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."
Source: 美国退伍军人事务部Charleston医疗系统
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 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
