It may have been 80 years ago, but Alex Vasselo can distinctly recall the news broadcasts from June 6, 1944. As an 11-year-old in McKees Rocks, he listened to them all day. “I still remember how they explained the actual leaving from England, with all the ships and everything.
And how they landed on Omaha Beach,” Vasselo said of D-Day. Vasselo is the grandfather of former Pittsburgh Penguins player Ryan Malone. Last month, the 91-year-old Korean War veteran dropped the opening puck at a charity hockey game organized by the Malone Family Foundation to raise funds and awareness about the need to promote mental health and wellness, particularly for military vets and first responders.
The night before the event, Vasselo discussed his own service overseas as a member of the Second Infantry in Korea. After returning to Pittsburgh from the 38th parallel, through bowling and golf leagues around the city, Vasselo got to be friends with some of those World War II veterans who landed in France 80 years ago on this day. “They told me it was brutal.
A lot of their buddies drowned just coming through the water,” Vasselo said. A day later, 3,700 miles away in Pittsburgh on June 7, 1944, the Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2. As nearly 160,000 Allied troops were advancing into occupied France as part of the most important military operation of the 20th century, a crowd of 17,161 gathered at Forbes Field to watch baseball.
Rip Sewell won his eighth game, and Vince DiMaggio had a p.
