YOUNGSTOWN Lawyer honored for VA work

Nunziato is credited with co-founding the VA clinic at 2031 Belmont Ave.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Atty. Carl A. Nunziato, who lost portions of both legs from wounds in the Vietnam War, has been recognized for his contributions to country, community and area veterans with a monument in Veterans Honor Garden at the Youngstown Veterans Affairs Clinic.
Nunziato, 65, of Boardman, formed the Veterans of the Mahoning Valley organization and is credited with co-founding the VA clinic at 2031 Belmont Ave. The clinic, which opened in 1991, was recently renovated and enlarged and will serve an estimated 10,000 veterans this year, officials said.
Nunziato, a long-time community leader, entered the Army in 1961 as a second lieutenant after graduating from Youngstown State University, where he was Reserve Officer Training Corps' Distinguished Military Graduate.
Nunziato had several duty stations before volunteering to serve in Vietnam. On his first tour, he was an intelligence officer and helicopter door gunner. In November 1966, during his second tour in Vietnam, he was commanding officer of a direct-support artillery battery in the village of Soui Dau when he was hit with a mortar round that blew off part of his left leg, and seriously damaged his right leg and arms.
Retired as major
He eventually lost his right leg. After 17 operations and 23 months of rehabilitation at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., he retired from the Army with the rank of major in 1968.
His many decorations include the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Vietnam Campaign Medal and Aircraft Crew Gunner Wings.
A month after his disability discharge, Nunziato enrolled at Case Western Reserve School of Law, from which he graduated in 1971. He became vice president of Dollar Savings and Trust, later known as National City Bank, retiring in 1995.
Nunziato has served on numerous local, state and national civic and veterans committees, and has received may civic and veterans awards. Most recently, he was appointed to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs' Advisory Committee for Prosthetics and Special Disabilities Programs.
Nunziato, a 1956 graduate of The Rayen School, is married to the former Clara Scarpine. They have a daughter, Elizabeth, who has a law practice in Cleveland.