Michael Louis Vulcano

Michael Louis Vulcano served in the United States Marines and achieved the rank of Corporal.

Mr. Vulcano is a native New Yorker and the son of Italian immigrant parents from Calabria, Italy, who settled in Brooklyn with him and his eight siblings. 

A proud family man, he is a son, brother, father, grandfather, and a greatgrandfather.A member of the Greatest Generation, Mr. Vulcano is also a proud World War II veteran.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Mr. Vulcano answered his Nation’s call at the age of 19. From Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, as a member of the 2nd Marine Battalion Company B, he boarded a ship that would take him and his fellow soldiers to islands he had never heard of in the Pacific.

He fought in two of the fiercest battles of WWII, the Battle of Okinawa and the Battle of Tarawa Island. The number of souls lost in these two battles is staggering. Mr. Vulcano achieved the rank of  Corporal before being honorably discharged; he returned to his home in Brooklyn to rejoin his parents and eight siblings.

He never talks about the War, nor of his journey on ships that were tossed and turned in tumultuous storms at sea. Recently, his usual happy-go-lucky attitude turned somber, saying that often he awakes in the middle of the night to memories of the horror of war and the faces of friends that he lost. He goes back to sleep hoping that those thoughts and the sadness they bring will disappear. And when they do, they are replaced by the happiness that his family gives him.

Mr. Vulcano was happily married to his wife, Phyllis Russo, for 64 years. They had two daughters, Denise and Michele. He is the proud grandfather of Ashley and great-grandfather of Kalani and Keanu. The family grew up in Bayside, Queens in their three-family home, surrounded by extended family.

On April 23, 2023, Mr. Vulcano hit a major milestone when he turned 100 years old and achieved centenarian status. Today, he lives in Flushing, Queens with his daughter, Denise.