MEMORIAL DAY – The men behind the names on the street signs

Ten years ago there was no place you could go to learn about the 156 Belleville Sons who paid the ultimate price for our freedom.

 World War II took the largest toll,  117 young men, from our town. World War I took 20 Belleville Sons, while the Korean War took at least four or more young men, and the Vietnam War took nine young men. Three Belleville sons died in peacetime. The War Between The States took at least three young men from our midst.

 But now you can visit the memorial on Union Avenue and read the names of the fallen. It was at a similar monument about ten years ago that we read the names of the fallen from Nutley. That piqued our interest in who these young men were beyond the refurbished World War II memorial.

 With my daughter, Andrea Buccino, we set about gathering information on the Nutley fallen. The following year, Andrea spent hours sifting through fragile pages of The Belleville Times for the stories behind the names we could find and cross reference of the Belleville fallen.

At first, we created a Belleville Sons Honor Roll web site, and followed that up in June 2004 with a 106-page paperback of text. Through the years we have heard from family members of the fallen. Some have provided additional information, background and photos. We’ve added those changes into the 174-page second edition.

 And still, notes from family members of the fallen continue to arrive in our mailbox. They, too, will be incorporated into subsequent editions.

 A lot of good things have risen from this project. First of all, there is now a place online or in the Belleville Public Library where anyone can find more information about the fallen. The names gathered in the Belleville Sons Honor Roll project were used as the basis to etch those names on the Union Avenue memorial.

 And the latest measure of what one little project can do is now seen at Essex Park, the housing development on Franklin Avenue. In that project the streets are named for several soldiers – this is a direct result of the authors pitching the street names to the town fathers at the time.

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Belleville Streets Renamed

In mid-2006, seven street names in the new residential development at City Homes At Essex Park were renamed to honor veterans and four of the Belleville  heroes who died while in service.

 Streets were named for Raymond De Luca, Carmine Olivo (Olivio), Clatie Cunningham Jr. and William Hamilton.

 Army Spec. 4 Raymond P. De Luca, of Meacham Street, died June 27, 1968, as a result of wounds in a firefight in Vietnam. De Luca attended Essex Catholic High School, Newark, where he graduated as an honor student in 1966. He was trained as a medic at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, he was attached to Company C, Ninth Medical Battalion, 9th Infantry.

Sgt. Carmen Olivo, 29, of Magnolia Street, was killed when his ship was sunk in the English Channel during the invasion of Normandy, France. He is listed as killed in action on June 9, 1944. The family has since changed the spelling of their name and the sign is Olivio.

 Three Belleville sons, Sgt. Edward Henris, Staff Sgt. Arthur Burke and Sgt. Olivo were likely to have perished on the same ship as all three served in 3422^nd Ordnance Automotive Maintenance Company. The families were notified in July, November and December 1944, respectively.

Staff Sergeant Clatie Ray Cunningham Jr., was killed in action on a mission over the Mekong River in French Indo-China, or Vietnam, on July 23, 1945. Cunningham Jr., 23, was survived by his wife Alice Sylvia, of Stephens Street, Belleville, and twin sons Clatie III and John W, born June 5, 1945, in Glen Ridge, N.J., whom he never saw.

 Sgt. William Hamilton was killed in action in Germany on April 2, 1945. He served with the 7th Army. Hamilton grew up in Newark but lived on Arthur Street for years before he entered the service in 1942.

 As Belleville Sons Honor Roll co-editor and a classmate of then-council member Lou Pallante, as well as current Councilman Steve Rovell, I suggested to Pallante that the housing development across from where the two grew up on Carpenter Street be named for the town’s fallen soldiers. I submitted a list and the mayor and council took the project from there.

 Former Belleville Mayor Gerald DiGori, former Councilman Pallante and former Township Manager Mauro G. Tucci worked with Centex, the developer of the site on Franklin Avenue near the former Essex County Isolation Hospital.

The street name changes, which also include Memorial Drive, Hero Way and Freedom Lane, went into effect in 2006.

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On The Streets Where We Live

 While sharing this information with Belleville Middle School 8th graders a few years ago, the author tried to convey that the fallen young men of Belleville, many of whom sat in the same auditorium and had classes in the same classrooms (in the former high school)  and played baseball and football in the street and played instruments in garage bands, were not much older than the audience itself.

 At one point simply the author read the street names associated with the fallen soldiers and sailors, saying to the students, listen for your street’s name. Afterward, one student walked up to say that his street was mentioned three times. He was told that three soldiers from his street had perished to preserve his freedom. It also turned out that the homes where the fallen lived were familiar to the student.

Belleville Sons Honor Roll – With Known Addresses

 World War II

Eugene Adams – 18 May St.

Ernest H. Alden Jr. – 58 Prospect St.

Peter Andrusyn

Joseph Antonik – Ralph St.

Walter Antonik – 133 Ralph St.

Patrick Barbone – 16 Eugene Place

Joseph Bengivengo

Giavanni Bocchino – Lake St.

Charles Braun

Alvin Brown

John Brown – 262 Hornblower Ave.

Victor Bruegman – 101 Malone Ave.

Arthur Burke – 577 Washington Ave.

Joseph Burlazzi – 16 Mt. Pleasant Ave.

Morris C. Catalano – 14 Belleville Ave.

Kenneth Chewey – 178 Malone Ave.

Joseph J.  Cifrodella – 16 Magnolia St.

Clatie Cunningham Jr. – Stephens St.

Joseph J. Curran

John J. Daly Jr.

Edward DiCarlo

John Del Grosso – Cleveland St.

Nicholas Del Grosso – 56 Mt. Prospect St.

