George Catalanotto is the Valley Stream's Herald 2022 Person of the Year

He pushes the issues and has been helping veterans for as long as I can remember.”

Jim Brown Commander, Disabled American Veterans Chapter 145

When George Catalanotto, a distinguished U.S. Army veteran who served for 13 months in Vietnam as a combat engineer, enters a classroom for one of his teaching presentations about veterans, he makes a point to bring his star-spangled box.

The box is heavy, packed with pieces of his tactical combat gear — a bowling-ball-sized M1 steel pot helmet, a lightweight radio the size of a brick, an M-17 gas mask — items and articles of his own lived experience in one of America's deadliest wars.

Nowadays, they are Catalanotto’s teaching props. He feels most happy and at ease in front of an audience of children, presenting himself as a veteran teaching about and helping other veterans. There, the 77-year-old is in his element, and he exudes a warm, grandfatherly charisma combined with a jovial young man’s energy. He pulls out his pot helmet and drops it to the floor, the loud thud rattling the classroom. Children become wide-eyed, giggling in delightful surprise.

Catalanotto asks the teachers before his presentation to single out the child having a rough day, and he enlists that boy or girl as his assistant, letting him put on the gas mask. He gives her a patriot pin to take, along with some for her family.

The presentation’s main educational attraction is his slide show, detailing, among other things, veterans' career benefits, military duties, and the ongoing security needs that America’s servicemen and women provide.

There are moments of celebration and gratitude in his presentation as well.

Catalanotto’s favorite part is a video compilation of military families who, after enduring the pain and anxiety of separation, are surprised by the unexpected return of their solider. There are always tears and a tight embrace, moments of emotion and release.

“What do you think is a veteran’s favorite reward?” reads a slide. The answer: “Maybe it’s just coming home to surprise their loved ones!”

Sometimes the kids and the teachers shed tears, noted Catalanotto: “It’s a real bell ringer.”

He said he hopes people will walk away with a more compassionate glimpse into the difficult conditions and realities that thousands of American servicemen and women have experienced and will continue to experience throughout the nation's wars in their efforts to safeguard the freedoms and liberties that millions of Americans enjoy.

Armed with his human touch, and his natural penchant for injecting any situation with delight, dignity, humor, and compassion, Catalanotto has quietly but powerfully sought to deliver his message — remember our veterans — home to the village of Valley Stream and its residents.  For his efforts, the Herald is proud to name him its 2022 Person of the Year.

“He is far and above one of the best guys out in the field,” said Jim Brown, commander of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 145.

The message of honor and remembrance has not gone unheard, Catalanotto said. He is grateful to the village for its show of support for and solidarity with veterans, never failing to pull out all the stops during its veterans events. Veterans like Catalanotto bring a thoughtful presence and depth to every ceremony, especially for one like him who prefers not to be celebrated but to celebrate and tend to the needs of his fellow brothers and sisters of the armed forces.

“Many of our veterans are released from active duty and are not aware of many of the entitlements they have. The Veterans Affairs agency does not come knocking at our doors,” Senior Vice Commander Abel Cuevas, of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1790, said. “Groups such as the VFW, the Disabled American Veterans, and the American Legion are willing to help veterans in the community. This is why we campaign for members, to allow others to join and gain knowledge that can help them and their families.”

Catalanotto, a member of Post 1790, has been one of the post’s most vocal advocates.

“George has been very supportive of all the younger comrades in the hall. His knowledge of the Veterans Affairs system, policies, and practices has been instrumental in the success of veterans receiving the benefits they are entitled to,” Cuevas said. “He reminds us all of what it is to be a citizen warrior.  While he has served many years before many in the post, he is a constant reminder of what dedication and loyalty to our country is all about.  His resourcefulness in the community is shared openly, and he is always lending a listening ear.”

“George does an outstanding job as our treasurer, and he’s my right-hand man,” the DAV’s Brown said.

The DAV in Valley Stream has done a number of on-the-ground services for veterans, including finding lodging for homeless veterans, conducting flag ceremonies for widows, helping disabled veterans secure special-needs assistance, and raising funds for infirm veterans and their support canines.

Catalanotto has served as the organizational head of the chapter’s activities —and he just won’t sit still, noted Brown.

“He pushes the issues and has been helping veterans for as long as I can remember,” Brown said “We’re disabled, like the name implies, but George and the rest of our members do as much as we can. And George is a real asset in finding projects for us to do and finding creative ways to raise funds.

“A lot of veterans, when they leave service, aren’t aware of the benefits that they could get and slip through the cracks,” Brown added. “But we help serve as their first line of defense and do whatever we can to help.” 

To show his heart for his fellow veterans, Brown said, one need only look to Catalanotto’s passionate delivery of this year’s Veterans Day remembrance ceremony for the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia.

“An empty chair with the POW banner draped over the back is always kept at all ceremonies so that we reserve a place for those veterans who have not yet returned home,” said Catalanotto at the ceremony, pointing to an empty chair with a table with various patriotic tokens, a symbolically rich reminder of the grief, honor, and pride given to those soldiers missing in action and who died abroad as prisoners of war.

“We relied on them, and they have not forsaken us,” Catalanotto said. "They gave us their all. We remember them always. We will remember them always.”

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