Sklaver's humanitarian legacy

Hamden - Even as a teenager at Hamden High School, people knew there was something special about Ben Sklaver.

"Ben was in the top 5% of his class," former principal Vincent Iezzi said. "He was in the National Honor Society and he was a swimmer, a very good swimmer on the boys swim team. So he was a very accomplished student, very well liked by everyone."

Iezzi was on the Hamden High faculty when Sklaver graduated in 1995, and kept track of the young man as he went to college and then joined the Army reserves.

"Sklaver's first overseas tour of duty took him to Uganda where his mission, and that of his unit, was to make sure villages had clean drinking water and to build the infrastructure making that possible. He took that job very seriously, so seriously that he continued it even after his tour of duty was over.

Sklaver created ClearWater Initiative. It's a charity that promotes clean drinking water for people in emergencies both natural and man-made. The group has already helped provide water to thousands of people, with plans to help tens of thousands in the years to come.

Ben Sklaver was still listed as 'Director' on its web site, even though he was called up for another tour of duty, this one building infrastructure in Afghanistan. All this work won Sklaver the distinguished alumni award from the Hamden Education Foundation in 2006.

"He was a patriot and he worked to better the community that not only he lived in, but also in foreign lands," Iezzi said. "You can't ask for anything more than that so absolutely, he is one that everyone should look up to and admire."

When you look up in Hamden and around the state today, you'll see flags at half staff because of Captain Benjamin Sklaver. He was killed by a suicide bomber on Friday in an Afghan town near the Pakistani border. You can look up at those flags and admire what he stood for.

Funeral services for Capt. Sklaver will be Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m. at Congregation Mishkan Israel at 786 Ridge Road in Hamden. He will be laid to rest at Farband Cemetery on Route 109 in the Town of Morris.