Col. John Chiarella, Sr. passed away on Saturday, Feburary 21, 2015 at the age of 83 in Waterbury, CT.  After graduating from Wilby, he enlisted in the U.S. Army.  He applied for and was accepted at Field Artillery Officer Candidate School from which he graduated.   He was on active duty until 1953 when he came home as a first lieutenant.  He was sent to Korea during the war in October of 1952 and remained there until October 1953.   When he left active duty, he became a member of the Army Reserve in CT.   He enrolled at UConn and studied electrical engineering and graduated in 1960 with a BA in degreee.  He was a member of the National Engineering Honor Society.  He joined Hewlett Packard and later started his own business, Specialty Coil Co. He was called back to duty during the Berlin Crisis and remained through the Cuban Missle Crisis. He was a graduate of the Advantage Artillery School and Command and General Staff School.   In 1993 he was honored by being inducted into the Artillery Hall of Fame. He moved up into the ranks and became a full colonel in 1975.  He was honorably discharged in 1982.

He was a commander of the Research and Development in CT. with headquarters in the Pentagon.  He also served as a senior technical judge for the Army in CT. science fairs.  At one time he was a lecturer and judge at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and at UConn for the high school science and humanitites programs.  He was appointed by Gov. John Rowland as a trustee for the CT. Veterans Affairs Office. 

For 25 years, he had been chairman of the Veterans Memorial Committee in Waterbury whose goal was to educate our youth in the Waterbury School system about military and the sacrafice of our veterans.  He was later named chairman emeritus.