D-Day, 65th anniversary, Normandy invasion

The Allied invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, marked the beginning of the last ten months of World War II in Europe.

More than 110 Belleville sons died in World War II. Nutley sent 2,882 men and women into service during WWII, 92 never came home. Remember their sacrifice as you enjoy the freedom they died to preserve.



Belleville Sons Honor Roll - Normandy Invasion

Nutley Sons Honor Roll - Normandy Invasion



K.O. Pat Francisco POW at Cherbourg

Falduti parachutes into Ste. Mere Eglise

MEMORIAL GREENS
We remember our war dead
with their names raised
on bronze and etched in stone
We remember their lives
and families’ sacrifice:
The best and the brightest
and the bravest, too.
We forget the children
they left with lonely spouses,
we never saw the long tears,
And the proud sadness of those
who gave us their loved ones.
On these memorial greens
we gather to remember the sons,
the fathers the homes, the children
and stop to say thanks
for the price you paid
for our freedom to gather
on these memorial greens in peace.



National World War II Museum

American Battle Monument Commission

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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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Check out Anthony Buccino's latest poetry and essay collections as ebooks and on Kindle.

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.
Support this web site, shop at Amazon through this link, thanks

I Met My Father When He Was A Young Man

More than a decade before I was born my dad wrote letters from the South Pacific to his best friend back in Belleville.

Then, long after dad was dead, and the friend past away, those old letters surfaced in a trunk in an attic and that's where I met my father when he was young man.

Already in his 20s, he was one of the older guys on that troop ship chugging through the Panama Canal.

"I always wondered how these things worked," he wrote.

And, of course, he teased his friend at home that even if he told him where he was stationed, his friend couldn't find it on a map!

In August 1942, he was working the artillery supporting the Marines at Guadalcanal. That was when he confided in his friend that he might be home for Christmas.

Little did he or any of the other GIs know it, but it would be years before he got home.

Copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM - NEW ORLEANS, LA.

The National D-Day Museum in New Orleans was recently designated by the U.S. Congress as the country's official National World War II Museum.

The National D-Day Museum interprets the American experience during the World War II years and celebrates the American spirit, the teamwork, optimism, courage and sacrifice of the men and women who won World War II and promotes the exploration and expression of these values by future generations.

Opened: June 6, 2000

Location
945 Magazine Street
(Corner of Magazine St. and Andrew Higgins Drive)
New Orleans, LA 70130

Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Source: The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, La.

Belleville Sons Honor Roll - WWII
Nutley Sons Honor Roll - WWII
Veterans History Project
American Battle Monuments Commission

Fall at the Mall

Washington, DC
The Washington Monument
Near WWII Memorial

A Legacy

It was awkward to leave copies of my books at the WWII memorial. I left them in the area representing the campaign where my dad served for most of the war, Guadalcanal. Stangers immediately picked them up and looked at them. Then put them back in place knowing they would go into the collection of artifacts left here.

The war gave me the freedom to grow up in the idyllic 1950s and later realize the sacrifices that provided that canopy.

Almost 60 years after my dad went through the Panama Canal, my daughter and I began work memorializing the many young men from our towns who never came back from war.

In the long run I hope my Dad would be happy with the work we turned in.

That seemed to be confirmed when nearly 20 of his long-lost letters from the front turned up in his best friend's trunk long-forgotten in an attic in Nutley. I finally met my father as a young man.

And somehow, leaving copies of the first editions of the two books at the WWII Memorial seemed an appropriate way to say thanks to my dad and those in our books and their families.

Copyright 2005 Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.