By Rita Delfiner
NY Post

 
(August 17,  2009 New York) -An ailing 84-year-old Brooklyn veteran was all alone in the world -- until he met tender-hearted cop Susan Porcello, who watched over the former Marine during the final months of his life.

It was in July 2008 that Officer Porcello, then 35, and her 68th Precinct partner, Eddy Ennis, responded to a 911 call at Gasper Musso's Bay Ridge apartment.

 The World War II vet was a diabetic and had accidentally mixed up his medications. He had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

Porcello asked him where his family was.

"Look around you, kid. I'm all alone. I have nobody," he replied.

"I said, 'What do you mean you have nobody? I'm here now. I'll be your friend. You're going to be my grandpa now' " Porcello said she told him.

She was a regular visitor at the hospital, keeping him company, helping him pay his bills and bringing him newspapers.

When Musso died on Nov. 15, she carried out his dearest wish -- to be buried near his mother on Staten Island -- and paid for the funeral and headstone.

Porcello's dad, Joseph Porcello, and sister, Julie Ann Catalano, nominated her for a Post Liberty Medal in the Finest category "for her selfless demonstration of compassion and dedication."

Webmasters Note: Susan Porcello is a member of the Westchester County Detachment Marine Corps League.