February casualties

February 2, 1945 - Frank Burak
February 4, 1953 - Robert Bliss
February 15, 1951 - Reed Smith
February 20, 1945 - Norman Bell
February 20, 1967 - Charles Katt Guttilla
Februay 28, 1968 - Matthew Dwyer
February 1945 - E. D. Kurz

Nutley, War Casualties - January

January 1943 - Souren Avedisian
January 8, 1946 - John Mutch
January 15, 1944 - Cecil Dunthorn
January 16, 1945 - Frederick D. Kurz
January 19, 1919 - Pasquale De Francesco
January 19, 1944 - Charles Haney
January 19, 1967 - Michael Halpin
January 18, 1942 - Preston Hastings
January 23, 1967 - Thomas Van Houten
January 25, 1957 - Salvatore Pillitteri
January 26, 1966 - Arthur Rego

Belleville and Nutley In the Civil War, a new book

Cherry Blossom Press has published Belleville and Nutley In the Civil War, a Brief History by Anthony Buccino.

The book is a compilation of information documenting the participation of the New Jersey towns of Belleville and Nutley in the American Civil War. Publication includes information on six local soldiers killed in action in the War Between the states, plus information on the battle campaigns in which they gave up their lives. Also lists information on participation in various New Jersey and other state militias by local men.


The new book is available in print and on the Kindle eReader. In paperback at $9.99
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Copyright © 2011 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Check out Anthony Buccino's books in print and on popular eReaders Kindle and Nook

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DAV Chapter 22 dedicates building 6/18

Disabled American Veterans Chapter 22 

dedicates Mill Street building 6/18

Members of the Belleville-Nutley Disabled American Veterans Chapter 22 voted to name their building after chapter commander Joseph T. Fornarotto. Fornarotto was instrumental in planning, fundraising, soliciting donated labor and supplies that resulted in the three-year old facility at 612 Mill Street, Belleville. 

The building will be formally dedicated on Saturday, June 18 at 11 a.m. 

A Memorial Day Scrapbook

Richard Van Divort remembered by niece.

Nutley Memorial Day video, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day parade 2011

Nutley announces Memorial Day schedule
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Nutley Sun

Mayor Joanne Cocchiola and the Board of Commissioners announced plans for Nutley Township's Annual Memorial Day Parade at 11 a.m. Monday, May 30.

Weather permitting, a brief opening ceremony will be held in the Nutley Park Oval at 10:45 a.m., with the parade route being the same as previous years – Chestnut Street to Passaic Avenue to Centre Street to Franklin Avenue, with a reviewing stage in front of John H. Walker Middle School.

The keynote speaker is Raymond L. Zawacki, deputy commissioner of Veterans Affairs, and the grand marshal is Rich McClintick.

The morning of the parade will begin with visits to memorials:

7:30 a.m. Assemble at the American Legion Post - Franklin Avenue
8:00 a.m. Services at Post 70 – American Legion
8:15 a.m. Amvets 85 Park Avenue
8:25 a.m. Services at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Boulder - Washington Avenue
8:40 a.m. Services at the Methodist Cemetery – Park Avenue
8:50 a.m. American Legion Services at the WWI Boulder
9:00 a.m. Franklin Reformed Church - Hillside Cresent
9:30 a.m. Services at the All Wars Memorial (Memorial Park/Vreeland Avenue)
9:40 a.m. Catholic War Services at the Korean Conflict Boulder - Township Hall
9:55 a.m. Veterans Council Services at Vietnam Memorial - Township Hall
10:05 a.m. Peacetime Memorial Dedication – Vincent Place
10:10 a.m. Amvets Services at WW II Memorial – Vincent Place
10:20 a.m. Daughters of the American Revolution Services at Civil War Boulder – Nutley High School - Franklin Avenue
10:30 a.m. DAR Services at DAR Boulder - Nutley High School
10:40 a.m. Fireman's Memorial at the Chestnut Street Firehouse

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Around the Towns:

Nutley veteran chosen to lead Memorial Day parade
NJ.com

By Star-Ledger Staff

NUTLEY — The Nutley Veterans Council and the Town of Nutley will honor Rich McClintick as the grand marshal of the town's 92nd annual Memorial Day parade on May 30. McClintick is a lifelong Nutley resident and a 1960 graduate of ...

Read article

Memorial Day Parade - 2010

Active Servicemen and Women to Be Honored At Memorial Day Parade


Nutley, NJ – The Veteran’s Council and the Office of the Mayor would like to once again invite Nutley residents enrolled in the Armed Forces and their families to participate by marching in the Memorial Day Parade.

