BOSTON — Rico Petrocelli served his country in the Army Reserve from 1964 to 1968. 

 

Growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., he was a two-sport star in baseball and was All-City in basketball. He would later play semi-pro football as well. In 1961, he was labeled the top baseball player in New York City and, a year later, he would have the interest of 15 out of 18 Major League teams and would eventually sign with the Boston Red Sox, for an amazing $65,000 signing bonus.

 

He would do his basic training of eight weeks at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

 

"I really wanted to be a parachutist, but my sergeant said, 'you don't want to do that — your ankles may touch your knees,'" he said. "Basic was humbling but it provided me some great structure and I really learned about respect." 

 

After basic, he would stay at Fort Leonard Wood for his first assignment.

 

"Lots of our guys were sent to Hawaii for jungle training and, at one point, our whole camp was on alert to possibly ship out to Vietnam," he recalled. 

 

Private Petrocelli would recall the pain of losing a friend.

 

"We had a platoon leader who was going to go to [Officer Candidate School]. He was a really good guy, a bright guy, and he got sent to Hawaii for training. When I got out, I asked about him," Petrocelli said, and was told that he got shot and killed in Vietnam. "He was just a terrific guy, I think about it even now, a real downer." 

 

Though he was a professional athlete, he said he was never singled out or given a hard time.

 

"Jimmy [Lonborg, Red Sox pitcher] was in the same barracks and the guys would ask us questions but I never got singled out or was given a hard time because I was a ball player. I got along with everyone," he recalled.

 

He shared a story about a kid from the Ozarks who sounded "just like Gomer Pyle, a real accent. The kid really looked up to me, loved me, followed me everywhere. He would talk about his family and he really had some bad problems. Whenever we were marching and our sergeant said 'RIGHT FACE' he'd go left — the sergeant would be

screaming at him.

 

"We had some laughs. I think he went AWOL."

 

Private Petrocelli was not immune to the everyday duties of a soldier, he did KP and "peeled more potatoes than I ever saw in my lifetime. I also had latrine duty," he laughed, "Every morning it was like a scene from 'Blazing Saddles' — then I had to go in and clean." 

 

Thoughts on the protestors? "It wasn't good, we're at war, you should be behind our troops. I'm very patriotic, have been since I was a kid. Those guys that came back from Vietnam were heroes to me." 

 

Petrocelli spoke with intense passion when asked about our veterans. 

 

"I love our country and have such respect for our veterans. I couldn't believe the way our guys were treated coming home from Vietnam. I have such respect for them. My brother was a World War II veteran and went through a lot," he said. "For the vets that served our

country and the ones that lost their lives, they are heroes. Period. They make heroes out of athletes — what the hell is that? Because I hit a homerun? NO WAY! Our veterans and active military are our heroes." 

 

Petrocelli, now lives in Nashua, N.H., was a shortstop and third baseman for the Red Sox for more than a decade, then worked in broadcasting and as a minor league manager. He is a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame and I know from personal experience that he is a Hall of Famer as a human being as well.

 

Pvt. Rico Petrocelli, thank you for your service to our great country.

 

Wayne Soares is the host of the popular new veterans cooking show, "The Mess Hall" that airs Saturdays on NBC's NECN at 9:30 a.m. He also entertains our troops around the globe and is the host and producer of the Vietnam veterans documentary "Silent Dignity – The Chapter That Never Ends." He can be reached at waynesoares1@gmail.com.