103-year-old Veteran Gifted a Brand-new Roof

By Cayden Wemple. 

The army veteran was nominated by his daughter-in-law and was chosen out of 100 applicants to receive a new roof. 

In Middletown, Connecticut, a 103-year-old army veteran by the name of John Cyrulik, was chosen out of 100 applicants to receive a brand-new roof. While the spry veteran was watching the roof get installed, he said that he wished he could’ve been up there himself. John told NBC Connecticut, “I’m a worker, it’s not like I can’t do things!” He later continued, "My mother put us to work, she said it'll come in handy. I was in the army for 44 months, it'll really come in handy. My God, she was right!”  

John had quite the upbringing. After his father died when he was 16, he dropped out of school to help raise his nine siblings. Then, just one day before the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was drafted into the United States Army. When he got back, he continued to serve his community as a firefighter. John moved into his house on January 1, 1962 and has lived there ever since. He said the key to living a long life is to “work hard, but not too hard, or else you may live longer than you would like to.” 

Ciriello and Sons was ecstatic to give back to those who served our country and John was equally as ecstatic to be receiving the roof. The owner of the construction company, Andrew Ciriello, shared “[John’s] been in the window for the last hour just smiling so happy, so as a company, it just makes us feel good inside." This was a small act of service for Ciriello and Sons to perform to say thank you to one of our nation’s heroes.  

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Photo Credit: Charles City Press 

About Cayden 

Cayden is a reporter for RoofersCoffeeShop, MetalCoffeeShop and AskARoofer. When he isn’t writing about roofs, he’s usually playing guitar or writing songs for his musical endeavors.