WWII Veterans Tombstone returned to family – Giovanni Franco
CINDY STANSBURY, Staff Writer | Posted: Sunday, June 5, 2016 9:30 pm
How a WWI veteran’s tombstone ended up in Somers Point from Pa.
CINDY STANSBURY, Staff Writer | Posted: Sunday, June 5, 2016 9:30 pm
World War I Veteran headstone
SOMERS POINT — For the first time in more years than many members of American Legion Post 352 can remember, the headstone of World War I veteran Giovanni Franco no longer rests in their building’s backyard.
Resting on their tiki bar or planted in the garden by their shed, the headstone that had seemingly walked away from the grave to which it was assigned had become a fixture at the building on First Avenue.
But on Wednesday, 45 years after his death, a memory of Franco was returned to his family.
Surrounded by Legion riders draped in their denim vests hoisting American flags far above her head, Franco’s daughter, Angelina LoBiondo, 94, of Havertown, Pennsylvania, thanked the men as she was reunited with a piece of her father, wiping tears from her eyes.
Veteran Bill Lamb still remembers the sounds of the Korean War
Bill Lamb remembers the sounds of the Korean War.
“Merci, merci, merci,” she repeated, pursing her lips to blow kisses into the air.
Though the stone has found its way home, it remains unknown how the memorial — which is so hefty that it took two Legion riders to carry it — traveled from a cemetery in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, nearly 65 miles to Somers Point.
Accompanied on Wednesday by her daughter Gina LoBiondo, 55, also of Havertown, the pair were contacted after founding Legion member Paul Giunta reached out to Facebook to find the owners of the headstone.
“Seeing them receive the stone is just so rewarding,” Giunta said, explaining that his Facebook plea was answered quickly by Cherry Hill Legion member Sue Quinn-Morris. Quinn-Morris, an amateur genealogist, located Gina and Angelina LoBiondo.
“I started it, but she finished it,” Giunta said.
When Franco died in 1971, according to his death notice in the Philadelphia Inquirer, he was buried in Yeadon. But nearly three years later, his remains were moved into a crypt with his wife’s in Cherry Hill’s Calvary Cemetery, Quinn-Morris discovered.
She believes that at some point during that transfer, the original headstone embarked on its adventure, though she has not nailed down how, calling it simply “strange.”
“Nowadays when people are moved, they don’t give the family the headstone, but 30 years ago maybe it was a whole different ball of wax,” she said.
Quinn-Morris did uncover that the stone’s affinity for travel was similar to that of its original owner, who after immigrating from Calabria, Italy, as a teen, fought in the bloodiest battle of World War I.
North Wildwood’s Jaworski witnessed war’s end from streets of Paris
Mable Jaworski, 92, of North Wildwood, was 20 and working for the phone company in 1944 when the U.S. Army advertised for teletype operators.
Serving with Company G, 54th Infantry, from 1918 to 1919, Franco participated in the Meuse-Argonne campaign, one of the series of attacks known as the 100 day offensive. The battle involving 1.2 million soldiers took 26,277 lives and wounded 95,786 others.
But Franco survived, returning to the United States, where he lived most of his life in Philadelphia, marrying his wife, Carmela, and having four children, Quinn-Morris said. Angelina LoBiondo is the only surviving child.
“Just to have a piece of their family history back is neat,” she said. “It is nice to have it back with the family.”
Giunta said a number of years ago, the headstone was donated to the Legion by a man who happened upon it at a construction site. They eventually crafted a small memorial in their garden until he decided it was time for Franco to return home.
“This is totally unbelievable,” Gina LoBiondo said, smiling as she reminisced about going to visit Franco and her grandmother in Maple Shade, Burlington County. She said they often played cards in the basement.
Gina said Franco died just before her 11th birthday.
Drafted and afraid, vet recalls service in Vietnam
Robert MacBride was fearful about going to Vietnam when he was drafted in North Wildwood in 1970.
Holding Angelina’s hand in his, Legion President Dave Eastlack presented her with an engraved “challenge coin” on Franco’s behalf. She grasped it tightly as they escorted her and Gina to the car with the stone.
“We do a lot of funeral escorts,” said Eastlack. “This was a little better because we were bringing peace to a family. … It was a nice experience.”
Contact: 609-272-7093