100th Birthday Milestone For South Jersey WWII Vet

PAULSBORO, NJ — A local World War II veteran and prisoner of war got a special surprise at a recent community luncheon at Guardian Angels Regional School in Paulsboro.

Students were honoring senior citizens, and the U.S. Army Mid-Atlantic Recruiting Battalion presented Cpl. Joseph Cucinotta with a cake and a commemorative award.

Cucinotta will turn 100 on Feb. 8, according to the Mid-Atlantic Recruiting Battalion. A native of Gibbstown, he grew up working on his father's farm and decided to attend trade school instead of continuing into the family business, the Army said.

Through his senior year at Paulsboro High School, Cucinotta worked as a welder in a shipyard at night; he intended to enlist with the Merchant Marines "but ended up helping his family rebuild their home after a house fire," said the Mid-Atlantic Recruiting Battalion.

He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942 and shipped from Fort Dix, N.J. to Camp Shelby, Miss. for basic training, where he was assigned as a rifleman, the Army said. After basic training, Cucinotta boarded a ship in Norfolk, Va. and set sail for Africa.

There, he retrained as a heavy artilleryman and was shipped to the front lines of the offensive in Italy. There, he was captured and served as a prisoner of war for 15 months in a German prison camp, said the Army.

The Army recognized Cucinotta's service and the adversity he faced, "which prepared him for a long and successful life."