“It is such a nice way to pay tribute to these men and women, and to be sure that their selfless service to our country is always remembered,” commented Mayor Joanne Cocchiola. “This also gives our community members the perfect opportunity to thank them.”

Servicemen, servicewomen and their families are asked to contact the Mayor’s Office to confirm their participation. Names will also be collected for the Memorial Day Parade Commemorative Service Banner, which features names of community members who are actively serving in the Armed Forces.

There are currently 35 names of active servicemen and servicewomen on the banner, which is hanging on the Oval fence by Town Hall, off of Chestnut Street.

The Memorial Day Parade will take place on Monday, May 31st with opening ceremonies commencing at 11am in the Nutley Park Oval. This year’s parade will boast active marching bands, dance troops and army vehicles.

In addition, children and adults alike will be invited to participate in a patriotic bicycle parade. Bicycle parade information will be distributed through local public schools and pre-schools.

Please contact Mayor Cocchiola’s office if you have a friend or family member serving who would like to either march in the parade, or be added to the banner – 973-284-4976 or mblank@nutleynj.org, or if you would like additional information about the parade.

You can also contact Jack Magnifico, President of The Veteran’s Council.

posted: Friday, March 26, 2010 at 9:43 AM

Joanne Cocchiola
Mayor

Township of Nutley, Dept. of Public Affairs
149 Chestnut Street
Nutley, NJ 07110
US
Office #: (973) 284-4972
Fax #: (973) 661-9411
mayorcocchiola@nutleynj.org

Nutley Sons Honor Roll - print edition

NUTLEY SONS HONOR ROLL - Remembering The Men Who Paid For Our Freedom
4th Edition


Biographies of the men of Nutley, N.J., who died while in service. They were our sons, brothers, fathers, friends and uncles who walked, played, worked and died for our little township. In the last century, 138 Nutley sons died while in service to their country. Here are their stories.

Ordering information

Nutley Sons Honor Roll, Nutley, N.J.

Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

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PACIFIC: Corp. Latham Wounded

(March 16, 1945) – Cpl. Robert H. Latham of the 4th Division, U.S. Marine Corps. has written his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Arch A. Latham of 511 Centre street under the date of Feb. 27, that he was wounded at Iwo Jima and is now in an Army hospital out of the combat area. He told his parents that he could not tell them of the extent of his wounds but he did say that he and his fellow Marines were getting the best of care.

Cpl. Latham had previously taken part in the invasions of Roi and Namur in the Marshall Islands, also Saipan and Tinian in the Marianas and had come through without a scratch, although in the thick of battle throughout.

He was graduated from Nutley High school in February 1941 and enlisted in the Marines in September 1942.
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(April 11, 1945) – A Japanese mortar shell which landed in his foxhole on Iwo Jima terminated 15 months of fighting in the Pacific for Marine Corp. Robert Latham, 23, now on his way with 180 other casualties from a U.S. Naval hospital in California to a hospital in Philadelphia for convalescence.

Latham was in charge of an ammunition detail with a machine gun platoon and had been on Iwo two days when he was so seriously wounded that it necessitated his foot being amputated while in a shell hole by a medical corpsman.

During his ordeal, his parents learned, Cpl. Latham lighted and passed out cigarettes to other Marines who had also been wounded. Later at a hospital on Saipan where his left leg was amputated, he met the same medical corpsman, wounded at a later date, who said that it was Cpl. Latham’s composure which had enabled him to perform the operation without cracking up himself.

Source: The Nutley Sun

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Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Nutley Sons Honor Roll, Nutley, N.J.
4th Edition ordering information

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PACIFIC: Vincent Fields

(April 6, 1945) - Pvt. Vincent Fields, 23, was reported killed in action at Iwo Jima.

Mrs. Fields, the former June Parr, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Parr of Carteret place, was advised that her husband was reported killed March 6. He was a member of the 4th Marine Division.

Pvt. Fields is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Mervin Fields of Long Valley.
The couple was married May 29, 1942, in Vincent Methodist Church here.

He had been in service since last August and went overseas the middle of last November. Before he left this country, Mrs. Fields and their 19-month-old daughter spent three weeks with him in North Carolina.

Since her husband has been overseas, Mrs. Fields has been spending part of the time with his parents at Long Valley, but she was at her parents' for Easter when she received the report of his death.

Pvt. Fields attended Long Valley schools and was graduated from Hackettstown High school. He was employed by Wright Aeronautical company in Paterson before entering service.

