Thomas Ashton, Jr.

(July 23, 1943) -- Petty Officer Thomas Edward Ashton Jr., electrician’s mate 3/c, on submarine duty was reported missing in action April 22, 1943.

The young sailor was known by his parents,  Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ashton Sr., who formerly lived on Cathedral Avenue, to have been aboard the submarine Triton, which was reported by the Navy on July 22 as having been sunk in the Pacific with 11 Jap ships to its credit.

He attended St. Mary's elementary school. He was an assistant scout master of troop 12 at St. Mary's Church.

Tom has been engaged to Miss Olive Shaefer for the past year. He has three sisters, Alice and Melina who live in Nutley, and Mrs. Eileen Rudowsky.

(April 30, 1943) -- The parents of Thomas Edward Ashton Jr., were notified Thursday that their son, an electrician's mate 3c, on submarine duty was missing at sea. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ashton Sr., who formerly lived on Cathedral avenue, have recently moved to E. Glen Avenue in Ridgewood.
 
Tom Ashton enlisted in the Navy in February 1942. After two and a half months of preliminary training at New London, he was sent to the Navy Electrical Engineering School.

His military education included Submarine; Battery & Gyro; Electrical Theory; Electrical Laboratory; Mathematics; tool instruction; General Instruction; Wiring Shop.

His assignments and geographical locations included: N.R.S., N.Y.; NavTraSta - Newport, R.I.; US Nav Tra Sch - Detroit, Mich.; Submarine Sch - New London, Conn.; USS Guardfish (Flag CSD 82); USS Triton.

Upon completion of his training he was assigned to a submarine as an electrician's mate.

Tom was working for the plant department of the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company at the time of his enlistment in the Navy. He attended St. Mary's elementary school, and St. Peter's and St. Mary's Rutherford high schools, where he played football and basketball.

A fine athlete, Tom also played golf, went bowling, and belonged to the Nutley Chess Club. He was an assistant scout master of troop 12 at St. Mary's Church.

Tom has been engaged to Miss Olive Shaefer for the past year. He has three sisters, Alice and Melina who live in Nutley, and Mrs. Eileen Ruowsky.

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Carlyle Hayden Malmstrom

(April 23, 1943) -- Mrs. Hilda Malmstrom, a war bride, was notified by the War Department Wednesday morning that her husband Staff Sgt. Carlyle Hayden Malmstrom had been killed in action in North Africa on April 6. The Malmstroms were married in July 1941, at Florence, S.C.

His parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. P. Malmstrom, of Cathedral avenue, are of the opinion he was killed in reconnaissance work.

His wife, a Nutley girl, is the former Miss Hilda Fillipone.

He attended Rutgers University for two years, where he studied business administration.

The Malmstroms have another son, George, 17, who is a student at Clifton High school. 

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From The Nutley Sun

April 23, 1943: Reconnaissance Man Killed
In Action In North Africa

Dominic Anthony Cassera

(April 30, 1943) -- A solemn mass of requiem will be held tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock at the Holy Family Church for Dominic Anthony Cassera who was killed in an airplane crash last Tuesday (April 20) near Benton, Missouri. An aviation cadet also died in the crash.

Dominic, the son of Anthony Cassera of Glendale street, was a civilian instructor of army aviators at Harris Field, Mo. He had been promised a job as an airline pilot at the end of the war.

Aviation had always been Dominic's avocation. He had flown many planes of his own, most of which he had bought as wrecks and converted into workable mechanisms. His family said that he had never been in an accident before.

Dominic, who was 20 years old, had had 700 hours in the air up to the time of his death. He was the youngest instructor at Harris Field where he had been stationed for the past four months. He had previously taken a refresher course in New York.

Prior to entering army employ, he had been a mechanic at Lincoln Airport. He attended Nutley High school and Essex County Vocational where he first took up the study of aviation. As a boy he constructed many types of model planes.

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From The Nutley Sun
April 30, 1943
KILLED IN CRASH
Local Youth Was Civilian Flying
Instructor At Army Air Base

Pervis Robison Jr.

