Sebastiano Charlie Scalzadonna

Submitted by: COL (R) Robert DeSousa {grandson}

Sebastiano Charlie Scalzadonna was born around 1895, Sebastiano Scalzadonna served in World War 1 with the the United States Army . The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1918.

Story of Service

 

When PFC Scalzadonna was released from service he missed the troop train coming back to his hometown in NJ. His parents were waiting at the station. Because there was no way to communicate then, when his mother saw that he was not on the train she convinced herself that he had died and worked herself into such a frenzy that she had a heart attack and died herself. It was a sad home arrival when Sebastiano got home on the next train and found that his mother had passed.

Sebastiano rmarried Adelina Ucoli. They had three chidden: Iluminada who died young, Anna, and Joseph. He was a very hard worker and a good provider, though he had a bad temper. He opened a grocery store in Westfield NJ. He would leave the house very early in the morning to go to the market to by fruits and vegetables, also would go to the slaughter house to buy a side of beef and come back to the store he had on Central Ave in Westfield, he would carry it in and hang it on a big hook he had in the back room and then butcher it into all cuts of meat to sell in the store.

He was a very generous man, he would always help the people in need, giving them groceries or meat for their families. Before he died in 1949 they sold the store, and he bought a pick up truck and purchased a rooming house in Keansburg ,it was a mess. He spent the winter fixing it so the family could live in the rear of the building. He made a nice apartment for them, and started to renovate all the rooms so he could rent them in the summer.

The property also had a bungalow and a 3 car garage that he converted to a rental unit. He was very handy and talented, he could do everything related to building.

In the basement of where the family lived he set up a woodwork shop, he had a lathe, ban saw, a table saw and all kinds of hand tools. The plan was to live in Keansburg in the summer and Westfield in the winter. He and Adelina rented the bungalow and the garage by the month, and the rooms in the big building by the day. Adelina handled the rentals. He bought a 16 foot row boat and a small out board motor and he would take his kids fishing a lot,

Then in the winter of 1948 he started having heart attacks. Adelina him a hospital bed in their apartment in Westfield and he had a oxygen tent the he had to live under. That's how they treated heart attacks then, he had to stay in bed. For the family it was like living on pins and needles. They bought 7 inch Philco TV, he would love to watch wrestling, he would get so excited that Adelina would make him turn it off.

Unfortunately he died that winter (1949) an never got to enjoy what he thought he would after he sold the store.

He was active in service organizations and the BPOE.