When Cancer Arrived, The Battle Was Second Nature For Uncle And Nephew Veterans

Ever since he was a child, Michael Menta looked up to his uncle Sal Leone for becoming a Marine. Menta would eventually follow in Leone's footsteps to serve his country, enlisting in the Navy during his senior year of high school.
Their shared veteranship brought them closer.
"We spoke the same language," Menta said, when he and Leone visited StoryCorps last month.
"You know, nobody knows that they have cigarettes in a C-Ration. Or Chiclet[s] gums in an MRE with a roll of toilet paper," Menta said, recalling the ingredients once included in the packaged meals that are dispensed to military troops.
But earlier this year, Menta found himself at his uncle's bedside at a VA hospital in Florida. Leone was gravely ill from cancer. He was admitted for about two months and has since returned home to be with family in Connecticut.
Menta, now 58, says that taking care of his sick uncle was bigger than a sense of familial duty. It was also his duty as a soldier.