Herman M. Doell – 169 Linden Ave.

George Fredericks – Montgomery St.

Harry Fredericks Jr.  – 33 Montgomery Place

William Fredericks – 33 Montgomery Place

Michael Froehlich – 369 DeWitt Ave.

Gerald J. Fuselle – 138 Belmont Ave.

William Gaydos – 189 Cortlandt St.

Angelo Guarino – 19 Carmer Ave.

Stanley Guzik – 64 Cortlandt St.

William Hamilton – 15 Arthur St.

Donald Hartley – 51 Mertz Ave.

Richard Hayes – 176 Washington Ave.

Edward Henris – 306 Washington Ave.

Patrick J. Hoey – 18 Prospect St.

William Hourigan – 97 Tiona Ave.

Louis Jannarone – 225 Passaic Ave.

John Johnson – 66 Greylock Parkway

William B. Jones

Warren Jordan – Belleville Ave.

John Kant Jr.  – DeWitt Ave.

John Kirwin – 90 Forest St.

Joseph Klimchock – 34 Clinton St.

Thomas Lamb – 511 Union Ave.

Joseph M. LaPenta – 68 Eugene Place

Albert H. Lariviere – 92 Tappan Ave.

Ralph E. Ledogar – 17 Floyd St.

Arthur Leithauser – 659 Belleville Ave.

Emil M. Liloia

Benjamin Lucas – 30 Newark Place

Arthur H. Lundgren – 50 Smith St.

George Malizia Jr. –107 Conover Ave.

John Marshall – 80 Ralph St.

Joseph Masi – 54 Lake St.

Ronald Mc Cormack – Overlook Ave.

Joseph Mc Dermott

Francis C. Mc Enery – 34 Fairway Ave.

Edgar H. Mc Ginty – 50 New St.

Hector Mc Neill – 42 Cedar Hill Ave.

William J. Mears – 21 Jefferson St.

Roger J. Mellion – 70 Overlook Ave.

Frank H. Metzler – 10 Reservoir Place

John Miller Jr.  – 18 Elmwood Ave.

Emanuel J. Montalbano

Mario Morano/Maorano – 102 Dow St.

Stevano Julio Mosco – Honiss St.

Glenn Nelson – 511 Washington Ave.

Anthony Noto – 40 Frederick St.

Vincent Nucci – 62 Cedar Hill Ave.

Walter Nusbaum – 589 Union Ave.

Harry W. Nyegaard – 329 Main St.

Carmine Olivo – 44 Magnolia St.

Emil Ostrowski – 540 Union Ave.

Stephen Rocalo Otozky

John Paterno – 15 King St.

Angelo Patrizio – 13 Watchung Ave.

Thomas A. Peacock – 20 Harrison St.

Frank Pepitone

Albert E. Pole – 380 Washington Ave.

Wilfred Potis – 64 Hornblower Ave.

Frank Rankin – 18 Hornblower  Ave.

Joseph A. Razes – 133 Brighton Ave.

Wallace Reed – 25 Van Houten Place

Stanley Reynolds – 207 Malone Ave.

Joseph Rizzo – Frederick St.

John F. Rogers – 150 Birchwood Drive

Frank J. Rosania

Edmund Sadlock –25  Adelaide St.

William Salmon – 36 DeWitt Ave.

Harry Salz

Theodore Sanok – 16 Montgomery St.

George Schemm – 45 Division Ave.

Salvatore Sena – Heckel St.

George Skeen – 75 Van Houten Ave.

John J. Smith – 115 New St.

Robert A. Stecker – 76 Beech St.

Gerald Strigari

Joseph C. Taibi – 67 Frederick St.

Robert C. Taylor – 15 Bremond St.

Robert S. Taylor – 209 Joralemon St.

William Thetford Jr. – 180 Linden Ave.

Gus Vaccaro – 172 Holmes St.

John Verian – 128 Washington Ave.

John Volinski – 29  Ralph St.

Louis J. Wagner – 385 Stephens St.

Harry Ward Jr. – 70 DeWitt Ave.

John N. Waters

James T. White – 75 Holmes St.

Lee O. White – 235 Ralph St.

William R. White – 63 Holmes St.

Leonard R. Willette – 137 Stephens St.

Edward P. Wood – 55 Berkeley Ave.

Fred R. Wyckoff – 481 Union Ave.

Joseph Zecca – 197 Fairway Ave.

Korean War

Robert G. Bliss

Rene Flory Jr. – 40 Center St.

John R. Gorman

Brendan Hyland – 129 Chestnut St.

Henry Svehla

Peacetime Casualties

Sgt. Charles Marsh

Lt. Edward J. Zuczek – Gless Ave.

Donald P. Murray – Moore Place

Vietnam War

Alfred Barnes – 53 Ralph St.

William A. Branch

Frank A. Cancelliere – 23 Florence Ave.; Sanford Ave.

Roger B. Crowell – 100 Tiona Ave.

Helder A. C. DaSilva

Raymond DeLuca – 30 Meacham St.

Jerry R. Donatiello –14 Frederick St.

John M. Hoar – 80 Cleveland St.

Carl L. Mickens – 61 Wilbur St.

Paul V. Nelson – 132 Williams St.

Donald B. Saunders – 20 High St.

Remember the sacrifice of these men and their families, the sacrifice that reminds us all that freedom is not free. If you knew any of these men, tell others about them this weekend, keep their spirit alive. This is Memorial Day.

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About the author: Anthony Buccino has written several collections about life and growing up in and around Belleville, New Jersey. He also created Old Belleville, a web site of local history.  For more information, www.anthonybuccino.com

Copyright © 2011 by Anthony Buccino – used by permission.