95-year-old vet gives back to others

Photo: Jackie Rybeck

CALLING BINGO – Joe Lomonte spends every Monday at the Maine Veteran’s Home calling bingo. He is a 95-year-old veteran who wants to give back to his fellow service men and women.

SOUTH PARIS — On any given Monday at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, you won’t find 95-year-old Joe Lomonte taking a nap.

He won’t be found rocking on the porch or playing checkers either.

You will find him at the Veteran’s Home, not as a resident, but giving back to fellow veterans who aren’t as fortunate as himself in either body or mind.

On Mondays, Joe sits in front of a basket of balls with a microphone in hand, calling off bingo numbers for 20 or so vets who live at the facility.

“This is a great reason to get up every Monday morning!” said Joe. “I love coming here and calling out BINGO! I’ve been pretty lucky; I just celebrated my 95th birthday and I am still independent and get around.”

“These are my fellow veterans,” he added. “And this is a great way to give back to them. I have been doing this for 10 years and I can truly say all of these people are now my friends.”

Joe himself is a proud vet.

“I served in the US Army from April 1942 to December of 1945,” Joe smiled. “And I am a pretty proud vet. It’s not that I enjoyed it so much as it was just a job that had to be done.”

During the war, the staff sergeant found himself in New Guinea and the Philippines.

“I was in the malaria control unit,” he explained. “And it was horrible. We had to go out in the woods with the natives and they would take us up the hills by the water. We had suspended drums across the stream, filled with oil and DDT. The drum had a small hole and when the oil dripped down, it would spread and make a film on the water. When the larvae from the mosquitoes came up, it would kill them.”

“You had no idea what mosquitoes carried the malaria,” he added. “I got bit so many times, but I never got it, thank goodness; they would bite right through your clothes.”

Born in Manhattan on January 9, 1916, Joe had a pretty normal life before the war. Once he returned, he worked as a marine carpenter, power press operator, leather buffer and gardener. He even worked the World’s Fair in 1949.

For extra fun, Joe called square dancing and did DJ work. In fact, square dancing is how he met his second wife.

“My first wife passed away after 44 years of marriage and I knew Jean through square dancing. I was living in Massachusetts at the time and she was living here in Maine. I came to visit and I just fell in love with both her and Maine.”

“And the rest is history!”

The veteran does settle down now and then to do crosswords, read or carve wood.

“I did a woodburning of the Last Supper,” he said. “That was beautiful, and it was pretty difficult. The hair was so fine that I had to use a tip that was about the size of a needle.”

So, you won’t find Joe lazing the day away … just head to the Veteran’s home on Monday; he won’t be hard to find. He’ll be the man with pep in his step, warm hands and a contagious smile.