VE3DSC

Pacifico 'Puss' Valeriote
Guelph, ON Canada

QCWA # 27844
Chapter 73
VE3DSC - Pacifico 'Puss' Valeriote
Puss Holds a trophy he won in a New Year's
day race in Hamilton in the late 1930's
Sandra Valeriota photo
First Call: VE3ARH issued in 1938       Other Call(s): VE2AHX

guelphtoday.com
Family comes from all over the world to help Pacifico Valeriote celebrate his 100th birthday
Puss Valeriote is a World War II veteran, retired successful businessman and one of the patriarchs of the city's most notable families
Sep 16, 2019 1:45 PM By: Tony Saxon

They came from far and wide Sunday to help celebrate Pacifico turning 100.

A niece from Abu Dhabi, nephews from California, all among the roughly 250 people that descended on the Italian Canadian Club to help Pacifico 'Puss' Valeriote celebrate his 100th birthday.

The man of the hour sat in a comfy leather armchair while well-wishers lined up to say hello as a four-piece band played nearby and people mingled in the hall eating a wide range of food and looking over many photos detailing Pacifico's life.

"Our RSVP list was up to 275 and that was just the people I knew," said daughter Sandra Valeriote, "so there could be a few more. That's why we have name tags!"

His three surviving children, 11 grandchildren and two great grandchildren mingled with friends, some of who Pacifico has known for over 80 years.

"A lot of his childhood friends are here too. Duke Sorbora ... Chester Carere ... the whole gang. And they're all in their 90s. They must have had a healthy childhood, or maybe it was the homemade wine," laughed Sandra.

A Royal Canadian Legion colour guard attended Sunday, presenting Pacifico an RCAF Association lifetime member certificate members of the Guelph Amateur Radio Club, which he is a longtime member of, were also on hand.

Pacifico comes from a family of 16 children, born on Sept. 16, 1919, to Italian immigrants who came to Canada in 1906.

He was born and raised on Alice Street , enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II and serving as a radar technician in England, Scotland, Italy, Tunisia and Algeria.

After returning to Canada he worked in the Montreal area for a time working for the government before returning to Guelph where he ran a string of successful businesses.

He married his late wife Elsa in 1957 and the couple had four children.

Pacifico is also a founding member of the Italian Canadian Club.

He wasn't up for much of an interview on the day, just saying that he was enjoying the party and that "they arranged it, I didn't do a thing. All I had to do was show up and here I am."

Asked what he loved most about Guelph, he just said simply, "I live here."

Donations were being accepted for the Alzheimer Society Waterloo Wellington in honour of Valeriote.


guelphmercury.com
Guelph recruits were 'full of adventure, curiosity and a duty to serve their country'
Opinion Oct 21, 2019 by Joe Tersigni Guelph Mercury

"I will never forget the enemy bombing of Bone (today called Annaba), a seaport city in Algeria, North Africa, in November of 1942. Our troops were like sitting ducks, and I had to take cover behind a stone wall while German aircraft flew overhead, bombing everything in site. I saw my share of hardship during wartime and lost a few good buddies. I made it out . guess I was just a lucky kid from the Ward." - Pacifico Valeriote

Despite turning 100 years old on September 16, 2019, Pacifico Valeriote has never forgotten his war experience.

When the Second World War broke out in September of 1939, there were many brave young men like Pacifico from St. Patrick's Ward in Guelph who put their lives on the line for Canada.

The Ward was a neighbourhood populated with youth committed to stopping Adolf Hitler and the Nazi threat. Young volunteers like Pacifico "Puss" Valeriote and his brother Dr. Silvio "See" Valeriote; brothers Erminio "Skin" and Mario Zecca; Enrico Simonato; Frank Carere; Albert "Tutts" Tessaro; Ralph Sorbara; Orlando "Lanny" Sorbara; Louis "Judger" Ferraro; Frank Zuccala; Ralph "Flea" Valeriote and his two brothers, Mike "Caso" Valeriote and Jimmy Valeriote; Chester Carere; Nick Zaduk; Cliff "Hooley" Hannigan; William "Willy" Irving; Ferdinand Lucien "Lou" Hebert; and the five Dyer brothers.

