When he was about 10 years old, Lorenzo Fiorentino listened to his uncle Bernardo describe his service in the Italian Army during World War II with pride, but never glory. Those conversations planted the seed that inspired Fiorentino to join the U.S. Army, and later morphed into an unbridled desire to recognize the contribution and sacrifices of his fellow veterans. Fiorentino is the driving force behind the creation of Chicagoland Veterans Campus (CVC) located at 39 Army Trail Boulevard in a 100-year-old former school building owned by St. Paul Lutheran Church.
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the CVC is the result of a collaboration among six veterans museums in the Chicago area: the Chicagoland Combined Veterans Museum & Library, Camp Grant Historical Society Museum, Hellenic American Veterans Memorial & Museum, the Italian American Veterans Museum, 10th Mountain Division Museum and the American Fraternal Military & Associated Auxiliaries Museum.
