Ron Lasiuta
ARMY / Forest Lake
About Ron: (written by his son, Matt Lasiuta)
I would like to nominate my dad Ron Lasiuta for you Veterans Day Military Takeover. This man is literally larger than life from his stature to his “radio voice” he can be seen and heard from a mile away. He was an Army Scout with the famed 11th Armored Cavalry “Blackhorse” Regiment in Vietnam and fortunately for his friends and family he has no problem discussing some of the things that happened to him in combat. He is a Purple Heart Recipient and was wounded when his Armored Personnel Carrier hit a land mine. He would have told you for years that he had no side effects from war but recently he was diagnosed with PTSD and repressed a memory of a friendly fire incident where he was responsible for saving the lives of men in his platoon and another.
Besides his service he has been married to my mom, Leslie for over 45 years and has literally been the greatest dad I can imagine to myself, my brother and my sister. He is also very active in our community doing everything from anonymously helping families in need for over 30 years to mentoring kids in our local schools (I believe he is currently mentoring 3 or 4) to volunteering in the nursery at church and our local YMCA where the kids just know him as Papa.
On top of this he has done some voice over work and had aspirations of being an announcer. He did send a tape of himself to the Detroit Tigers (his hometown) while he was in Vietnam and was able to announce two live Tigers games with announcing legend Ernie Harwell and the two quickly became life-long friends.
Ron\’s Playlist:
\”We Gotta Get Out of this Place\” – The Animals
\”Eve of Destruction\” – Barry McGuire
\”House of the Rising Sun\” – The Animals
\”Sittin On the Dock of the Bay\” – Otis Redding
\”Leavin on a Jet Plane\” – Peter, Paul and Mary
\”War\” – Edwin Starr