By Joan F. Simoneau, Community Reporter
Photo/submitted
Marlborough – World War II veteran Rocco Addeo joined the U.S. Navy when he was just 17 years old.
“I joined to help my three brothers win World War II,” he said. ‘John volunteered into the field artillery and Anthony and Blaise were in the Air Force.”
He went to Samson, N.Y. for boot training where he learned to survive on land, sea, and in the air.
“After six weeks I was sent to San Francisco where I boarded a transport ship to the Philippine Islands. My job was to mount a 50 caliber machine gun,” he said.
He served four years in the Navy’s 7th Fleet in the 1940s and was on active duty in the Pacific after World War II.
In 2011 Addeo was named Marlborough’s Veteran of the Year and was honored by the city’s veterans’ organizations.
Then Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 638 Commander Wayne Stanley nominated Addeo, stating, “Rocco has always given his all for his fellow veterans, his country and his local community.”
Addeo is a life member of VFW Post 638 and a member of other veterans groups where he has held various positions as well as on the city’s Veterans Council.
Addeo grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. and moved to Marlborough in 1972 when the GTE division he worked for relocated to Waltham. He has been married to his wife, Ann, for 55 years. They have four children and nine grandchildren.
While stationed in the South Pacific during World War II, he wrote the following poem:
The South Pacific
Have you ever sat through a picture show, while the rain seeped into your trousers?
Have you ever labored in mildew clothes or stepped on a lizard with your naked toes?
Ever stand still, did you thought you’d croak, in a ration line for beer or Coke?
Only to hear the familiar shout, “Sorry, boys, we’ve just run out.”
To be a little more specific, have you ever been in the South Pacific?
Have you ever walked in chilling fright midst the lonesome sounds of the jungle night?
Or your skin turned a yellowish green, from your daily does of Atabrine?
As sweat dripped from your head to pad, while you penciled a letter to your mom or dad?
If you don’t think these things sound terrific, then you’ve never been to the South Pacific
Have you wished to strip down bare and roll around in snow somewhere?
Or be tempted to moan and sob at the fate of a lonely land-based gob?
Have you ever thrilled to the symphony of the gentle surf on an azure sea?
Or sifted the likes of coral sand for ocean jewels of this starred land and sat to watch moonlight trace soft patterns of good and silver lace?
Then you’ve never tasted the joys prolific of the fabled islands of the South Pacific.
Have you ever sloshed through tropic rains and thought of swamps on Texan plains?
Or stood upon some jungle ridge and visioned sights of the Brooklyn Bridge?
Have you ever sat in a leaky tent and thought of thoughts that came and went?
Or gazed upon one can of beer and wished for a barrel without a tear?
But though you find such dreams terrific you awake to find you’re still in the South Pacific
Oh for that future day be terrific when I return from the South Pacific.
