From Blake Avenue in Racine to Belgium, Germany, Czechoslovakia and The Nuremberg Trials.

While researching my dad's (Fred) WWII service I found these two documents.  

Initially, Fred was deployed to the European Theater as a member of the First Infantry Division, 26th Regiment, Battery B 953 Field Artillery Battalion.  He was a forward observer, responsible for sighting in and directing his battery's fire against enemy targets.

When the war in Europe ended in May of 1945, Fred was assigned to the force of American soldiers tasked with guarding the Nazi leaders who were being prosecuted as war criminals at the War Crimes Trials in Nuremberg, Germany.

Pictured are his I.D. card and area pass for the prison compound at Nuremberg that housed the accused Nazi prisoners of war.  As a sergeant, Fred was responsible for a detail of American soldiers who were in constant supervision of those interned at the prison for trial.

Like many WWII veterans, Fred didn't speak much about his experiences as a 19 year old fighting the Nazis in Europe.  Liker his older brothers Santo, Vince, Louis and Mike, Fred honorably and ably represented the Bencriscutto family and served our country with valor during World War II.

I would love to have attached a picture of the German field binoculars Fred was given by one of the Nazi officers he was responsible for while at the prison at Nuremberg.  That's not possible because I left those binoculars on a CTA bus while on the way home from Wrigley Field at age 14.  Needless to say, my dad wasn't too pleased about my close up look at the game.

"Bencriscutto" means...

 

 

Mary Pulda was kind enough to send some marvelous pics to Adeline recently. I've never seen this one and have no idea who the cute girl is on my father, Loui's arm...or should I say girls...lol

If anyone knows, please post a reply!

Also, you can't be a "Bencriscutto" and not know that the name means "Well Raised" well...according to this Journal Times article by Tex Rynolds about Dr. Frank Bencriscutto conducting a concert  at Park High School, Bencriscutto was originally spelled, "Bencrisciuto" confirming the meaning Well Reared.

Find the article below...and...Thanks Mary for the Great Pics & Article!!

Louis Bencriscutto at the Racine Veterans Museum

 

 

 ...after Santo's (left) story was published, Rita contacted me suggesting I add something about Louis (right), so I prepared this document and will send it soon to the library along with a dagger artifact.

Louis Bencriscutto

1919 – 1985

 

 

Louis served in the Navy onboard the U.S.S. Warren, a troop ship, in the Pacific from 1943-1945. His brother, Santo, was in the Army in Europe, and his brothers Fred & Vince also served during WWII.

 

A radar technician, Louis manned his station using the new technology to help keep his troop ship safe from enemy air attack. Near the end of the war, just before the atomic bomb was dropped, the U.S.S. Warren was under kamikaze assault but survived. In one miraculous incident, a bomb was dropped right on top of the radar station with Louis present, but the bomb exploded up instead of down and Louis was spared.

During a less dramatic incident, Louis, an avid swimmer and cliff diver in Racine, often as a boy frequenting Quarry Lake Park, dove off his ship into a school of barracuda and had to be saved. That breach of protocol cost Louis six days in the brig living on only bread and water.

In another amusing but revealing anecdote, Louis, newly married to Adeline Catapano, in setting up their first apartment Adeline wanted them to buy an expensive stereo console, but Louis, having learned that the radar cathode ray tube was being adapted into television, told her that soon they would have a much more modern form of entertainment in their home!

  

The Japanese dagger artifact was brought back from the Pacific Theater by Louis after the war.

Santo in the Racine Veteran's Museum

 

 

https://journaltimes.com/news/local/a-place-for-veterans-to-be-remembered-on-racines-main-street/article_e4c6695e-0c48-5f87-bf09-e8cd6d8eb256.amp.html

Santo was featured in this Racine Journal Times article about his WWII service in Europe and the guitar he had with him there. The Smalley Memorial Library is looking for artifacts and veteran's stories.

 

 

In the Smalley Memorial Library, there’s an old, wooden, elegant, maroon guitar missing its strings. It had belonged to Santo Bencriscutto, was born and died in Racine, in 1913 and 2007, respectively. Bencriscutto had the guitar with him during the Battle of the Bulge — one of the decisive victories for the Allies near the end of World War Two; Bencriscutto had taken part in five major campaigns during his time in the service.

He’d been drafted into the war effort, decades after his father too had been drafted during World War One, May’s research uncovered for the Bencriscutto family.

 

 

 

Junior Golf Tournament 1957 Washington Park

                                 I played in this tournament in 1957. This is a picture of the start of the 
                                 tournament with Uncle Mike and I'm in the stripped shirt. Great times.

Esther & Dante's Life Celebration Gathering

Saturday, May 20, 2017, the family gathered to celebrate the long, cherished, and remarkable lives of our dear departed loved ones, Esther and Dante Renzoni. Though the weather was cold and dismal, the spirits inside the Reef Point Restaurant banquet room were warm and inviting. Family members from all generation braved the bad weather to renew old acquaintances and most of all share stories about Esther and Dante.

My first stop was to give my cousin Rita some pictures my mother Adeline gave me for her. Among them, some precious pics of us as children. For some months our two families lived one on top of the other in a two-flat home on Hamilton Street, just a few blocks from Kelly's Corner. Rita amazed me with the details she remembered going back all those years, in particular about a blind neighbor girl Rita was desperate to Helen-Keller communicate with. Rita and I were best buds growing up!

Next, I sat down with Billy Bencriscutto and Mary Pulda. Also at our table was the long-time caregiver for Esther and Dante at their assisted living facility. She share intimate details about their last days and hours with us. When Fred Bencriscutto join our table the discussion shifted to our fathers' faithful WWII service, Santo, who took part in the Battle of the Bulge, Fred, who was a guard during the Nuremberg Trials after the war, and Louis, who was a radar technician in the Navy in the Pacific.

A number of family "treasures" were on display. The above painting was an airloom that was once featured in Grandma and Grandpa Bencriscutto's home, and was later kept by Esther.
 
This LaFamiglia blog, of course, was the result of Uncle Fred's passion to see the family thrive and connect--his legacy before he passed. In his memory, then, I submit this blog post and hope that other family members will add to it with pics and other stories.

LaFamiglia!