Hometown Hero, Navy Vet Honored

WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NY — The Westhampton Free Library, as part of its Hometown Heroes initiative, paid tribute to a Navy veteran recently.

On March 16, a ceremony was held to fete Westhampton's Michael Berdinka; the library's Hometown Heroes' initiative aims to honor local veterans from the American Legion on a monthly basis, with a culminating ceremony in January, 2020.

The program follows the former Hometown Heroes program, during which the library recognized veterans associated with Westhampton Beach VFW Post 5350.

“It is so important to honor our local veterans,” said Westhampton Free Library Director Danielle Waskiewicz. “They made many sacrifices and deserve to be thanked.”

(Westhampton Free Library)

The ceremony, which was held at the Westhampton Beach Fire Department and attended by fellow veterans, library representatives, family members and public officials, included a presentation during which Berdinka was honored with with proclamations and an American flag.

Michael Berdinka grew up in Westhampton and graduated from Westhampton Beach High School in 1968, the library said. Upon graduation, he attended SUNY Cobleskill, where he received an associate’s degree in accounting.

"However, he soon realized that accounting wasn’t for him," library representatives added.

As a child, Berdinka became interested in submarines, and after graduating college in 1970, he decided to enlist in the Navy. He followed in the footsteps of family members who had served in World War II. His father, a Mattituck Junior/Senior High School graduate, joined the U.S. Army in 1941 and served as a radioman in Europe. His mother served in the British Army in London, and her brother was an electrician on a British submarine during the war. His brother Peter would follow suit as well by serving in the Marines in the late 1970s, the library said.

“I knew I would receive good training and I could see some of the world,” Berdinka said.

Berdinka volunteered for a detail on nuclear submarines and was admitted into the Navy’s nuclear program. He trained first in electrical engineering at the USO of Illinois Great Lakes training center and then aboard the USS Howard W. Gilmore from 1971 to 1972. The ship, a submarine tender, was home ported in Key West, FL, library representatives said.

His training continued at Nuclear Power School in Bainbridge, MD, and ended in West Milton, NY, where he received extensive training as a nuclear reactor operator.

Following nuclear training, Berdinka served three and a half years in Hawaii aboard the USS Sargo (SSN-583), a nuclear fast attack submarine operating out of Pearl Harbor. During that time, he participated in weekly operations around Pearl Harbor and underwent training in individual submarine escape, controllers and circuit breakers, and submarine damage control, where he was trained to stop flooding inside a sub, a release from the library said.

A few months after his arrival, the USS Sargo required a major overhaul, with all equipment replaced and the sub sent to the yard for work. The ship was reinstated in fall 1975 and Berdinka was then deployed for six months to the Western Pacific, where he toured Guam, the Philippines, Korea and Hong Kong. Like many fast attack nuclear submarines at the time, the crew of the USS Sargo participated in a number of "secret missions" while deployed, the release said.

Berdinka’s time of service had quieter moments, too. Some of his fondest memories during his time on the subs include surfacing and watching the sun set over the ocean, as well as swim calls — where anyone could jump off the ship for a few laps in the ocean, he said.

He was honorably discharged on Nov. 17, 1976. At that time, he was an electrician’s mate first class.

Berdinka used the skills he acquired in the Navy, working at two nuclear power plants, the first being the LaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station in IL, from 1977 to 1978. The second was the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant, where he held a management position until the plant's closing. He went on to work as a field supervisor for overhead electric lines for the Long Island Lighting Company — now Long Island Power Authority — and then worked for KeySpan Energy until his retirement in 2004, the release said.

Berdinka, library representatives said, has always been dedicated to the community in which he grew up. He has been a member of the Knights of Columbus since 2008 and currently serves as treasurer of the American Legion. He is also involved with the Immaculate Conception Church and John’s Place, a homeless ministry. He and his Susan, to whom he will have been married for 15 years on Aug. 1., have three children and four stepchildren — and between him and Susan, five grandchildren.