Nutley resident Pervis Robison Jr. was one of 129 servicemen killed on April 10, 1963, when U.S.S. Thresher, a new class of submarine sank during sea trials about 200 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass.

Robison, who had attended Nutley schools all his life, had been a track star at Nutley High School where he was graduated in 1960.

 He is survived by his parents, Margaret and Pervis Robison, of Passaic Avenue.

****

40th Anniversary Memorial Service 

 By Anthony Buccino 

 NUTLEY, N.J. -- A memorial service on the 40th anniversary of the loss of U.S.S. Thresher and Seaman Pervis Robison was held at the Robison/Thresher monument, in front of Town Hall, at 1 p.m. on April 10, 2003.

 Mayor Peter C. Scarpelli, who knew and worked with ''our hometown son'' Pervis, conducted the memorial.

 When asked later about nicknames, Robison family friend Adrian Malloy said that Pervis' father was known as 'big duck' and the sailor was called 'little duck' by his father's friends.

 And 'duck' by his friends, added Mayor Scarpelli.

 Commander Robert W. Archer, executive officer Naval Weapons Station, Earle, Colts Neck, represented the U.S. Navy, along with a Naval Honor Guard.

Pervis Robison, Jr. memorial, Nutley, N.J.

 Archer, who joined the Navy several years after the Thresher accident has served on seven subs in his 35-year career. He said that many of the improvements on later subs were the result of the sacrifice made by the seamen aboard the Thresher.

 ''When I was a young seaman, I wore the same uniform and I did the very same things that Seaman Pervis Robison did. I entered the submarine service in 1968 -- five years after the tragic loss of the Thresher, I was a seaman, I was young, I was indestructible -- much like I imagine Seaman Pervis Robison was,'' Archer said.

 ''To this day, I remember the excitement and the adventure that the submarine force provided me, and the intense pride I felt knowing I was a member of an exclusive group of people that had passed many tests and were found fit for duty below the sea -- supporting and defending the liberties and freedoms that the people of our great nation enjoy.

 ''We were the ones walking softly and silently and carrying the big sticks that deterred those that might want to threaten our way of life and our very freedoms.

 ''Only a few men are ever selected to become submariners. It takes a rare breed to ride that steel tube out to sea and challenge Mother Nature herself by submerging below the ocean.

 ''I can assure you that for every time a submariner goes down, the elements resist you coming back up, it's like you become one with the ocean itself, that it wants to keep you there.

 ''In the case of Thresher, the ocean won its way, and those braves souls of Thresher are part of the ocean forever.

 ''I honor his memory. I honor his bravery and his spirit of adventure. And I thank him for his service because had it not been for the tragic loss of the Thresher, many of the improvements seen in the modern day submarines would not have come about...

 ''My fellow submariners and I have lived the benefit of the sacrifice of seaman Pervis' life. His life was ... lived to mark lasting improvements for all time for all submariners.

 ''Seaman Robison, on behalf all submariners who followed behind you, I salute you. You are our shipmate, our brother, our friend.''

 Reverend Robert C. Cole, pastor of First Baptist Church of Nutley, gave the invocation, and, later, the benediction.

 A wreath was placed at the Robison/Thresher monument by township commissioners Joanne Cocchiola-Oliver and Mauro Tucci.

 Taps was played by Dennis McPartland, assistant band director at Nutley high school.

 On hand for the memorial were about 100 Nutley residents and veterans. Also present was Mary Ann Fitton, spouse of Nutley son Lt. Frank Jannarone, who was killed in a bomber crash on June 12, 1958.

More information. 

George Stanford

George J. Stanford died of a heart attack on April 1, 1943, while on a short leave at home. He was the athletic director at the Nutley High School for 23 years before entering the army as a 2nd lieutenant. A memorial plaque in his honor is located at the Park Oval beneath the flag stand.

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Nutley's Turchette remembered at WWII crash site

Sheridan Memorial Park ceremony held on the 70th anniversary, March 12, 2013, at the exact site of the B-17 crash near Sheridan, Ark. The airman to left of American flag is holding a photo of co-pilot Lt. Robert Turchette of Nutley, N.J. 

