Anthony’s World Updates

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1.    Belleville Sons Honor Roll
The project that began more than 15 years ago, to identify and remember the fallen soldiers from Belleville, N.J., is having long-term effects.

In the past 13 months, Belleville has dedicated thirteen street signs to fallen soldiers from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Vietnam War and the Cold War.

If we look back at 1999, the Belleville Memorial had a partial list of the lost soldiers, sailors and Marines lost in service. In 2005, using the names of the fallen discovered in my research, the town added more than 150 names, where there had been none, to its Belleville Veterans Memorial on Union Avenue.

The research continues as we learn more information about these Belleville Sons from their families as we prepare to dedicate street signs in their memory.

SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 2016
Street naming for Capt. William A. Branch of Belleville, KIA in the Vietnam War. Washington Avenue and Overlook Avenue, Belleville, N.J. 11 a.m.


2.    Nutley Sons Honor Roll
Don’t tell anyone yet, but we are continuing in our effort to work with the powers-that-be in Nutley to dedicate streets signs for the 140 fallen Nutley Sons.

3.    Book Projects
You may be aware Anthony is juggling three book projects. One project is Nutley Notables Volume 2.
Another project involves research into murder, mayhem and major crime in a typical north Jersey town.
And the third book is that Mosquito Man book simmering on a back burner.

4.    Other Stuff
Anthony continues to shoot photographs around town during his walks. There’s a Facebook page for that.

He also created a Facebook group for Nutleyphotos, old and new. He also moderates Belleville and Nutley groups.

Anthony also maintains the websites and Facebook groups for Kingsland Manor and the Nutley Historical Society.

Don’t forget, books make great holiday gifts. Anthony’s books are all available on Amazon.

Well, that’s it for this issue of Anthony’s World Update

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Ghosts of Birthdays Past

"...The year I turned 19 my birthday drew the Selective Service Draft lottery number 319. Had I been born on June 6, my lottery number would have been 127. And I'm so glad that our family doctor gave my mom the wrong date. 

Had I been born on Memorial Day that year, my lottery number would have been 19, like my age. I would have found myself working in the service of Uncle Sam and likely sweating the last of my teen years in a foreign jungle instead of a coffee warehouse in Moonachie, N.J....   

I grew up with my Army men. They pounced on each other, shot each other, blew up on our living room rug, were bombed by all sorts of toy planes, attacked enemy convoys – all while my father, nearby, watched our black and white TV or slept in his recliner. He never said anything when I had my armies lined up to face off for battle...."

Continue reading The Longest Day for a Birthday

Gary P. Formica, KIA 10.4.70

Gary P. Formica of Bloomfield, N.J.
NJ Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Story written later on NJ.com

War Memorial Books Updated

Belleville Sons Honor Roll and Nutley Sons Honor Roll latest print editions now available digitally, online

With his daughter Andrea, Anthony Buccino researched the unsung and long forgotten heroes of earlier generations from his present and former hometowns. His latest project – the Nutley Sons and Belleville Sons honor rolls – preserves for future generations of two towns the stories of 347 young men who paid for our freedom with their lives.

The Buccinos collected the stories of 138 Nutley sons and 209 Belleville sons who perished while in service to the United States during the American Revolution, Civil War, Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and as peacekeepers preventing war.



With the researching help of his daughter Andrea, the stories of the men were collected, edited and cross-referenced with newspaper accounts, Freedom of Information Act documents and veterans groups accounts.

The ongoing research project resulted in a searchable Internet web site recording the stories of the young men from both towns. Buccino published paperback editions of the collected biographies. Recently, new editions of each book were published and are now available digitally.

Suddenly, with the publication of the Honor Roll tales, the stories, untold and forgotten for 40, 60, and nearly 100 years were suddenly being talked about in Veterans clubs, middle school auditoriums and home libraries.

Buccino heard from widows, sisters, brothers, children, nieces and nephews of fallen soldiers who thanked him after they found their long lost loved one’s tale retold with a fresh breath. They expressed comfort that their loved ones were not forgotten.

In the spring 2005, a new memorial in Nutley was dedicated to Nutley casualties who, it was realized through this research, were not listed on any of the town’s 16 war memorials. Buccino is working with the mayor, veterans groups, and other sponsors and using book sales money to help finance the long overdue memorial.

In May, a new memorial to nine men who died in peacetime was dedicated in Nutley - based on the research in Nutley Sons Honor Roll.

The research effort was recognized by Buccino was named the recipient of the UNICO National 2005 Grand Order Filippo Mazzei William Paca Americanism Award.



UNICO, the largest Italian-American service organization in the United States, said the Americanism Award Committee selected Buccino for his noteworthy efforts in “researching historical facts and contributions of the many unsung heroes who have given their lives for our country.”

This prestigious award is named in honor of Philip Mazzei, an Italian and confidant of Thomas Jefferson, whose ideas and philosophies were instrumental in the formation of the most fundamental principles of our great nation.
The William Paca Award is presented in recognition of historical research and in recognition of the contributions of the many unsung heroes whose lives were expended in making our country the beacon of freedom in the world today.

In November 2005, more than 150 names were added to the Belleville memorial on Union Avenue, Bellleville, after having the blank slate for 50 years awaiting the list of names which was based on the research in Belleville Sons Honor Roll.

In 2006, six street names in a new residential development City Homes At Essex Park in Belleville, N.J., were renamed to honor veterans and four of the Belleville heroes who died while in service.

BELLEVILLE SONS HONOR ROLL
Biographies of the men of Belleville, N.J., who died while in service. In the last century, 156 Belleville sons died while in service to their country. World War II, by far, took the largest toll of 117 young men. World War I took 20 young lives. The Korean War took four lives, and preserving the peace cost us three more Belleville Sons.

NUTLEY SONS HONOR ROLL
Biographies of the men of Nutley, N.J., who died while in service. In the last century, 138 Nutley sons died while in service to their country.

Order information

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Copyright © 2009 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.
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Veterans are different from you and me

"For those who have fought for it freedom has a taste the protected will never know"
Engraved on a Vietnam War era Zippo lighter.

When I sat with them, it took me a long time to find a place to sit. I am not a veteran.

These guys were nearly my age, mostly a tad older, Vietnam War vets. I couldn't figure what it was that kept telling me not to sit at this table, or at this table, or even at this table, as I walked the circle of tables set up around the theater in the center of the Vietnam Era Educational Center in Holmdel, N.J.

Korea was called the forgotten war. Vietnam was the let's forget it war. But that's not it for these guys. They seek their own. Who else would understand? No movie can bring justice to the reality.

But here we are with a small piece of war trivia, a simple Zippo lighter, a borrowed collection of them here, in a fitting place, outside the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.

continue reading


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Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

POW - MIA

(March 27, 1969) Lt. David Dinan III, 25, of Hawthorne Avenue, Nutley, was killed March 17, in Laos, Southeast Asia, after he was forced to bail out of a F105 jet that had been hit by ground fire.

Dinan was a pilot from the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Korat Airbase, Thailand.
During the combat mission, Dinan's aircraft was hit by enemy fire and he ejected. His parachute was shredded when it hit trees, however, and he sustained what were believed to be fatal injuries from falling through the trees and down an embankment. Dinan was declared Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered.

Dinan is among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as an F-105 Thunderchief pilot over North Vietnam on July 14, 1968.


Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

Nutley Sons - Vietnam

NJ Vietnam Veterans Memorial