November 18, 2009 Lake Currents

Post date: Jun 13, 2013 4:54:25 PM

LOW’s Joseph Argenzio to Receive Congressional Veteran Commendation

By Dick Martin, LOW Vets Secretary

Joseph Argenzio, 821 Eastover Parkway, Lake of the Woods, has been selected to receive the 2009 Congressional Veteran Commendation (CVC), which honors distinguished veterans of Virginia’s Seventh Congressional District. Argenzio will be one of nine veterans to be honored Tuesday, November 24, at 10 AM at a Presentation Ceremony in the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond.

The award was announced by Eric Cantor, 7^th District Representative. Argenzio’s nomination was processed by the LOW Veterans Club through CVC Nominating Official Lee Frame, Chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors. CVC final recipients are selected by a board of military experts. The other eight honorees are from Culpeper, Madison, Hanover, Chesterfield, Henrico and Richmond.

Honorees also have the opportunity to participate in the Veterans History Project, sponsored by the Library of Congress. The Veterans

History Project (VHP) was created in 2000 by the United States Congress to honor our nation’s war veterans, by collecting interviews and documents chronicling the veterans’ experiences and memories. LOW AARP Chapter 5239 participated in the Veterans History Project in recent years and submitted some 70 interviews, mostly from World War 2 LOW and area veterans, to the Library of Congress.

Joe Argenzio was included in the Lake of the Woods veteran interviews, which have been given repeated broadcasts over Comcast LOWA Communications Channel 18.

Argenzio was the youngest soldier, at 16, to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. (He had changed his birth certificate to make his age 18 instead of 16 so he could be accepted by Army recruiters.) He was one of several D-Day survivors interviewed by screenwriters when the movie “Saving Private Ryan” was being prepared and several Argenzio memories were included in the movie.

Argenzio served in the “Big Red One” from the landing in Normandy through the Battle of the Bulge to eventual victory of Germany. He was wounded by artillery fire in the Hoertgen Forest. His group liberated the Falcanau death camp on the last day of the war.

The popular Argenzio has been a well-known figure over the years in top positions with the Lake of the Woods Fire & Rescue Department.