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Show K;Vj' .'! w j- - Jrn ( - y--- : . He Did What He Had to Do by fond supply parcel weekly through the Red Cross. We Mere fortunate if we gut one a mouth. It supposedly contained a Margaret VanNoy Profile Writer The time Max lKi7: the place, the Fast Itoom of the White House in Washington, I) C. The lresiJnl of the I'mted Mates stood lirfore the microphone holding a small plastic plate, lie told a listening audience that this small objett, Morth only 10 cents had saved the government nearly $12,000. liiat 1resident Mas I.yndon II. Joint-son- ; Sul i it uting the plastic vent for a metal one Mas the idea of John riclln, from Tooele Army IXqxit. ()n that day in 1967, John Pizzello. mIio retired from TAI) on (XI. I of this year. Mas in Washington to reteivc a (Certificate of Merit from the hands of the 1resident, the only employee of the depot ever to le so honored. On hand to share the esteem Mere his Mife Ann, son Ralph, daughter Lu Ann, and his nmthrr from New Jersey. (Another son, John Mas serving in Vietnam.) John Mas also commended by President Gerald Ford for another idea Mhiih saved taxpayers $50, (MX). If these were the only highlights of John Pizzello life, his story Mould lie worth telling, hut there is much more. Nothing New Commendations and aMards Mere nothing new to the retired civil service worker. As a member of a special team, he accompanied a shipment of military supplies to Vietthe largest nam. The project, YZJ, consolidated shipment of repair parts John Pizzello idea of substituting a plastic sent for a metal one in packing ever assembled fur one single shipment. personally presented by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The team, six of Mhoin Mere from and struggled into his parachute. Just as abruptly. As the plane leveled out, he TAD, Mas highly commended by Generhe finished snapping it on, a huge burst al Westmoreland. popped" out the plane door and inof flak hit the of the plane. stantly became concerned with his Memliers of YZJ were in Vietnam for It smelled like the Fourth of July, he immediate future. The ground was comthree months unloading, placing and said. the items, up fast, and he pulled the ripcord at ing along strategically storing He ran toMard the damage and found once. Mith taking over the receipt, issue and Suddenly, the roar of the plane, the shipments of all materials, permitting the Maist gunners lying dead. He poundCameron Bay Army Depot to close ed oil the hatch of the liall turret; there smell of gas and ammunition faded. was no ausMer. He lifted the hatch and Peace descended, and all John Pizzello doMn and reorganise. heard was the whistling of the wind It was the first of two missions to found that gunner dead also. After manVietnam for John. The second was in 68, ning the Maist gunner's .50 calilier mathrough his chute. chine gun, as long as he could, he tried He knew he was over the Austrian this time as a memlier of a quick reacto contact the six crew members up Allis. It was the dead of winter tion team Mhich worked to move the larfront. There Mas no answer. The phones 1943 - and he was wearing only gest Army depot in the world from Saiwere dead. a heat suit a suit much like a quilted ski gon to Long Biuh alioiit 25 miles aMay. Fire greeted him as he oened a door suit which could be plugged into the It was during the T.E.T. Offensive, and the move took place amid some close leading to a cat walk over the Ixmib bay plane's electrical system and heated. On which led to the front section of the his feet were heat boots made of the shooting and street conflicts in the area. same material. His regular boots had and plane. He horridly closed it again. Shooting Bombing At no time did the red light flash on licen left in the plane. John Pizzello already knew first hand a signal activated by the pilot, notifywhat it is like to lie in the midst of shootSuddenly he heard dogs barking and the crew to soldiers below. He quickly threw As tail and conflicts. a saw' ing jump. bombing, ing, Dead Target away his .45 calilier pistol knowing he giuiner for the U.S. Air Force in World could lie shot if he were caught with a By now, the descending plane, a W'ar II, his first assignment was in the dead target for German fighters, had n weapon. North African Campaign Mhere his outa series of spirals from which it Prisoner of War fit moved from base to base along the would level out and then spiral again. North African coast. When Italy surLanding in the snow, he slid down an I felt guilty, John said, but I deincline and was soon surrounded by the rendered, the Air Force set up the first cided that I was going to get out even if enemy. John Pizzello had become a pribase at Fecci. soner of war. John Pizzello had already been nobody else did. As he was being herded roughly Just as he posed himself in the doorwounded once, taking some flak in both down the mountain, he met the pilot and legs on a mission over Germany. While way to jump, the plane went into anhe lay in the hospital recovering, the rest other spiral. The centrifugal force of the the other five memliers of the crew - also of the crew of the Good Time Charlie spin pinned him in the door. It was at prisoners. They had activated the signal gained nine missions on him. He wanted that moment that John Pizzello relived to jump at 21,000 feet. Apparently the to catch up