Joseph Sabino Mistick: A century celebration for Johnny Vento

Zigzagging across the Pacific Ocean, farther than he ever imagined being from his home in East Liberty, 19-year-old Johnny Vento played pinochle with his fellow soldiers, still oblivious to what awaited them in Australia if they managed to avoid enemy torpedoes.

Once they landed and Vento continued his training as a 50-caliber machine gunner, he was called aside by an older sergeant.

“Vento, you better get serious,” the sergeant said.

Then he graphically described the realities of the war, which Vento eventually saw for himself as part of an anti-­aircraft unit assigned to protect fighter aircraft bases in the South Pacific.

“The enemy was tough,” Vento recently said. “But we had to fight Mother Nature, too, mosquitoes and pythons. And it rained for 40 days and 40 nights at one stretch, like in the Bible, and disease took more of our guys than combat.”

When he returned to Pittsburgh at the war’s end, Vento was a serious young man. Like many of the soldiers in World War II who had fought for freedom and seen their friends die for freedom, they were determined to be good citizens. They were extraordinary, and the country would now benefit from how widespread and ordinary their commitment to community was.

And, at Johnny Vento’s 100th birthday party last week at the American Legion Hall, those were the things his friends celebrated — a long and rich life, immersed in his community and fighting for a fair shake for everyone.

State Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa said, “Johnny’s whole life has been dedicated to giving back to his community, fighting for working families and veterans, through organized labor and politics.”

Victor Fiore met Vento in 1964, when Fiore was a chief steward in the IBEW union. He calls Vento ”a great leader, in the union and in politics. But more than anything, people gravitated to him, and he helped everybody.”

Vento’s job at the Westinghouse Electric plant in East Pittsburgh was waiting for him after the war, and he was quickly drawn into a struggle between two factions of the electrical workers union.

“There were plenty of fistfights outside the plant between shifts,” Vento said. “And sometimes it was between brothers, but we eventually went our separate ways.”

Vento became a division steward at the plant, fighting grievances for his workers. He then became a lobbyist for the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO in Harrisburg, where he joined the fight for workers’ rights, including workers compensation and unemployment benefits. When he retired at 70, he volunteered with the Allegheny County Labor Council, staying there until he turned 82.

Vento became the Democratic chairman of Penn Hills in the early 1960s. Penn Hills was heavily Republican in those days, but Democrats now hold the majority, which Vento attributes to years of constant attention to registering new voters. As chairman, he was a necessary stop for any local, county or statewide candidates.

But Vento always goes back to his early years, and he has never forgotten his fellow WWII veterans, helping to raise $4 million for the Southwestern Pennsylvania World War II Memorial on Pittsburgh’s North Shore.

As for the war, he says, “It changed everything for me. I was just a kid from East Liberty, and I met Americans from everywhere. And I learned that we’re all part of one country.”