PFC Joseph L Pellegrini

courtesy of Skip Farrow

PFC Joseph L. Pellegrini was born 13 Feb 1923 in Senglea, Malta. He was the 3rd of the 4 children born to Joseph Frank and Carmella M. (Deberro) Pellegrini. Both parents and his 3 older brothers were also natives of Malta. His younger sister Lena was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1932. His father worked as a carpenter. In 1940 the family paid $16 a month rent at 225 29th Street in New York but his father only reported a 1939 income of $700.

After Joseph was drafted and completed his basic military training he was sent to England and assigned to 1st Platoon B Company 116th Infantry. He would have trained with the unit for the planned amphibious landing that was to be part of the invasion of occupied France. Joseph was a part of that assault on the Normandy beach code-named Omaha and was wounded on 6 Jun 1944. PFC Pellegrini was evacuated to hospital in England where he died of his wound(s) on 29 Jun 1944.

PFC Pellegrini rests forever in the Cambridge American Cemetery in Coton, England.