston Elks Lodge 242 做志愿者，组织探望住院退伍军人、给少有人探望的患者带杂志和茶点。他回忆，曾与一位双腿截肢、附近没有亲人的住院老兵结识，探望时给他带过汉堡和奶昔；再去探望时，对方已经离世。这段经历让他确信：陪伴本身就是最有分量的帮助。「让我一直来这里的，是人。」他说。
作为 Elks 成员逾 60 年，他还主持该分会的宾果委员会约 20 年，为慈善项目与奖学金筹款。谈到长寿与动力的秘诀，他说：「我公平对待每个人，尽量对每个人友善，不对任何人撒谎，也不希望任何人骗我。」
102-Year-Old World War II Veteran to Lead Charleston's Veterans Day Parade: Three Decades of Volunteering After Retirement
In Charleston, South Carolina, Charles "Charlie" Passarello, a 102-year-old World War II Navy veteran, will lead the city's 2026 Veterans Day Parade as grand marshal on Sunday, November 8. The parade begins at 10 a.m. at Concord and Market streets and continues along East Bay and Broad streets before ending at Colonial Lake.
Every morning, Passarello gets up with a simple reminder to himself: "I get up in the morning, stand up, and say to myself, you're standing up, do something." His military journey began in Charleston in 1942. After graduating from high school that June, he enlisted in the Navy on November 11, 1942, at just 18 years old. His early assignments included maintaining a submarine net protecting Charleston Harbor and conducting patrols along the southeastern coastline.
He later requested a transfer to the Pacific, traveling by troop train to California and by ship to Hawaii, where his experience as an electrician led him to volunteer for the Navy's Seabees. Passarello helped establish radar towers on Johnston Island and eventually advanced to electrician's mate second class, supervising a team of 10 men.
After the war he returned to Charleston and began a career at the Charleston Naval Shipyard in 1951, working his way from electrician to superintendent of the electrical shop, overseeing approximately 368 employees. He retired in 1986 after 35 years of service.
Retirement did little to slow him down. For approximately 30 years, he has volunteered in support of veterans through the Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System and Charleston Elks Lodge 242, organizing visits to hospitalized veterans and bringing magazines and refreshments to patients who might otherwise have few visitors. He recalled befriending a hospitalized veteran who had lost both legs and had no family nearby, once bringing him a hamburger and milkshake; when he returned for another visit, he learned the veteran had died. "What keeps me coming here are the people," he said.
A member of the Elks for more than six decades, he also spent approximately 20 years leading the lodge's bingo committee, helping generate funds for charitable programs and scholarships. Asked what has kept him motivated, he said: "I treat everybody fairly, I try to be nice to everybody, I don't lie to anybody, and I don't want anybody lying to me."
来源：美国退伍军人事务部Charleston医疗系统
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：Charleston 市中心的 Rainbow Row 位于 East Bay 街，退伍军人日游行将沿这条街行进。照片：Andreas Hörstemeier，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons 发布／Rainbow Row on East Bay Street in downtown Charleston; the Veterans Day Parade will travel along East Bay Street. Photo by Andreas Hörstemeier, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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