Staff photo / David Skolnick Nicholas Pacalo of North Lima, a retired 25-year veteran of the Navy, shows off a present from his wife, Rose, that includes photos of his June 1977 promotion to captain and a more recent photo of himself in a Navy jacket.

EDITOR’S NOTE: To suggest a veteran for this series, which runs through Veterans Day, email metro editor Marly Reichert at mreichert@tribtoday.com.

NORTH LIMA — Nicholas Pacalo’s 25-year career in the Navy — in which he rose to the rank of captain, flew into Vietnam during the war and spent eight years at the Pentagon – began with a chance meeting in a building foyer at then-Youngstown College.

Pacalo, a Campbell native who now lives in North Lima, was working at a steel mill and taking night classes at the college in 1954.

“I saw guys in white uniforms and I was impressed,” he said. “I said, ‘Are you guys Air Force?’ and they said, ‘No, we’re Navy pilots.'”

Pacalo talked some more with the pilots and they suggested he take a test to become one of them. At the time, Pacalo had never even been inside an airplane.

“I did very well on the test and after a lot of training, I got my wings in 1956,” he said.

Based out of Navy Auxiliary Air Station Chincoteague in Virginia during the Cold War, Pacalo’s mission from 1962 to 1965was to fly a C-130E plane off the Atlantic Coast looking for Soviet submarines.

“For a submarine to fire a missile at the time, they had to emerge from the water,” he said. “We were there to find them and take whatever action necessary.”

Pacalo never had to fire, but said he was prepared to if needed.

“I loved flying and the Navy gave me an opportunity to serve my country,” he said. “I felt a great deal of pride.”

Pacalo said the missions didn’t frighten him.

“My theory was I was doing a job and my job entailed that,” he said. “If it looked like a foreigner was going to fire missiles, we were to take action.”

From there, Pacalo was ordered to fly supplies, soldiers and other cargo into Vietnam during the war from July 1965 to July 1967.

“I landed at nine different airfields in Vietnam,” he said. “I flew back and forth hundreds of times.”

Among the more interesting cargo items he flew into Vietnam, Pacalo said, were attack dogs with their handlers and a cannon barrel that weighed numerous tons.

Pacalo rarely brought anything back on his return trips to the war zone.

But he recalls “one of my saddest days was bringing back 20 caskets with 19- and 20-year-olds.”

Pacalo’s next big mission was at the Pentagon, beginning in 1971. He spent eight years there as an aircraft safety and accident investigations expert.

“When the big boss had a question, I’d tell him what I knew because it was my specialty,” Pacalo said.

Pacalo and Rose, his wife of 66 years, lived outside of Washington, D.C., while he worked at the Pentagon. Of the 14 houses they owned during his 25 years in the Navy, that was where they lived together the longest.

It was also where, in June 1977, he was promoted to Navy captain.

“Those days, for all of us, we were following orders and defending our country,” he said. “We were very proud.”

After 25 years in the Navy, Pacalo retired in 1979 and then taught safety management techniques for 15 years at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

During his career, Pacalo said he had more than 6,000 flying hours as a Navy pilot.

While it’s been years since he flew a plane, Pacalo, 88, said he’s been inside the C-130H planes at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.

“There’s more sophisticated,” he said. “But I could have flown those as well.”

dskolnick@vindy.com