Al Liberatore sat in the center of a hall at a round table surrounded by friends and fellow seniors. In front of him, a big birthday cake was decorated with candles reading 103.
The World War II Navy veteran’s secret to longevity?
"If you want to live a long, happy life, smile ... it's God's gift to the world," he said.
United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania held the birthday celebration for Liberatore at the Scranton Senior Community Center on Jackson Street in West Scranton. Liberatore, a Scranton native, is a regular at the center and has become a prolific artist in the classes for seniors. Much of his art focuses on his time at sea during the war.
The 80th anniversary of the end of World War II is Sept. 2, 2025. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that there are around 66,000 World War II veterans still living, according to the National World War II Museum. That projection is based on the 2022 American Community Survey from the Census Bureau. The museum also reports that 3,930 World War II veterans were living in Pennsylvania as of 2024.
Liberatore enlisted in the Navy after high school. He served in the Pacific during the war and was stationed on the U.S.S. Nicholas. Newspaper reports from the time put Liberatore on sea 50 miles from Tokyo in 1945 when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan.
He witnessed “the fall of Japan’s once powerful empire,” a Scranton Times article from Sept. 29, 1945 states.
"I didn't want to be in a war … we didn't start the war," he said on Wednesday. "We were there to finish it. That's why we were happy, because we ended the war.”
On Wednesday, Liberatore said he was thrilled when he came home, but he still remembers the soldiers who died and are buried in unmarked graves.
"That's why we smiled. The war was over, and we were home alive.”
Today, April 3, is Liberatore’s actual birthday. He’ll spend the day with one of his grandchildren. Celebrating the occasion has been a weeklong event. On Sunday about 70 friends and family members gathered at Mondano restaurant in Old Forge. A group of his friends took him out for lunch on Tuesday.
Liberatore was the second World War II veteran to celebrate a milestone birthday in Lackawanna County recently.
Gino J. Merli Veterans’ Center resident and Pittston native James "Sudsy" Fiume served in the Army during the war as a combat engineer. He turned 100 on March 27.
He received several medals including a Good Conduct Medal and the Soldier’s Medal for saving a fellow soldier from drowning during training exercises for the planned landing in Normandy. He served for 35 years in the Army Reserve as the head of the mess service in the 300th Field Hospital in Wilkes-Barre. Fiume retired from service in 1980.
Liberatore reflected on how society has changed in a century.
"Everybody just got older. And I don't know if they got smarter, but most of us are smarter than they were 100 years ago," he said.
