TOMS RIVER – He may be 95, but his drive is strong, his memories are vivid and his quips are sharp and humorous. Thomas Connizzo recently reflected on his time serving in the U.S. Marines during World War II.
Connizzo, a resident of Ortley Beach was joined by family members, friends and American Legion Post Commander William P. Kevish recently where he shared his service record on video for inclusion in a special tribute program by the Bristol Myers pharmaceutical company.
Kevish said that the post is proud to have Connizzo as a member and was pleased that Bristol Myers had chosen him among the many U.S. Marine veterans to be showcased in the firm’s salute to veterans of America series.
Speaking about his time in training, he said, “I went to Paris Island which is where I started. We had the California Marines. They were the elite. We had a lot of hardships. We lived in a tent for most of the time until we were ready to go into combat. We had a lot of rain and you never stayed dry in the tent. Your clothes were wet and uncomfortable.”
“I wasn’t in too many battles. The one battle I was in was enough. Peleliu which was the smallest island and we had a lot of Marines there but we couldn’t do anything because there were too many coral rocks and you needed two pair of shoes because the coral rocks were so sharp that they could cut your shoes apart. It was mostly uncomfortable at the time.”
The Battle of Peleliu, code named Operation Stalemate II by the United States Military was fought between the U.S. and Japan during the Mariana and Palau Campaign from September to November 1944 on the island of Peleliu. American forces lost 2,336 men with 8,450 wounded while Japanese forces lost 10,695 men with 202 captured – 19 were Japanese soldiers and 183 were foreign laborers. Seventeen tanks were also lost by the Japanese.
U.S. Marines of the 1st Marine Division, and the U.S. Army’s 81st Infantry Division fought to seize an airstrip on the small coral island.
“Like everything else, we had to get over that hurdle. I didn’t serve anywhere else. That was enough. We lost more men there then we did in the whole Pacific because it was such a small island. I only passed by Iwo Jima. I wasn’t there much at all because that wasn’t our area of fighting,” Connizzo added.
Connizzo spoke with emotion about losing his best friend early on during his time in service. “He was a good buddy of mine who had a wife and two boys. He was one of only a few men who died straight away and it was a great hardship because I had lost one of my best friends. We had been in boot camp together and Paris Island and we did a lot before we got into the combat area.”
“I would put my life in his hands at any time,” he added. He did not wish to speak further on the details of his friend’s death. “He stuck to me and I stuck to him like glue. At one time they called us “Ham and Cheese because that is what went together.”
Connizo joined the U.S. Marines at the age of 17. He said, “there was a draft on and a draft is when the government is hard up for men so they push them on into the service. I told my father if I die, I want to die home. My father said in Italian ‘the water’ so I said I’ll join the Marine Corps. I said if I die, I want to die with some of my friends. My father thought the Marines was part of the Navy. I said no pop the Marines and I got him to understand more.”
On November 10, 2020 the U.S. Marines marked their 245th anniversary.
Connizzo has a book featuring many early photos of himself with his wife and children and they include photos of his time in the service and scenes around the Pacific theater.
“I was a rifleman. Your rifle was your best friend. You went to bed with it. You couldn’t leave it out of your sight. We had sergeants and non-commissioned officers who used to make sure that you were sleeping with your rifle because if you had to go into combat suddenly, you had to have your rifle with you,” the Marine veteran said.
When asked what the word veteran means to him, Connizzo responded, “A veteran is someone who has served in any branch of service, who fought for this country and to this day is still serving America.”
He was also asked his recollection of being part of a team that had a positive impact on someone or something. He responded saying that what he remembered most “was the men I served with. Most of them had come from the draft. They had taken a lot of men.”
Connizzo, who earned the rank of corporal, did not remain in the military after the war but he wanted to. “I wanted to stay but my father needed me. We had six kids and my mother had adopted another child. Her sister had died and she adopted her sister’s child and so we became seven.”
He said, “my father did not believe in welfare. He said I can’t take nothing for nothing. I have to work. My father did all kinds of odd jobs to earn a living and he was a brick layer and he worked for everybody to put food on the table.”
Connizzo transitioned out of the military to help support his family and later went to work in a shoe factory “and became what was known as the heeler. I put heels on shoes. I used to put a kind of cement on the shoe to attach it. If you inhaled it by mistake, you got high,” he said with a laugh. “I also worked in the sanitation department.”
“He also worked for the Post Office for many years. He worked at Gracy Station in Manhattan and was a supervisor,” his daughter Toni Cieplensky said.
“I lived in Harlem when I was a kid. Later we moved to the Bronx which was a subway ride away from Manhattan,” Connizzo added.
“When he moved us all to New Jersey we all thought we were in a foreign country,” Cieplensky said.
Connizzo is proud of his Italian heritage. “My father came from Italy and could not speak or read English very well. He had no one to teach him. He would write letters to his family in Italy and he told us one day we would go to Italy. Well, I got to Italy and I loved it. This is the best country in the world but Italy is a place you must see.”
His daughter said during the flight to Italy “they learned he was a World War II veteran and the pilot came out and they let him sit in the cockpit and gave him wings.”
“My son (Al Connizzo) and daughter are always there to help me. They are my right arm and legs,” Connizzo said. “They do everything for me. The American Legion here made me an honorary member. I am also a member of the Marine Corps League which is an organization that is part of the Marine Corps.”
“In his entire life we never heard anything about his time in the service,” his daughter said while observing the interview. She said that only through friends had he started to open up about his past service in World War II.
He will be featured in a video project as part of the profiles in courage according to Operations and Engagement Manager Mary Kate Rogers of Bristol Myers Veterans Community Network Work Place Pillar. Connizzo’s friend Lou Terranova, alerted the company about Connizzo in reference to their project.
Connizzo will also be profiled in a segment by his friend Bob Steigelman, a fellow Marine who served in the Vietnam War on the Facebook page of the Friends of Ortley Beach group as part of a Veterans Day tribute. Those who join the page can view the segment.
