. . During WW II, Joe Zablotny sailed on the destroyer, USS Newcomb (DD-586)–said to be the most attacked ship in the Pacific. Once they were hit by five Kamikaze planes–four striking the 376 foot destroyer at the same time. “We took one hell of a beating,” Joe says of the
. . Angelo Vento entered the US Navy on March 1943. He was a motor machinist mate aboard LCT 956 which took part in five different landings and the occupation of Japan. After spending over 22 months overseas, he left the Navy in 1946.
. . Long before the elite Navy SEALs (which stands for Sea, Land, and Air) came into being in 1962, amphibious special operations were conducted by a small, ad hoc group of warriors. During WW II, Guy D. Tressler of Connellsville, PA served as one of them. At 91, he still
. . Eugene Torisky of Stow, Ohio served in the navy as a radioman during the 1950s, sailing on two different destroyers, the USS Turner (DDR-834) and the USS Fessenden (DER-142). Gene grew up in Pittsburgh, attended Catholic seminary school, but then decided against a life in service to the church.
. . Nick Steri entered the US Navy in February 1944 as a yeoman aboard LSM 32 and was a gunner on a 20mm cannon on the starboard side of the ship. On Sunday, April 1, 1945, he was behind his gun during the invasion of Okinawa where he engaged and
. . Adam Shumovich of Pittsburgh, PA was drafted into the US Navy during WW II and sailed aboard the submarine tender, USS Sperry (As-12). A submarine rigging accident and a bout with a rare form of malaria eventually sent him to Pearl Harbor and then home before the war ended.
