FOR PAGE 23 H/H
A Tribute to Atlantic City’s Navy Pilot
Later Flew for United Airlines
To those who knew him, Victor J. Saracini served as a symbol of where hard work and determination can lead. Even though he dropped out of Atlantic City high school, he went on to earn a college degree, and then through service to his country, attained his dream of becoming a commercial pilot.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975, Saracini was accepted to the Navy’s Aviation Officer Candidate School. He was commissioned as an ensign in December 1975 and received his Naval Flight Officer wings the following year. Saracini served on S-3A anti-submarine warfare aircraft aboard the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga.
He was an esteemed and decorated officer with the Navy, having received the National Defense Service Medal, Navy E Ribbon and Expert Marksmanship Ribbon. In 1980, he separated from active duty and served in the Naval Reserve at Naval Air Station Willow Grove, Pa., where he was a crewmember on a Lockheed P-3 Orion. He left the military in 1985 with the rank of lieutenant.
After leaving the Navy, Saracini flew as a corporate and commercial pilot before joining United Airlines in 1985. In all, Saracini flew commercial aircraft for 16 years.
United Airlines Captain Victor J. Saracini died as the Boston to Los Angeles bound 767 jetliner he was piloting was hijacked and crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m., Sept. 11, 2001. He left behind a wife and two young daughters.
Two weeks earlier, as Saracini celebrated his 51st birthday, his 13- year-old daughter Kirsten had given him a poem she wrote called “Years gone by.” She read it at the Sept. 18 memorial service attended by more than 1,500 people.
“And for all the years that come, I know one thing will never change, you will always be my daddy and I will always feel the same. I love you.”
Staff at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center had been searching for a location for a new outpatient clinic north of the city. On the day of the tragedy, they finally found the future site. Eighteen miles from Philadelphia, the new clinic is adjacent to NAS Willow Grove, where Saracini once served, and not far from his Bucks County home.
In November 2004 the outpatient clinic in Horsham, Pa., was renamed the Victor J. Saracini Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic.
