Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
When he was about 10 years old, Lorenzo Fiorentino listened to his uncle Bernardo describe his service in the Italian Army during World War II with pride, but never glory.
Those conversations planted the seed that inspired Fiorentino to join the U.S. Army, and later morphed into an unbridled desire to recognize the contribution and sacrifices of his fellow veterans.
Fiorentino is the driving force behind the creation of Chicagoland Veterans Campus (CVC) located at 39 Army Trail Boulevard in a 100-year-old former school building owned by St. Paul Lutheran Church.
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the CVC is the result of a collaboration among six veterans museums in the Chicago area: the Chicagoland Combined Veterans Museum & Library, Camp Grant Historical Society Museum, Hellenic American Veterans Memorial & Museum, the Italian American Veterans Museum, 10th Mountain Division Museum and the American Fraternal Military & Associated Auxiliaries Museum.
The CVC aims to preserve historical artifacts, educate the community, and support veterans and their families.
“My goal was to create a place where veterans and their families could feel comfortable in seeking out their benefits and opportunities,” explains Fiorentino, president of the Chicagoland Combined Veterans Museum. “And a place where the whole community could educate themselves on them and continue to remember all of the men and women that through their selfless service has made our country the amazing place that it is.”
The CVC had a ribbon-cutting ceremony in July and is building its historical collection of artifacts, uniforms, weapons, letters, documents and stories from every era of American military history.
A full-time veterans’ service officer is in the works, with psychological services to be offered through the master’s program in military psychology at Adler University. The program is run by Dr. Joseph Troiani, a retired Navy commander and president of the Italian American Veterans Museum.
“Most veterans don’t ask for much. We did what we did, because we believed that our nation’s cause is more important than our personal comfort, for love of our country, our flag, our family,” Fiorentino says. “It is critically important that we take care of any need that a veteran or their families have, and just as important that we remember them. And by remembering what our veterans did, by taking care of our veterans, we will inspire future great Americans to do the same.”
The CVC is actively seeking grants and fundraising for projects like adding A/C, installing an elevator, upgrading electricity and improving accessibility.
The three-story building currently hosts events like book presentations and opens its space to yoga classes, AA meetings, Historical Miniatures Gaming Society events and more.
Fiorentino, who was born in Sicily and grew up in Chicago, is also the First Vice President of the Italian American Veterans Museum, currently in the conceptual phase. “When completed, we expect that visitors will love the interactive nature of the way our veterans’ history is being portrayed,” he says.
Fiorentino attended the University of Illinois at Chicago on an ROTC scholarship and studied engineering. A year later, he changed his major to criminal justice, joined the Army National Guard and completed basic training at Fort McClellan in Alabama.
A retired Military Police major, Fiorentino served 22 years including deployments to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and to New Orleans in support of Operation Crescent Relief in 2005. Those two experiences were polar opposites, he recalls.
“In Afghanistan, we were fighting a war and training their Army, police and civilian government. In New Orleans, we were aiding fellow Americans,” he says. “I like to think that in both situations, we offered hope and security.”
Nowadays, Fiorentino is astonishingly active in a variety of veterans’ organizations.
The list includes: Past Commander, American Legion 9th District Council; Commander, American Legion Post 335; Past Finance Officer, American Legion First Division; Officer of the Day, Italian American War Veterans post 10; Patriotic Instructor/Monument & Memorials Officer-SUVCW, Old Glory Camp 6165; Past President, Fraternal Order of Police lodge 278; Past Sergeant at Arms, Veterans Assistance Commission of Cook County; Adjutant, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5979.
“I belong to many other organizations, but just do not have time to take on leadership roles in them,” he adds.
By day, Fiorentino in Cook County Juvenile Probation as a supervisor for the unit that determines whether juveniles are held in detention. If he’s not at work, he is laboring at the CVC or for one of his other volunteer organizations.
So where does his energy and drive to serve come from?
“As Newton said, ‘A body in motion stays in motion,’” he says. “Couldn’t tell you where the energy comes from, because I suffer from hypothyroidism and sleep apnea.”
Anyone interested in more information or donating to the Chicagoland Veterans Campus can visit facebook.com/chicagolandveteranscampus or contact Fiorentino at lorenzo@chicagolandveteransmuseum.org.
Visits can be arranged upon request by visiting chicagolandveterans.com.
