John Sirico, Sr. has seen a lot in 99 years.
Drafted into the U.S. Navy out of New Canaan High School to serve during World War II—and brother of the late Tom Sirico, also a veteran—Sirico is not an easy man to surprise.
Yet on Monday afternoon, he stood in surprise—in fact, in his bathrobe and slippers, accompanied by his two kids and aide— in front of the Marino Clock on Elm Street. Above him was a banner featuring his Navy photo with the message “New Canaan Honors Our Veterans.”
The banner hangs alongside fellow WWII veteran Edith Linger’s, on the Marino Clock at Elm Street where South Avenue comes in. Credit: Michael Dinan
“I think it’s wonderful,” Sirico, who turns 100 in two weeks, told NewCanaanite.com as passersby recognized him from his youthful photo overhead on an overcast, blustery day, and thanked him for his service.
“I don’t really feel any personal honors or nothing,” Sirico continued. “But I think it’s a tremendous idea. I have a grandson that was in the Army in the Iraq War and he says, ‘I don’t deserve to be up there.’ Everyone in the service deserves to be up here.”
“Up here” being honored on a banner that hangs from the lampposts of downtown New Canaan each Veterans Day since a local teen, Jack Goetz, launched the project as an Eagle Scout in 2019, with assistance from the late Peter Langenus, former commander of VFW Post 653. Since 2020, the annual honor continues thanks to the local Moms of Military members Joelle Graham and Amy Plum.
Their responsibilities include “reviewing new banner requests, collecting photos, coordinating orders with the banner company, securing project funding, and working with the town to hang the banners,” Graham said.
Banners honoring WWII veterans John Sirico Sr. and Edith Linger at the Marino Clock on Elm Street on Nov. 10 2025. Credit: Michael Dinan
“As mothers of military members, honoring veterans in this way is very important to us,” she said.
The project receives financial support from the New Canaan Exchange Club.
Asked about Sirico specifically, Graham said, “We were thrilled to include a banner for a living WWII veteran this year, and I’m so happy that he and his family had the opportunity to see it.”
It was Sirico’s son-in-law James Wenning of New Canaan, who arranged with the Moms of Military to honor Sirico. Pulling up to the Marino Clock to collect her dad, Sirico’s daughter, Karen Wenning, said “it’s incredible” to see him on the banner.
“As well as seeing all of the others—a lot of the other veterans, whose flags are hanging, I knew them growing up, so it’s very special,” she said. “I know their children.”
In addition to Sirico’s aide, Douglas Baah, his son John Sirico Jr. was on hand for the special visit downtown, on the eve of Veterans Day (note: VFW Post 653’s annual ceremony marking Veterans Day will start at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday at Town Hall, details here).
“This was a total surprise—I learned about it from my sister who still lives in New Canaan, I don’t anymore,” said John Sirico, Jr., NCHS ‘73.
He added: “I love it for him. I love it for all of the veterans.”
His dad agreed, saying, “I love it for everyone that served. I think this is a tremendous idea. Otherwise we are just gone.”
Sharing the honor of having their banners on the Marino Clock is Edith Linger, recognized by the Daughters of the American Revolution as a WWII veteran last year.
It’s a clock that Sirico said he knows well.
“I was senior year class president [at NCHS],” he said. “I know the location of this clock because the man who this pole was put here for—the first selectman, Lou Marino—he and I went to school together. He lived on Nubel Lane and Marvin Ridge is the main road.”
After serving, Sirico became a builder and constructed several homes in New Canaan, including—in 1956—the family home he shared with his late wife, Irene, who passed in 2018, and where he still lives.
Asked whether the family was planning anything special for her dad’s 100th, Wenning said, “We’re having a very small celebration with his favorite cake.”
Asked what that is, she said, “White with chocolate frosting.”
