John Baptisto Fiore, veterans advocate who served in Vietnam, dies at 73

John Baptisto Fiore returned from a Vietnam War that he rarely mentioned, then found his homecoming supporting veterans until the day they died, family and friends said.

As commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars posts in Nassau County and American Legion posts in Queens, he made sure no “unclaimed veteran” was buried without a soul in attendance. Fiore’s voice rang out at scores of graveside services as he recited the poem “Bury Me With Soldiers,” then accepted the flag because he treated veterans as family.

A few times, when funeral homes ran out of flags and suggested reusing another veteran’s flag, Fiore went “ballistic,” recalled friend Paul Schottenhamel, vice commander of American Legion posts on Long Island, Brooklyn and Staten Island. “ ‘That flag belongs to that soldier,’ ” he recalled Fiore saying. “That’s the only use that flag was ever going to have if he had anything to do with it.”

Fiore, of Glen Cove, died on New Year’s Eve after complications from hernia surgery. He was 73.

He was the commander of VFW Post 1819 in Port Washington and American Legion Post 422 in Whitestone; a veterans' chaplain for years; retired car insurance adjuster and co-owner of an auto body shop.

But no one around him knew he was a hero until he died, family and friends said.

His family found the Army Commendation Medal in his desk and an Army letter that lauded him for moving through “intense enemy fire” on April 2, 1969, to provide first aid to a wounded comrade. He also fashioned a litter so the man could be taken to the evacuation site, the Army said.

“He was very humble,” said niece Jane Tausch of Jeffersonville, Pennsylvania. “I believe he felt that was what he was there to do.

“He loved big, but he hurt big as well … For years, he could not talk about Vietnam at all until he got involved with the VFW and the American Legion.”

The son of Italian immigrants, the native New Yorker grew up in Bayside and learned from his parents to honor the “wonderful country” that had welcomed the couple, Tausch said.

So during a major U.S. escalation in the war, Fiore enlisted in the Army in 1968 and spent months with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam. He participated in 45 helicopter combat missions and was honorably discharged in 1969 due to a family hardship, relatives said.

He took care of his parents’ Bronx grocery store, acted like a father to his nieces after their father died and loved telling jokes and stories, just not about the war, his family said.

Twenty years ago, Fiore broke down in his only visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. “There are 58,000 reasons why we shouldn’t turn our back on patriotism in this country,” he told Newsday years later, referring to the approximate number of names on the memorial wall.

If he saw a worn American flag, his patriotism prompted him to track down the owner and offer a new one, those who knew him said.

Son John Fiore of Smithtown found 61 folded flags in his father’s closet.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Fiore said of his father’s dedication, “because they didn’t care about him when he came home and he cared so much now about everybody else.”

John Baptisto Fiore was the one who made calls to heads of various posts to ensure members showed up for parades, memorials and events such as wreath recycling at national cemeteries. He tried to keep less active posts alive as their numbers declined. He revitalized some veterans programs and talked to schoolchildren about civic duty.

“Anything John did, he did 150%,” Schottenhamel said. “He just inspired people to do their best and to do more than their best. We wound up able to get a lot of people out to do a lot of great things and you really felt good about it.”

Fiore was buried with soldiers at Calverton National Cemetery, his turn to be cherished with the verses written decades ago by another Long Island Vietnam War veteran, the Rev. Msgr. Charles R. Fink, a longtime priest in the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

“I didn’t even like them all,” Schottenhamel recited from the poem. “I’m sure they’d all agree. Yet I would give my life for them, I hope. Some did for me. So bury me with soldiers, please, though much maligned they be. Yes, bury me with soldiers, for I miss their company.”

Besides his son, John Baptisto Fiore is survived by his sisters Grace Cafaro of Ridge Pike, Pennsylvania, and Ann Meredeth of Waverly, Tennessee.

A service was held Jan. 11 at the Fairchild Sons Funeral Chapel in Manhasset, followed by burial at Calverton. His family asked that donations be made to nonprofits.