I was the son of the late John and Minnie Giorgi who were born in the USA but both sets of my Grand Parents immigrated from Italy through Ellis Island. They came here in search of a better life and to become Americans. I'm very proud of my ancestors even though I never met my Paternal Grand Parents both having died years before I was born.
 
I went to parochial grammar school and graduated from Port Chester H.S. in 1962 spending 4 years in the Drum Line of the H.S. band. I began school to become an X-Ray Technologist in October of 1962 at The Hew York Hospital School of Radiography. After 2 years of school I graduated in October of 1964 and I was one of the 4 from the class that was asked to join the departments staff. I jumped at the chance loving the challenge of working in one of the largest hospitals on the east coast. 10 months later I was drafted into the Army and a year later I was on my way to Vietnam as an individual replacement with orders for the 1st Cav. My orders were changed at the 90th Replacement Battalion in Saigon and I was assigned to the 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division which was an isolated task force at the edge of the Cambodian border placed there by General Westmorland to stop the flow of NVA into the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
 
I was wounded on 3 July 1966 earning 2 Purple Hearts being wounded twice on the sane day in the same battle that raged for almost 4 hours! We fought the NVA's 66th Regiment which was made famous in the movie "We Were Soldiers Once" starring Mel Gibson.
 
After the war I went back to my job at NYH where I met my soon to be wife Barbara who after 42 years I'm still happily married to. We have 2 sons Scott and Todd. Todd my youngest is married to my daughter in law Anna Ponieros Giorgi and my first born Scott will marry Laura Ferraro on 11/11 of this year. After 18 total years in X-Ray I was in need of a change in my life due to PTSD although I didn't know or recognize this at the time. All I know is I had to do something more exciting and challenging. They say that once you've been exposed to combat you always are in search of the challenge and excitement that combat offers. I went to school to become a paramedic at Cabrini Medical Center in lower Manhattan and was hired by NYC/EMS after graduation. I started working for them on 6/16/80. Being a paramedic kept me in medicine and gave me that challenge so it was just what I needed at the time. 22 years later and 1 year after nine eleven I had had enough and I'm now retired living in Rye Brook, NY with my wife and family near by.
 
We have a female Basset Hound Chloe who is going on 11 years old this June 21st.

(Scroll down to view the slideshow, hover the mouse over the picture & click 'play')

Picture Explainations:

One is of me being awarded my Purple Heart in my hospital bed at St. Alban's Naval Hospital, and there are a few of a group I played with after the war. There's a lot so you decide which ones you think will work best with what you will be posting. I like them all and I'm including a fairly recent picture of me with my wife Barbara and my 2 sons Scott and Todd.

 I included an article from a Civil Service Newspaper that has the list of when NYC made the Paramedic title a Civil Service position. I was first on that list so essentially I was the first Paramedic in the history of Paramedics in NYC/EMS to be given a Civil Service title! I was very proud of this when you consider how many medics citywide that applied to be on that list and have some job protection. I beat out my close friend and fellow Vietnam Vet Gus Pappas who was a Combat Medic with The Marines earning a Purple Heart. After 20 years in Harlem I left the street to be his aide at the EMS Academy while he completed 30 years on the job!! He never had an aide but told Chief Andy McCracken he would have one for his last year but it had to be me or no one! Medics were not allowed to be aides but Chief McCracken knew toe connection that we had as Vietnam Vets plus he also recognized that I did 20 years on the Ambulance so he made a one time exception.
 
I included when I received the "Pintchik Humanitarian Award." Mr. Pintchik owned a chain of Paint stores throughout the city and went into Cardiac Arrest at a function. An M.D. at the affair pronounced him but when our Medics Carl Tromantona and Kevin Honig arrived they wouldn't accept his pronouncement and they resuscitated him which gave him an additional 3 years with his family. The Pintchik family to show their appreciation and their father's love for the street workers in EMS, hosted the annual awards banquet that EMS held to honor that year's medal recipients. The first Pintchik award was given to an administrator with BRAVO Ambulance Corps in Brooklyn where Dan began his career I believe. EMS was told by the family that they want the award to go to someone who works the Ambulance because that's who their father was closest to. I was the first uniformed person to receive that prestigious award!!!
 
Also included is the EMS Magazine article for an annual competition they held to select the best EMS provider in the country. I was one of the runner ups! There's a small interview I did over the phone with JEMS magazine.