Rocco T. Pugliese

Rocco T. Pugliese was born on November 22, 1921 in Vandergrift, PA. He was about 6 feet tall with brown hair and ran his own business: a barber shop. He served as a Staff Sergeant from 1942-1945 in World War II for the 11th Airborne on the Mortor Crew. The 11th Airborne’s general mission was to seize and secure within its zone all exits from the mountains into Leyte Valley and to secure the western exits from the mountains into the west coastal corridor to assist the attack of the 7th Division toward Ormoc. After receiving little training, a group of former glider troops and some veteran Airborne troops were set in an aircraft  where the new airborne soldiers performance exceeded expectations which led them to move overseas less than a year later. They completed tasks at Leyte Beach Philippines, New Guinea in the South Pacific, Nasugbu Beach, Luzon ( some 70 miles from the capital city of Manila). They remained in Yokohama until mid-September 1945, when they moved to northern Japan and assumed responsibility for Akita, Yamagata, Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures.The division later took over control of Amori, Hokkaido, Fukushima and Prefectures to control of almost half the island of Honshu and all the island of Hokkaido.  The 11th Airborne Division remained on occupation duty until 1949 when they were relieved and sent to Camp Campbell Kentucky. Mr. Pugliese had a wife of 60 years, Elma M. (Turra) Pugliese and had several brothers and sisters He died at the age of 86 died Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007, in Concordia at Ridgewood Place, Pittsburgh.