The Sheridan B-17 Memorial Park is located at the actual crash site 5.8 miles north of Sheridan, Arkansas. 

While the construction and ongoing upkeep of the Sheridan B-17 Memorial Park is our primary mission, the secondary mission is to clear the record of Pilot George Davis. Local Veterans and area residents believe that 2nd Lieutenant George Davis should not have been held responsible for the loss of his B-17F Flying Fortress and its crew. Rather, he should have been recognized for his valiant efforts in keeping his Flying Fortress airborne while over the Sheridan, Arkansas area. The actions of Pilot Davis and his crew in finding a non-residential area on which to crash land possibly saved the lives of area residents.

The most predominate feature of the park will be a Memorial Wall 33′ wide X 8′ 6″ tall located 130′ from County Road 51 on the east side.  The Memorial Wall will have a 29′ wide X 4′ 6″ tall portion which will be inset in the center of the wall. The inset will be black granite and will contain the names and information about the nine airmen. There will be a 2′ white and grey mixed granite border surrounding the inset. The Memorial Wall will be illuminated from dusk to dawn.

William Nutzel

(April 30, 1943) -- William C. Nutzel, of Glendale street, received word last Tuesday that his son, 1st Lt. William C. Nutzel Jr., an officer with the Reconnaissance Division of the U.S. Army Air Corps., had been missing since March 22nd. The last letter he wrote home was dated March 19.

1st Lt. William G. Nutzel Jr., was a member of the 154th Observation Squadron, 68th Observation Group.

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Robert Turchette

(March 19, 1943) – 2nd Lt. Robert Turchette was killed aboard a bomber that crashed Friday afternoon in Little Rock, Ark.

His family was notified Saturday morning.

On Sunday they received a telegram from Robert’s commanding officer stating that he had been among those definitely killed in the crash.

The flier’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Turchette of Nutley Avenue and his sister Jacqueline, who was 18 last Saturday, expected him home shortly for a visit, but the pressure of Army duties had delayed his furlough.

It would have been his first since joining the Air Force shortly after the attack onPearl Harbor.

His mother remarked that he was strongly incensed over the Japanese attack. Although she was reluctant to see him go, she couldn’t stand in his way. “You wouldn’t want me to stay home, mother,” he said, “you wouldn’t want that kind of a son.”

Robert, the eighth local war casualty, always liked planes and made many model planes as a youngster.

When the Turchettes moved to Nutley nine months ago, Robert’s mother wrote him asking what she should do with his large supply of model airplanes. He wrote back to give them to other boys who were interested in them.

Aside from airplanes, Robert’s other great love was music. He was an accomplished pianist, and he practiced incessantly. He loved classical music, and he regularly attended concerts at Carnegie Hall.

He was such an enthusiastic admirer of Horowitz, the gifted pianist, that he sometimes followed him out of New York to attend his recitals.

“Music to him was like another life,” his mother said. “Once he took me to Carnegie Hall and I saw him trembling all over as he listened to the music. And I could understand his great love for it. It lifted him to a life above our own.”

Robert developed not only his own interest in music but encouraged his sister, Jacqueline, of whom he was very fond, to develop her talents as a pianist and accordionist. He often wrote her urging her to practice as much as she could. Once he wrote: “I’m dying to hear you play.”

His interest in music created a conflict as to his future life work owing to his equally great enthusiasm for airplanes.

He finally decided to earn a livelihood in the latter field, and in 1939, following his graduation from Barringer High in Newark, he entered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to study plane designing.

He was in the middle of his sophomore year when he decided to enlist in the Army.

His letters home, his mother said, were masterpieces of prose. He would write not only of his work, but also of the cloud formations, the canyons and the mountains over which he flew.

Lt. Turchette was very fond of dogs and his particular favorite was Tipple, a scion of a line of police dogs and Boston bulls.

With the current goings on, Tipple seems to sense that something is wrong. But like the little toy dog in Eugene Field’s “Little Boy Blue,” he patiently sits back and awaits his master’s return.

