August 22 1943

Its August 22,1943 . My father has been drafted and sent to Ft Dix in New Jersey for basic training in June. He has been teaching Italian and Spanish at Teddy Roosevelt HS on Fordham Rd in the Bronx the past 3 years. He is taking out of basic and sent to officers training school sometime in June of '43 .. Because he is a college graduate { Manhattan} and speaks Italian and Spanish fluently he is assigned to a new group called AMG.. Allied Military Government.. After finishing off officers training school he is given orders that his group is going over seas's . He knows he is going to the European front and not the Pacific. He is being shipped out August 25th.
He has been dating my mother for a year and met her when she was a student and he was teaching. My mother lived on 187th street in the Bronx right across from the Bronx Zoo My father lived 3 blocks up on Cresent Ave and 187th. It was know as " little Italy" not to be mixed up with the other little italy on Mulberry St in Manhattan.
I guess many soldiers being sent out during world war 2 got married before they left. On Aug 22 my parents were married at Mt Carmel Church ..Due to rations there was very little meat for the receptions. But in my mothers building the bottom floor was a butcher. He sneaked them all the food for a wedding reception ..
Now I never knew this... but my fathers parents never went to the wedding or reception because they thought their son a college graduate and teacher could do better and marry a secretary whose parents came from Calabria .. One of my oldest daughter knew that story but I never knew that... My 2 nephews video tapes my parents in their living room for 2 hours about growing up in the Bronx ,how they met ,world war 2 stories after war my father joining the United nations being stationed in Cuba and Pisa, Italy.
But my mother told the story about my father's parents who never came to the wedding or gave a gift. My fathers sister did sneak out of their apartment and showed up.
And they knew their son was being shipped out a few days after the wedding..
Anyway my parents went to the court house right across the street from Yankee Stadium and got married and then 2 days later got the marriage blessed by the Catholic church in a ceremony.
They spent their honeymoon night at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan and 2 days later he was on a ship to North Africa .. It was August 22 ... My mother would not see my father until 1946 after the war. My father became part of an educational AMG group to get the facism out of all italian text books So he was stationed in Rome from June 5th 1944 to 1946.
When he got back to the states he taught a little but then joined the United Nations and worked there the next 30 years.
I was watching TV last night and asked my wife whats the date today. She said "Aug 21,tomorrow its your parents anniversary . I can't even imagine what these people went through back in the day. And my mothers sister also got married on Aug 22 nd My uncle Frank met my mothers sister Chet after the war.. And he was part of the " red ball express "driving a truck getting gas to Patton at the battle of the Bulge...
I know this is a boring ass story but Aug 22 will always be a big day in my life. My sister was born in 1946 so I guess my parents didn't wait to long.
My father retired from the UN and went back to teaching at Riverdale HS as a permanent sub . He lived across the street form the school He taught on a friday ,wasn't feeling good and that night had a stroke . He passed away a week later , He was 89 .. My mother passed away 5 years later at 89. She was 5 years younger.
La Dolce Vita " a sweet life " they had ..

@Box and one

 WOW great story and you summed it up in one page.  Never thought I would read a human interest story on covers.com.

My father was flying with the 8th Air Force in 1944.