Name: Giugliano, John, PFC, USA
Local address: 16 Main Street, Matawan, NJ
John, born April 22, 1927 in Matawan, was the youngest of five children of Italian immigrant Pasquale “Patsy” Giugliano (1896-1966) and his wife, Antoinette Bilotti (1904-1980). Patsy initially farmed in the area, but by 1940 was employed by Architectural Tile in Keyport.
John was educated in the local school system. In 1938, he portrayed the part of Pilgrim John Bradford in the 6th grade Thanksgiving play at the Matawan Grade School and graduated from the High School in 1945.
Older brother Anthony (1920-1984) had enlisted in the army the month before Pearl Harbor. John and his three older sisters must have anxiously followed his exploits with Patton’s 3rd Army throughout the war through letters and newsreels. Registering for the draft the day before he turned 18, John was inducted into the Army in July, receiving basic training at Fort McClellan, AL. The war in Europe was over, but the war with Japan continued to August – John most likely got the word of VJ Day while in boot camp. (If the atomic bomb hadn’t ended the war, he most likely would have participated in the invasion of Japan with its anticipated one million US casualties.)
John was assigned to the 388th Military Police Battalion and was sent to aid in the occupation of Germany and was stationed in Bremerhaven, a port city in the north of the country. On the evening of April 8, 1946 while on motor patrol with another MP, they attempted to stop a German truck which was speeding. The truck swerved into John’s jeep and threw them from the vehicle. John was severely injured and despite immediate medical attention, died of a fractured skull and internal injuries. He would have been 19 on the 22nd of that month.
Initially buried in the American Cemetery in Saint-Avold, France, his parents had him returned home and he was re-interned at St. Joseph’s Cemetery, down the street from his childhood home.
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