They fought in the dust and heat of summer, the snow and freezing cold of winter and the rain and mud of the spring and fall.

They were just young kids full of adventure, curiosity and a duty to serve their country. Most had never been to Europe and knew little about the geography or climate. They had never fired a gun or had to kill another human being. They would see death and the wounded for the first time and then countless times again.

Many were born into immigrant families and were taught the importance of respect and loyalty to family and country. When the call to service came in 1939, young boys from the Ward stepped up.

Many of them were born and grew up on Alice Street, the heart of St. Patrick's Ward and Guelph's Italian community during the 20th century.

Flight Sgt. Pacifico "Puss" Valeriote was born at 134 Alice St. (Valeriote's Groceteria). It was Maria Veroni (Huron Street) who first nicknamed him "Puss" because she could not pronounce Pacifico.

When the Second World War broke out, Pacifico was studying at the Radio College of Canada in Toronto, hoping to serve in the Merchant Navy as a marine radio operator after graduation. But, in October of 1940, he was recruited by the Royal Canadian Air Force as a radio operator in Great Britain.

Pacifico and the other recruited radio operators were not allowed to tell anyone what they were doing in England. This was a top-secret mission as radar was a very new technology of war.

In England, he was trained to set up radar ground stations scouting for attacking German enemy ship and aircraft movement.

He was also stationed on the Isle of Wight, and then Scotland, the Shetland Islands, Algeria, Tunisia and Italy.

In Tunisia, Pacifico and his unit ran a radar station from a lighthouse on the Cape of North Africa, in a place called Cap Serrat, along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. During the daytime, they had to hide in the bushes and try to run radar from mobile trucks.

Pacifico said the Germans knew they were in the lighthouse area, and they kept bombing and shooting at them throughout the daylight hours.

In Italy, Pacifico also helped to monitor Italian prisoners of war. Because he spoke Calabrian, he was able to communicate with the Italian POWs and he made close bonds and kept in touch with some of these Italian prisoners many years after the war.

Joe Tersigni is a former history teacher and is currently a trustee with the Wellington Catholic District School Board.


kwarc.org
From Small Beginnings - A Brief History of the Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo and the South Waterloo Amateur Radio Clubs.
Produced by the Kitchener-Waterloo Amateur Radio Club.

Excerpt - Chapter 5
There was a great increase in amateur radio activities after the war. From a start of about six there were only fifteen active hams in the Guelph area at the outbreak of hostilities when all amateur radio activities in Canada ceased for the duration. Some of the very early members of the Guelph ARC are still with the club (as of 1983) and very active. Ralph Bartlett VE3BJX, Gord MacPhail VE3IH, Puss Valeriote VE3DSC and Fred Hammond VE3HC.

Excerpt - VE3IH, MacPhail
Puss Valeriote joined the airforce (VE3DSC) in 1940 followed by Crawford Robinson (VE3YH), Ralph Bartlett and myself in late 1940. We arrived at Manning Depot in Toronto in January 6/41 and all four of us served in the RCAF or RAF but in various war zones. We were all chosen to learn Radio Direction Finding (RDF) which was eventually called RADAR (Radio Direction and Ranging) when the United States entered the conflict.


VE3DSC - Pacifico 'Puss' Valeriote
Pacifico and Elsa marry in 1957. Tony Saxon/GuelphToday

VE3DSC - Pacifico 'Puss' Valeriote
A younger Pacifico 'Puss' Valeriote. Tony Saxon/GuelphToday

VE3DSC - Pacifico 'Puss' Valeriote
Some of the photos and momentos of Puss' military service. Tony Saxon/GuelphToday

VE3DSC - Pacifico 'Puss' Valeriote
Puss(standing) with fellow soldiers in Glasgow 1941 - Matt Valeriote

VE3DSC - Pacifico 'Puss' Valeriote
Puss in North Africa 1942 - Matt Valeriote

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Puss in North Africa, Christmas 1943 - Matt Valeriote

VE3DSC - Pacifico 'Puss' Valeriote
Pacifico 'Puss' Valeriote celebrates his 100th birthday at the Italian Canadian Club on Sunday. Tony Saxon/GuelphToday

April 06, 2020