Nicholas Barresi has a firm handshake and a steady gaze. He remembers, in rich detail, how he was starving while fighting in the Pacific, what horrors he saw during hazardous invasions, how he took part in an onboard boxing gig to win extra food and how he learned of FDR's death while homeward bound on a ship in 1945.

Young Nicholas Barresi, growing up in a Boston suburb, could've gotten a scholarship to play football in college. But he didn't.

There was something much more urgent: saving his big brother.

When Joseph Barresi, a paratrooper, was captured by the enemy in Europe in 1943, Nicholas Barresi immediately enlisted.

"I was trying to join the paratroopers, but they said no. So I went into boot camp and joined the First Marine Division," Barresi said. To his relief, his brother was able to escape his captivity safely.

His brother was a hero. Joseph Barresi, an Army airborne private, had saved the lives of 51 men in his unit with a daring undercover mission through enemy lines in Italy. His brother's bravery inspired young Nicholas Barresi as well.

But Nicholas, too, played a key role in the war in the Pacific, partaking in some of the most dangerous missions.

Barresi took part in the invasion of Bougainville Island east of New Guinea and operations at Guam between November 1943 and early 1945. He was part of the battalion that made the first amphibious landings in the Pacific theater and later received the Navy Unit Commendation.

But the glory didn't come without sacrifices. Like many who fought on the frontline, Barresi spent many days in mud holes and foxholes and witnessed the deaths of many fellow soldiers.

"I was on Guam. The sergeant talked to me all night about his wife and his daughters and what he'd like to do when he gets back," Barresi said. "We were both in a foxhole, and the next morning, a warrant officer yelled over [from] two, three blocks away for a meeting. We all went into one of those big mud holes. But that sergeant that stayed behind wasn't called. The next thing we knew, he had a bomb or mortar attack and was blown into pieces. Arms gone, the head blown up ... I wish I'd gotten his full name, so I could've visited his wife."

His wife, Miriam, said: "He still has a hard time talking about those stories."

Barresi is a self-made man of his time. After the horror that he saw in the war, Barresi is proud of what he has achieved in his civilian life. When the war ended, he underwent a four-year apprenticeship at the Boston Naval Ship Yard and later landed a supervisor job at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.

During the Vietnam War in the '60s and '70s, he served two five-year tours at the Naval Public Works Center in Subic Bay, the Philippines. All this time, Miriam was working as the United Service Organization coordinator for two bases in the Philippines.

Barresi's professional life is marked with accolades. As director of public works production control in Subic Bay, he received the meritorious unit commendation from the Navy commanding officer. In 1981, he was awarded for patriotic service by the U.S. treasury secretary while serving in the War College in Rhode Island as public works superintendent.

When Barresi settled in Lemoore in the '80s, he met an old shipmate, Burney Lehmann, who passed away in 2005. He is now the only remaining World War II veteran in the Kings County detachment of the Marine Corps League. He is a member of the Disabled American Veterans.

Barresi, a native of Saugus, Mass. who played varsity football in high school, was inducted into his alma mater's Hall of Fame in 2007.

(May 25, 2009)