The couple was married May 29, 1942, in Vincent Methodist Church here.

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Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Nutley Sons Honor Roll, Nutley, N.J.
4th Edition ordering information

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PACIFIC: Arthur T. Abbott

(April 6, 1945) - Mr. and Mrs. Arthur T. Abbott of 32 Chestnut Street, the parents of Pfc. Arthur T. Abbott Jr., 24, were informed last week the Marine had been reported killed in action at Iwo Jima on March 4.

He attended Nutley High school and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md.

His wife is the former Shirley Slater of Montclair, and their two-year-old son Arthur 3rd. He has one brother, Robert, a student at Nutley High school, and a sister Mrs. Frederick Heany of Nutley.

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Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Nutley Sons Honor Roll, Nutley, N.J.
4th Edition ordering information

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PACIFIC: Foti Survives Sinking of USS Luce, Sharks

USS Luce Survivor Relates Experiences

(July 13, 1945) – Aboard the destroyer USS Luce, which was sunk on the morning of May 4 when 27 Jap suicide planes attacked during the battle of Okinawa, Machinist’s Mate 3/c John Foti of 15 Duncan Place, who has just completed survivor leave lived a lifetime of nightmares in the one minute and ten seconds it took to sink the ship.
Foti was in the engine room when General Quarters sounded.

He started top side and was just coming out of the engine room hatch when the first suicide plane hit the ship. The explosion knocked him down the ladder but he escaped with only minor bruises.

Getting up, Foti tried to run to side again to man the gun, but he never made it.
“Everything happened so fast,” exclaimed Foti, “the planes were pealing off one after another at about 400 or 450 miles per hour.”

As Foti was running up the port side of the ship where the planes were attacking, the Luce received another hit back aft and was listing to the starboard.

Foti made his way to the starboard to get under cover from shrapnel as well as from the explosions of the ship’s ammunition.

But he no sooner arrived at his supposed haven of safety when the starboard took a direct hit.

Foti was blown down on the deck, face flat. Fourteen other men who were taking cover with him were killed instantly.

“Yes,” said Foti, I saw my buddies blown to bits and it certainly was a horrible mess.”

There wasn’t any time to stop and think then because the ship was listing so badly it was getting impossible to lie on the deck. To avoid falling over, Foti grabbed the rail and made his way toward the bridge. Many men who had gone over starboard were killed when the ship rolled on them.

Starboard and aft were now sinking fast. When Foti arrived at the bridge, another plane came in causing a terrible explosion. This was the third suicide plane to crash the ship in addition to one torpedo.

Badly bruised but with no serious injuries, Foti got up and with no helmet or life jacket climbed hand over hand to the port side where he could abandon ship. The “Skipper” was on the bridge and doing what he could to direct the men to the safest part of the ship.

From where Foti stood waiting to jump form the sinking destroyer, he could see the men already in the water being attacked by sharks and strafed by enemy planes. About this time, friendly aircraft came to the aid of the stricken vessel.

The ship was now at such an angle that Fote was standing on her side. Another explosion occurred and blew a torn life jacket within ten feet of him. Realizing that he had to act against time, he grabbed the jacket and jumped.

“Making a ten foot leap into the air, Foti hit the keel of the ship as she rolled over. Landing on his back, he slid from the slipper keel into the water. The destroyer was still underway and continued going on.

Unable to swim and with only a battered life jacket for security, Foti was now faced with a triple threat: drowning, enemy planes, and sharks.

Our planes were intercepting the Japs, and as a precaution against the sharks Foti rolled over and over in fuel oil til he was completely covered. “It burned my eyes so, I thought they’d pop out,” he remarked.

“A wounded ship-mate of mine held me up and I tried to hold on to him. We stayed in the water over an hour just hanging on to each other like that.”

A small American patrol ship came to the rescue and picked the survivors up. Foti and the men were then taken aboard a hospital ship where they received immediate care.

Foti said, “The Luce was an accurate ship, and until the day of the sinking she never received an enemy scratch even though we saw action in every engagement of the Philippines, the first two raids on the Nip homeland and in numerous attacks on Jap shipping.

Speaking of his experiences the day the destroyer was sunk, Foti said, “It was the most disastrous thing I ever went through. I never want to go through it again. The good Lord was with me but our losses were heavy.

“On a ship that small it’s tough because the men were very close. We knew all about each other’s families and girl friends – it was almost like seeing your own brother die.”

Source: The Nutley Sun
Adapted from the book.


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Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Nutley Sons Honor Roll, Nutley, N.J.
4th Edition ordering information

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