World War II Vet To Lead St. Clair Shores Memorial Day Parade

Vito “Bill” Pellegrino has been chosen as the grand marshall for the 66th Annual St. Clair Shores Memorial Day Parade, the city announced Friday. Pellegrino, 93, was selected by the parade committee because of “his long record of service to his country and to St. Clair Shores,” the announcement reads.

Pellegrino settled in the Shores after the war, raising seven children in the community with his late wife, Lois. Pellegrino holds a bachelor’s degree in special education from Wayne State University and a master’s degree from the University of Detroit Mercy. Before his retirement in 1989, Pellegrino served as Lakeview High School’s director of special education.

“We’re honored that Mr. Pellegrino agreed to do it. He is a prime example of what makes St. Clair Shores a great community. He served our country and then he came home and served his community his entire life,” Mayor Kip Walby said of the choice.

Pellegrino graduated from Detroit’s Southeastern High School in 1943, and was drafted three months later. He served as a ball turret gunner in a B-17 with the 8th Air Force. Ball gunners faced some of the dangerous condition in combat because ithe turret, a sphere under the plane, had no protection from attack, nor space for a parachute.

Pellegrino said he was selected for the assignment because “we had no short guys on the crew. I’ve seen guys turn pale with fear going into those things. If you had enough guts to go into it, you were picked.”

Pellegrino’s UK-based flight crew bombed a number of key targets including oil refineries and ball bearings plants in Hamburg and Nuremberg, among other locations. For his valor, Pellegrino earned the Air Medal.

“The committee was extremely impressed with Mr. Pellegrino’s service record and think he will make an excellent Grand Marshal — one the entire community can look up to as a true hero,” said Cheryl Furdos, parade chair.

The parade will take place May 27.

Photo via City of St. Clair Shores.