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| American Profile Magazine |
| May 19 - 25, 2002 |
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| COVER STORY Nikki Mendicino captures the hearts of veterans across America. Story by Ellen Margulies Photos by Justin Merriman |
| Nikki Mendicino was just 10 when John Kridlo visited her fifth-grade class for Veteran's Day in 1998 to recount the dramatic day, June 6, 1944, when the Allies invaded Europe in World War II. Kridlo, an infantryman, landed on Utah Beach in Normandy, France, in the pre-dawn hours of that fateful day. Many youngsters might have daydreamed or paid polite attention to this elderly man with an old war story, only to let it slip away later. But not Nikki. Something clicked that day between the grizzled soldier and the little girl from Springdale, Pa. |
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| She walked up to him after his speech, to say hello and thank you. The conversation flowed easily. "I started to talk to him," Nikki, now 13, recalls. "The more I heard, the more I wanted to get involved." Nikki promised to visit him at the Southwestern Veterans Center, where he lives, and soon became a regular visitor. She enjoyed talking with Kridlo, but her visits revealed a sad fact: Many veterans felt forgotten, overlooked, unappreciated. About the same time, the World War II movie, Saving Private Ryan, was in theaters, and she asked to see it. Her parents screened it first, then agreed. "My mom said that she wanted me and my twin brother to see it because it wasn't about violence, it was about reality, and she knew that it would help me understand what Mr. Kridlo went through on D-Day," Nikki says. The movie deepened her commitment to Kridlo and others like him. "Our veterans went through things that we could never understand, they made sacrifices that most of us will never have to make, and they did everything they could to protect their brothers beside them and fight for our freedom." That's why this young patriot, whose work has captured the hearts of veterans across America, will show her patriotism and respect for those who served and died for this nation by speaking, for the third year, at a Memorial Day rally at the reflecting pool on the mall in Washington, D.C. She'll be there at the invitation of Rolling Thunder Inc., a nonprofit, veterans rights group whose Memorial Day rallies for the last 14 years have attracted hundreds of thousands of veterans. |
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| One of Nikki's biggest fans is Michael Mendicino, a World War II Veteran and her grandfather. |
| 'THANK YOU' As Nikki learned about veterans and their issues, she asked tough questions, particularly when she learned that soldiers from the Vietnam War remained missing. "I had to explain to her ... that there were over 58,000 names on The (Vietnam Veterans) Wall and approximately 2,000 of them are POW/MIAs," says her mother, Michelle Mendicino. "I truly believe that her passion began then and there, when she fully understood the meaning behind the POW/MIAs." That passion grew with every veteran she met. Nikki felt compelled to spread the word. And as she did so, word about Nikki spread, too. She found herself invited to make speeches at rallies. Her first public appearances were little more than 'thank you', but the more she learned, the more she had to say. Nikki is undaunted at the prospect of delivering a speech before thousands. "What I speak about is what I believe in, and it's not hard at all when you know you are doing the right thing," she says. "The greatest feeling in the world is standing up and being able to say to thousands of veterans, 'Thank you and welcome home,' or telling them that my generation will care and having them cheer as loud as they can, because I have given them hope in the future when they didn't think there was any." With her mother's help, Nikki set up a website, www.geocities.com/nlmendicino, dedicated to American veterans. She delved into the sticky politics of the POW-MIAs, "adopting" eight Vietnam vets who still haven't been accounted for and urging everyone she meets to do the same. Her efforts have been met with gratitude and recognition: She's frequently asked to speak; a group of veterans on the Internet made her an "honorary veteran" and she is a junior member of Rolling Thunder. Gov. Tom Ridge, now the U.S. director of Homeland Security, last year awarded Nikki the Pennsylvania Medal of Commendation, the state's second-highest honor for her work as an advocate for American prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action. Nikki, one of four of Michelle and Daniel Mendicino's children, has enthralled audiences of thousands and shared the stage with everyone from local politicians to President Bush. Nikki has testified before Congress, written letters to senators, made personal pleas to the leaders of the world's most powerful nation. "She's not afraid to stand up to them," her mother says. "I sit there myself sometimes and say, "Wow, where does that come from? She teaches me a lot." Michelle says she'll encourage her daughter to stay active "as long as she still wants to do it." |
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| 'NOT JUST A PASSING FAD' The veterans Nikki has come to care for so much also have learned a thing or two. Chuck "Doc" Stewart, 53, a retired machinist from East Syracuse, N.Y., did two tours of duty in Vietnam during his three years in the U.S. Army. Today he runs his own website for veterans, a network dedicated to the myriad issues they face. "I met Nikki through her mom. She visited my website in August of '99, and she asked me to visit her daughter's site. Once I saw her website I was just enthralled," Stewart says. "It's unbelievable, the fact that she's so passionate, so dedicated at her age." "It's not just a passing fad. She's totally dedicated to it in every respect, not just the veteran issues but the POW issues. She gives so much of herself." Early on, Stewart helped Nikki increase awareness of veterans' rights and introduced her via e-mail to John Mendes, vice president of Rolling Thunder. As their friendship grew, under the approving eye of Michelle, who screens the hundreds of e-mails Nikki receives before she lets her daughter open them, Stewart found himself embracing a newfound hope for the up-and-coming generation. "To know that there's young people like her that are going to continue to carry the torch after we're gone, I don't know how to explain it," he says. "She's some kid." Dan "Little Mac" McCarthy, 55, of Albuquerque, N.M., particularly was impressed that young Nikki had done her homework on veterans issues. "She's read, she's researched, the kid is outrageously well-informed," says McCarthy, a Vietnam veteran who spent 27 years in the military. McCarthy, who teaches at the University of New Mexico, learned about Nikki from a friend who'd been to her website and urged him to check it out. He's watched Nikki's popularity among veterans' "just snowball," he says. He watched her speak with the practiced poise of a seasoned activist before an audience of tens of thousands at one rally. "Nikki took the stage. The wind was blowing, and it blew her notes away and somebody scrambled for them. She said, 'I don't need them. I know what I want to say.' She just blew them away. It's just so gripping, and her statements are solid," McCarthy says. It's heartwarming, McCarthy says, to see young people such as Nikki pick up the torch for a generation that won't be around forever. "I've got a daughter her age. I know how fervent they can be, how motivated they can be on any given issue," he says, "and this is hers." The charismatic combination of Nikki's youth and her political savvy has opened some doors and some ears, where the pleas of the veterans themselves have gone unheard. She's won small victories, such as raising the POW-MIA flag over her hometown post office. She's also won a string of honors, awards, and medals. Despite her passion and maturity, Nikki is very much a normal teen-ager, her mother says. "She is a cheerleader at school, volunteers at the summer reading program at our local library, goes shopping and to the movies with her friends, and so on," Michelle says. But with every veteran she meets, with every war story she hears, Nikki's determination grows stronger. "To her, they are heroes, and their stories are her inspiration to make the world a better place," her mother says. Nikki sums up the heart of the issue simply: "They gave us our freedom, and so they deserve some recognition. We owe them........ we're in their debt." Ellen Margulies is a Nashville, Tenn., freelance writer. 341 Cool Springs Blvd., Suite 400 Franklin, TN 37067 Phone: (800) 720-6323 Fax: (615) 468-6100 American Profile is a division of Publishing Group of America. All content within this site is & copy; of Publishing Group of America unless otherwise noted. AMERICAN PROFILE MAGAZINE |
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