Three very brave young men from Millburn NJ lost their lives in service during World War One. They were Joseph Martin Bosalavage, Guy R. Bosworth, and Frank J. Nazzaro. Joseph M. Bosalavage’s story can be found on this site and this is a brief story of the sacrifice of Millburn-born Frank J. Nazarro.
Frank J. Nazzaro was born in Millburn on January 6, 1896 to Savino (“Samuel”) Nazzaro and Lucia (“Lucy”) Amonda Murante Nazzaro. In Millburn city directories the family is found at 27 Main Street and Samuel’s business is recorded as “gardener.” Frank’s sisters were Victoria, Marie(?), Teresa, Celia, and Angelina, according to sundry online sources, and his brothers were Mike and Samuel.
At the time Frank was inducted into the Army, on May 4, 1918, he gave his address as 162 West 98th St, New York City and they gave his age as 24 1/4 years…which does not quite reconcile with the year of birth his burial record has. Whether 22 or 24 years old, however, Private Frank J. Nazzaro died overseas after only three months of service, from June 14, 1918 to September 26, 1918 (the date of his death from pneumonia) in the 115th Infantry, 29th Division. This death was only six weeks before the end of the war…and ten years before penicillin was first discovered, although penicillin would not be widely available to the public until the early 1940’s. Perhaps the infamous 1918 influenza pandemic felled young Frank, if it segued into pneumonia. The online Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) site reports: “The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 1918-1919. In the United States, it was first identified in military personnel in spring 1918. It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide…”
Private Nazzaro is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France, which covers 130.5 acres, and where rest the largest number of our military dead in Europe, a total of 14,246. The last column on the paper titled U.S. World War 1 Mothers’ Pilgrimage states only “Unknown” for whether Frank’s mother wanted to go to France to see her son’s grave. An article in the National Archives’ Prologue magazine explains the pilgrimage:
“During the 1920s, the Gold Star Mothers’ Association lobbied for a federally sponsored pilgrimage to Europe for mothers with sons buried overseas. Although many of the women who belonged to the organization had visited their sons’ graves, they realized that women often could not afford the trip to Europe. In their testimony, these women placed great emphasis on the bond between a mother and son. The bond between wife and husband seemed almost secondary in the congressional debates. The bond between fathers and sons was barely considered–the association maintained that the maternal bond surpassed that of the paternal bond.
In 1929 Congress enacted legislation that authorized the secretary of war to arrange for pilgrimages to the European cemeteries “by mothers and widows of members of military and naval forces of the United States who died in the service at any time between April 5, 1917, and July 1, 1921, and whose remains are now interred in such cemeteries.” Congress later extended eligibility for pilgrimages to mothers and widows of men who died and were buried at sea or who died at sea or overseas and whose places of burial were unknown. The Office of the Quartermaster General determined that 17,389 women were eligible. By October 31, 1933, when the project ended, 6,693 women had made the pilgrimage.”
Whether Lucia/Lucy Nazzaro ever decided to make the pilgirmage to France is unknown but Millburn city directories record “Sabino” and Lucy Nazzaro at 27 Main until the 1938 directory, which then lists Lucy as a widow at that address. The 1944 city directory includes the somber note that Lucy Nazzaro died January 13, 1944.
Thank you, Nazzaro family, for your sacrifice.