During World War II in the 1940s and again during the Korean War in the early ’50s, Charles Siciliano, Sr. took photos of hundreds of local servicemembers in uniform inside his Italian restaurant in Mechanicville.
Throughout WWII, the genial tavern owner and photography buff known to everyone as Charlie took some 600 photos of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, all as they sat perched on a stool in the same corner of the bar, many with a glass or bottle of beer in hand. He took a few dozen more during the Korean War.
By the time Siciliano ended his homefront morale–boosting hobby, he had about 650 three-inch-by-three-inch black-and-white portraits. He arranged them in framed groups of 25 and hung them on the walls of his popular joint, where clams were once 25 cents a dozen and live dance bands entertained on Friday and Saturday nights.
Most of the hundreds of men—and all four women—in the collection were from Mechanicville, which during the ’40s and ’50s was home to a paper mill and busy railyard, along with dozens of taverns. But the collection also includes dozens of out-of-towners, with servicemen from Waterford, Stillwater, Ballston Spa, Saratoga Springs, Schaghticoke, Albany, Schenectady, and Troy making their way into what’s now known as the Charles Siciliano Sr. WWII and Korean War Veterans Photo Collection.
Some of those men were in the bloodiest battles in the fiercest campaigns of WWII: Normandy, Saipan, the Philippines, bombing missions over Germany. Two of the women were Army nurses who treated wounded GIs in Europe and the Pacific.
They returned home and became our butchers, bakers, bartenders, and barbers, as well as our teachers, doctors, lawyers, engineers, and construction workers.
Siciliano died in 1982, and his tavern is long gone, as are the veterans he photographed. But his original photos remain, and they’re getting some long-overdue attention.
While you can see them all online at meclib.sals.edu, the original photographs are being framed by Bill Swift of Saratoga frame shop Soave Faire under a preservation project launched by the Mechanicville District Public Library, which owns the collection as well as the negatives. Once they’re reframed, they will be mounted on a wall near the library’s checkout desk. Photographer Tom Stock has also taken photos of the original photos so that they can be used as a mobile exhibit in schools, veterans organizations, and civic groups to tell the stories of the local men and women who answered their nation’s call of duty all those years ago.
“The faces of the men and women of Mechanicville and nearby towns and cities who went to war is a touching reminder of the service and sacrifice of all our New York communities,” says Richard Goldenberg, director of military history for the New York State Division of Military & Naval Affairs. “As the Second World War and Korean War pass into written history with fewer and fewer living voices, these images give us context and perspective of the many young faces of service. They are personal individual portraits, to be cherished by families for generations, but also reflect the faces of all New Yorkers who wore our nation’s uniform, defeated fascism, and held off communism in far distant lands.”
The project is a major undertaking for a small library in a small town, but it’s well worth the effort. A leading curator at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, home to a photo collection of more than 100,000 images, has deemed the Siciliano photo collection “completely unique” as well as “beautiful” and “stunning.”
A fundraising campaign has been launched to cover the cost of the new frames and photo replication. To help support the campaign, I’ve been presenting free local talks about the collection, at which I focus in on the wartime service of more than a dozen veterans whose photos are in the collection. Here are some of their stories:
Alphonse Lambert, Sr. of Saratoga Springs served aboard one of the US Coast Guard rescue cutters credited with saving hundreds of Allied soldiers and sailors that were swept into the English Channel when their landing crafts and ships were sunk during the D-Day landings.
Carmine J. DeCrescente, Sr. forged his father’s signature so he could enlist in the Navy at 17. After discharge, he went to work at the beer distributorship his father started in Mechanicville and helped grow it into the DeCrescente Distributing Co. we know today.
Hawley F. Waldron of Mechanicville, who served in the US Marine Corps 4th Division in Saipan and Iwo Jima, witnessed the second flag raising on Mt. Suribachi before being wounded by gunfire two days later and evacuated. He was awarded the Purple Heart for his combat wounds.
Anthony N. Fortune served in the Army Air Force’s 2066th Ordinance Division before returning home to Mechanicville, where he ran a construction company.
Doris Lazott Noonan of Mechanicville served in the US Army Nurse Corps in North Africa, Italy, France, and the Philippines.
Eugene A. Siciliano, the son of Siciliano’s owner Charlie Siciliano, Sr. served in the Navy aboard the USS Furse during the Pacific Theater of WWII.
Henry A. Marcelle of Mechanicville was a private first class in the army who died from wounds after crossing the bridge at Remagen, Germany.
Joseph F. Mariano, Sr. of Troy survived the largest Japanese banzai attack, which killed or wounded more than 900 members of the 105th Infantry Regiment in Saipan on July 7, 1944.
Chris Sgambati, who served in the Navy during the Philippines Campaign from 1944–45, witnessed General MacArthur step ashore at Luzon in the Philippines, an arrival captured in one of WWII’s most famous photos. Sgambati went on to represent the City of Mechanicville for 30 years on the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors.
Lucille Ennello Marcelle of Mechanicville served in the US Army Nurse Corps in Hawaii, Saipan, Guam, and Iwo Jima.
William E. Grey of Mechanicville flew 35 missions over Germany in a B-17 Flying Fortress, crash landing on his 33rd. He flew another 15 missions in a photo reconnaissance plane.
David A. Catallo of Waterford served as a Navy Corpsman in the 6th Naval Beach Battalion on D-Day, and received France’s Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honour Medal for his service.
