Even at the age of 91, Alex Vasselo remembers the movie he went to see that night while he was serving in the Korean War.

“From Here to Eternity.”

He also remembers the circumstances that allowed him to be there in the first place.

“You had to stand in formation before you went on guard duty,” Vasselo said. “The sergeant at arms would come and inspect your uniform, your gun, the whole works. And if you were the sharpest one of the group, you didn’t have to pull guard duty. I dreamt about that for a year, and I finally got picked. Finally! So I went to the movies that night.”

But the story didn’t end well.

“Halfway through, the lights go on. The provost marshal comes in. He says, ‘Is there a sergeant Vasselo in here?’ I said, ‘Yes, sir.’ He says, ‘One of your buddies in your tent committed suicide.’ He put a gun to (himself) and … I had to go back to guard the tent.”

Vasselo grew up in McKees Rocks. He is the youngest and last living of 15 siblings. He is also the grandfather of former Pittsburgh Penguin and Upper St. Clair native Ryan Malone.

A staff sergeant in the 2nd Infantry, Vasselo was in uniform at the 38th Parallel in Korea for 20 months from 1953-54. Earlier this month, he dropped the opening puck at the charity hockey game his grandson’s foundation staged at the RMU Island Sports Center.

It was the second annual Black and Gold Breaking the Mold Hero and Celebrity Hockey Game. The event is organized by the Malone Family Foundation. It’s goal is to raise funds and awareness about the need to promote mental health and wellness for everyone, particularly veterans and first responders.

The game featured numerous ex-Penguins, local athletes, hockey celebrities and skaters from local military veteran and first responder hockey clubs.

“We’re showing how the game of hockey can really help heal (through) the camaraderie and accountability that you have in the locker room,” Malone said. “Our first mission is to take care of our first responders and veterans. Our family knows hockey. So we provide them with an outlet to empower them and inspire them.”

For Vasselo’s tentmate in Korea, the mental strain of military combat was too much to endure while still overseas. For some of those who come home, the hardships are often still every bit as challenging.

The Department of Veterans Affairs issued a report in 2012 estimating that 22 veterans committed suicide on a daily basis in the calendar year of 2010.

In the years since, that number has been adopted in various forms by many in the veterans’ care community as a rallying symbol to amplify the need for better medical and emotional protection for those who served in the military or first responder communities. That’s why every player in Malone’s hockey game had the No. 22 on the shoulders of their jerseys.

“My grandfather always made sure (we knew) that our freedom is not free. Without our veterans, we wouldn’t have such a great country,” Malone said.

More than a decade later, data about the suicide rate among veterans is still alarming. A 2021 Brown University study concluded that suicides by active duty personnel and veterans of the post 9/11 wars are four times higher than deaths of service members in war operations over that time. As we reflect about those who were lost in service on Memorial Day weekend, that’s a staggering number to consider.

To hear Vasselo tell his stories, it’s no surprise as to why that may be the case.

“It was Christmas Eve, and it was 25 below zero while I was pulling guard duty. Brutal. We still had snipers shooting at us on Christmas Eve,” Vasselo said. “And then, in the summer, it was very humid, and typhoons would come and blow our tent down. We’d be laying out looking at the sky. Our tent blew away. We slept six to a tent.”

It’s not just the combat either. It’s the separation and abandonment from loved ones that leaves scars as well.

“When we got a chance, we played baseball in Korea. We had a little team,” Vasselo recalled. “I remember getting called out of a game by a Red Cross official. They said my brother passed away at home. And, ‘We’re sorry. We can’t let you go because you’re not the (executor) of the estate.’ They said, ‘You have all kinds of relatives at home.’ So that crushed me. I just couldn’t go.”

Despite all that hardship during his 20 months in Korea, Vasselo refuses to allow his only memories of service time to be negative ones.

“I got to see Marilyn Monroe over there,” Vasselo beamed. “Oh, God! What a beauty she was. There were 20,000 of us in a field, and she was on a stage. When she first came up, she had a parka on because it was really cold. We were in our parkas. She started making a little speech. She said, ‘Well, fellas, I don’t think I came all the way here for you to see me in a parka.’ She whipped it off. Holy (crap). We went nuts. It was crazy. I had front-row seats.”

For Malone, having his grandfather come out to a standing ovation from the fans was the perfect way to begin the game that his foundation staged, especially since his brother, Mark (a former Wheeling Nailer) took the faceoff with him. Plus, Malone’s father, Greg (a former Penguins player and scout), was there as an honorary coach.

“That’s just our family,” Malone said during an in-game interview. “We’re just thankful for the opportunity to help our veterans and first responders. But we also know it goes out there to every human being who is struggling with something.”

When Ryan and Mark were young, their father said Vasselo spent tons of time watching Pittsburgh sports and taking his grandkids to games. A big Steelers fan, Vasselo was most interested in meeting one of Ryan’s linemates in the hockey game, former defensive lineman Brett Keisel.

“Al wanted to tell (Keisel) about all the sports in the ’70s and ’80s,” Greg Malone said. “His basement is filled with all sorts of Steelers, Pirates and Penguins paraphernalia.”

About 10 years after Vasselo returned from Korea, he had the chance to see “From Here to Eternity” during a re-release in a local movie theater.

“I decided, I’m going to go see this sucker,” Vasselo said. “I’m going to see how it ends.”

Vasselo wanted to see it through despite the difficult memory associated with it.

Now, the foundation launched by his grandson is helping his fellow veterans do the same.

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Listen: Tim Benz interviews Ryan Malone about his foundation’s Black and Gold Breaking the Mold Hero and Celebrity Hockey Game.