After 60 years, Mass. veterans reunite during pursuit of hearing aids

REVERE, Mass. — Sixty years is a long time to wait for a handshake or a hug.

"I thought he looked great, really!” said Dick Hayes.

“I told you the same thing,” said Alyn Pinkofski.

Both Dick Hayes and Alyn Pinkofsky are looking a little different since they last saw each other aboard the USS Wasp in 1957. They hadn’t seen each other since and never expected they would again.

“No, not really,” said Hayes.

“It wasn't in the thought process, you were wrapped up with children, grandchildren," said Pinkofsky.

But at 83 years old, Dick found himself a little hard of hearing.

"My wife says to me why don't you get a hearing aid? I said they got one for me. She says ‘I think you should get it,’" he said.

For the first time since returning to civilian life, Dick decided to use his veterans benefits. But after 60 years, enrolling turned out to be harder than it seemed.

Dick discovered there was no record of his service, likely due to a fire in 1973 that wiped out nearly 18 million military service records. He turned to Revere Director of Veterans Services and Purple Heart Vet Marc Silvestri to find a workaround. Silvestri told him that someone he served with had to testify on his behalf.

"I thought of him right away, I says, gee I wonder if Al's still around?" said Dick.

Luckily, he was. Alyn Pinkofsky had moved from Dorchester to Brockton to Wayland in those 60 years.

It took Marc some extensive searching, but soon Marc found him and confirmed that he remembered Dick well.

And after 60 years, the friendship added another chapter on Wednesday, when they met again.

"I think that's why we do our job for, really,” said Marc.

And soon, Dick will have the hearing aids he needs.

"You might need a hearing aid right? See him!" Dick said.

Veterans Service says this is a problem they see often with older veterans, and they encourage anyone who gets out of the service to enroll in those benefits initially, even if they don't plan on using them. As time passes, it gets harder to find documents needed.

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