with them so they could all his whole life. signal malfunctioned, and John who Suddenly he was home in New Jersey, thought he was abandoning them, had go home together when they had comback with his parents, three sisters and bailed out only 1100 feet above the pleted their 50th mission. Thus it was that he volunteered to fly two brothers. Then he was back at his ground. Together they heard the plane another mission while his own crew was desk at school. He lived everything as it as it crashed, barely missing a nearly farm hoase. temporarily grounded. For John Pizzello, had been in those few seconds. Part of Johns past included his The crew was marched over Austria it was a fateful decision. for two weeks, housed in various places On the way to the target, the training at the Salt Lake Army Air Base until they arrived in Hamburg, Gerwas hit by anti aircraft. It was hit again in 1943. He was at a skating rink in Salt over the target, and again on its way out. Lake, minding my own business, when many. It was not until he arrived at a pretty girl lost her balance and fell. I We got slower and slower - stragglers Hamburg that he was issued a POW Kit, and he was finally supplied with a pair meat for the German fighter planes, he picked her up. Her name was Ann and she was from a place called of shoes. His feet were swollen and blue, said. Tooele. but he had received no medical treatNothing Happened Story-BooRomance ment. He didnt know it at the time, but In the tail gunners turret, hydraulic The story-boo- k was the bewere frostbitten. After some time, itself allows to the turret meeting they equipment his feet seemed to return to normal, and move sideways and the guns to move up ginning of a romance kept alive by letters and down, all controlled by a button on during the war yean, culminating in a he thought they were now well. He was later to find that he was wrong. the trigger handle. As John hit the but- marriage which has lasted 35 years. But this part of his life was far in the From Hamburg he was sent to his ton, nothing happened: the mechanism had failed. He crawled out of the turret future. The review of his past ended first POW camp at Memeo in what was mid-sectio- n !c-gu- 4 -- k team, Pizzello accompanied the largest consolidated shipment of repair parts ever assembled. It was shipped to Vietnam. As a member of a special ten-ma- n John Pizzello, tail gunner, atop North Africa, October, 1943. 4 ),Jus Talkin week's supply of coffee, cream, sugar, dextrose in the form of a Hershey liar, canned meat such as Span or tuna, and dried fruit such as raisins. The Germans often kept them, claiming that the trains had lieen Umilied. John did praise the Gentians for let' ting the prisoners work at athletics. They played liaseliall, footliall, and had Ixixing equipment, ring and all, furnished by the YMCA as well as record players and records. The men played cards, using the cigarettes from the Red Cross parcels as money. With Mhat John called American ingenuity some of the prisoners even nude wine from their raisins adding sugar to make it ferment. Thanks to some of the guards, who smuggled in parts, the prisoners also had a radio put together by some British Ixiys. There were only two or three who could listen, but they would go from barracks to barracks and give the news pit ked up from the BBC. Shut Some of the guards were not so friendly, and he saw four prisoners shot liecause they went to the rest room too early in the morning. Guards unlocked the doors before they were supposed to. He was in three camps. "Whenever the Russians got within 25 miles, the Germans packed us up and went, he Tlie sun rose pink and celestial glory. Alas. . . Good grief! On April 30, 1945, they awoke to find that the Germans had gone. Immediately the senior American ofthen lithiunia. POW life was scary at ficer, a Col. Zemke, fighter times, and at other times it was funny, took command. Although the ace, he said, but it was nothing like Hogan's American Army was only aliout 50 miles Heroes. He was in three different away, they had to wait for the Russians camps. Mho were 150 miles away at that time, The men were well organized with a to made between the satisfy barracks chief and room leaders. There two allies. agreement were nine in a room which held three There were many who left the triple bunk beds, one table and four camp immediately and tried to make it chairs. to the Americans. They never made it, Escape Committee John said. "The war was still going on. They also had an escape committee John and the rest of the prisoners sat with good contacts through some guards and waited a week. Then Mar- tight who were sympathetic as well as outside shall Zhllkov came riding ini in an Ameri contacts. If a prisoner s plan was good can made snow whj,e with and was accepted by the committee, he a red star. . . was helped with food rations, and John Pizzellos trials as a prisoner of clothes, but they could only go so far. war were ended, and he came home to After that he was on his own. In spite of marry his waiting sweetheart. this, John said he knows of only one plan Successful Manager which succeeded. He started at TOD as a carpenter. We used to dig many tunnels, usualWhen he retired last month, it was as ly for something to do to keep in shape Chief of Box and Crate Branch... Prior to or to see who could outwit who. One that he had been production