        

Mrs. Turchette said that she has received letters and visits from hundreds of people, many of whom she never knew before now. “They have all be very kind,” she added, “wonderfully kind.”

The Turchettes have another son, Ernest, who is married and lives in Belleville. Like the rest of the family, he is broken over the news concerning his brother, and keeps repeating to himself, “Why didn’t you bail out, Bob, why didn’t you bail out?”

Services were conducted Monday at Stirratt Funeral Home followed by interment at Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Montclair.

From The Nutley Sun

A memorial ceremony was held March 12, 2013, at the exact site of the crash. The memorial park dedication will be held on November 12, 2013.

Samuel Powers

(March 5, 1943) -- Cpl. Samuel S. Powers, 24, formerly of Yale street, was killed last Friday when his four-motor army transport crashed in Homestead, Fla. 

He is survived by sisters, Mrs. Frederick Klein, and Mrs. Frederick Steengaard, Mrs. Frederick Whitman of Waukesha, Wis., and a brother George.

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Robert G. Bliss

(Feb. 26, 1953) Robert G. Bliss died Feb. 4, during Army maneuvers in Germany.

 Bliss, 22, died of asphyxiation in his sleep in an army mess truck to which he was attached as a cook with Battery C, 517th Armored Field Artillery battalion.

 The accident occurred near Zallenlmuse during field maneuvers. It was an unusually cold night in the German mountains and Bliss and several other soldiers rolled themselves into their blankets on the floor of the mess truck near lit cooking stoves.

 Bliss, who formerly lived on Centre Street, was a strong six-footer. He had attended Central High School in Newark and worked as a salesman after graduation.

 He married a Hillside girl shortly before entering the army in October 1951. His tour of service about to end, his family had their home redecorated and were making elaborate plans for his welcome.

 Services were scheduled for Brown funeral home and the Mt. Pleasant Baptist church, Newark, where the youth's father is a deacon.

 Bliss is survived by his wife, Arline; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert M. Bliss, of Belleville, and a brother, Walter.

 Adapted from The Nutley Sun, Feb. 26, 1953

Arthur Rego

Nutley Marine Shot in Vietnam

(Feb. 3, 1966) Marine Corporal Arthur Rego, 21, a 1962 Nutley High School graduate, was killed in action in Vietnam on Wednesday. He is the war's first casualty from Nutley.

Corp. Rego was shot in the head by a sniper while on night patrol last Wednesday (Jan. 26) outside the Da Nang Air Force Base perimeter.

He was assigned to the Second Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment in the Da Nang sector of Vietnam where he was part of the team assigned to guard the air strip and the newly liberated village of LeMay.

Corp. Rego completed his third anniversary with the Marine Corps three days before he was killed. He had been in Vietnam with the Third Marine Division since June.

Rego completed basic training with the Marines at Parris Island and then at Camp Lejeune. Before his assignment to Vietnam, he was in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay and on a cruise to France, Spain and England.

When he returned to the United States, he was promoted to the rank of corporal and then went on to Camp Pendleton, Calif., and then by way of Hawaii and Okinawa, on to Vietnam.

The son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Rego of Memphis Avenue., Arthur Joseph Rego was born Aug. 2, 1944 in Columbus Hospital, Newark.

His family resided in Nutley all his life. Arthur attended Lincoln School and was a member of the Boy Scouts. At Nutley High he played football during his freshman year, but then developed a charley horse. To keep busy, he took a part-time job after school, first with Wise Potato Chips, and then with Power Pipe and Supply Co., Passaic. He worked at the latter firm following his graduation until entering the Marine Corps on Jan. 23, 1963.

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Salvatore Pillitteri

Young Army Officer, Former Rodino Appointee to West Point, Dies in Skidding Crash

(Jan. 30, 1957) – Friday, Jan. 25, on Route 1, near North Brunswick, Lt. Salvatore Pillitteri, 23, of Brown Street, was one of three killed in a collision of skidding cars as the Nutley youth, a one-time student a the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was returning home from Fort Dix.

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