controller camp had a creek running through it. for Supply Division. Stuffing our pant legs in our boots, we Of his years as a manager at the dewould fill the legs with dirt and then he said, I owe my success in manpot empty the dirt into the creek. to all the people who worked agement We only dug one tunnel for escape. with me not for me but with me. I We had a tunnel dug outside the gate of feel to be a successful manager or really the compound. Then for two nights it you must have the workers rained cats and dogs, and the tunnel supervisor, on your side or youll soon be a failure. caved in just before our morning He also spoke with pride of his three count. (The men were counted each children, John J., Ralph, and LuAnn, all morning and in the late afternoon.) of whom are married and live in the Salt The commandant had everything Lake area. The couple now have three searched even to ripping up the floor grandchildren. boards of the barracks. We could alJohn J. served in the First Marine ways very easily mess up the count by Division in Vietnam. My dad served in leaving one or two guys inside the barWorld War I; I fought in World War II, racks, John said. They always counted and my son in Vietnam. I feel that my us in rows of five. Where there were has made a contribution for a family only four, we would move someone into good cause, he said. that spot, and they would either end up Frostbite Again short or over. Finally they herded everyAfter he came home from the war, one in one end of the compound and had he took up his first love again - baseball us walk two by two past the guards and played for Tooele City, the smelter, That way they got an accurate count. and Dago Red. After three or four According to John, the food was years, he began having difficulty runmostly dehydrated and barely passable. ning. A doctors check confirmed that he Sometimes the prisoners would get had impaired circulation, the result of brown bread salvaged from the North the frostbite suffered as a prisoner. African Campaign which was as old as Three or four operations did nothing two years.! dont know how they did to help the situation, and in 71 when he it, he said. could stand the pain no longer, doctors Prisoners were supposed to get a amputated his leg above the knee. He did what he had to do, he said of the doctor, but the same applies to John Pizzello: He did what he had to do. Without the 100 per cent backing of my family, especially my wife who is dedicated and strong, I could never have come back. She got me well right away, and I was back to work two weeks after the amputation. John managed well with a prothesis for over eight years, and then one day he fell and hurt the stump of his leg. He has had trouble ever since, and it was this, more than anything, that caused his decision to retire. John takes a common sense approach to life. If you apply this to almost everything, nine times out of 10, things will turn out right. He believes in staying active as long as he can be active. Along with wife, Ann, who works as a mechanics helper at TAD, he is optimistic about the future. you. Alas. . . My morning Danish is ready for the dunk. . . Its windy outside Good Time Charlie, Casablanca, States? lush-shade- to- d and bush. gypsy They swirl like skirts and beckon me with tangos red-gol- d wild. Alas. . . The wind might muss my new hair-do- . . . Those breezes waft the tantalizing strains of homebound herds and woodsmen's cries. The rasp of steel saws sounds hints of winter hearthsides yet to jp We could learn a great deal from John Pizzello. Fellow Tooeleans probably know him as a man who has done much to promote regulation baseball in the community, working on the ball field in the north west section of town. But how many know the story behind the only Tooele Army Depot employee to be honored by two Presidents of the United my door autumn leaves are liome aloft from tree day. The well-know- n - Its only 5 a.m.l. . . Hie w arm Indian summer sun surprises a frisky squirrel in the midst of his nutting. His friendly chatter seems to say, "Dime share my hidden treasures. I'll spread a table just for said. crates earned him a Certificate of Merit golden-htie- d and sent tendrils of lacey lieams curling round the shades. My dull brain is nudged by the suspicion that early morning risers are treated to a vision of come. I A million autumn tones blend in one harmonious cry: Come hear my symphony. Alas. . . The breakfast dishes wait for me. . . The fields give up their rich d harvest scents of pumpkin and cornstalks tossed frost-touche- aside to die. The smoke from burning leaves drifts in the air. Quick! before all are con- sumed! What fun to roll and lic in their depths! Alas. . . ' Who wants post-nas- al fro- drip? A bird sings on my windowsill. Come fly with me, my chick. Theres a whole world waiting beyond yon hill. Alas. . . It s time for Right.. . . The Price is Why, theres my childhood chum, old Curly Joe, walking down the path. My first chance in 40 years to chat with him about those Good old Days. Id love to hear his tale unfold. Alas. . . I cant be seen. Ive got a pimple on my nose. Come live with thee and be thy love? A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou? Sorry Pet. . . The comer mart features pot roast today, and Ive really got to go... The young flyer received the Purple Heart, Air Medal (ETO), and Good Conduct Medal. |