Joseph D'Appolonio

ASN:35233151

CPL Joseph D’Appolonio

Joseph E. D’Appolonio registered for the draft on January 2, 1943. Born January 1,1925, he was from Youngston, Ohio. This eighteen-year-old was 5-5, 132 pounds with a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. Identifying marks were a scar on his left cheek and neck. Enlisted in the Army on July 2, 1943, PVT D’Appolonio received his training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Completing basic training he was shipped out to the European Theatre of Operations arriving in England in Early 1944 and initially assigned to the 456th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion.

PVT D’Appolonio was re-assigned and joined A-Battery, 319th Field Artillery Group, 82nd Airborne Division in Market Harborough, England, on March 23, 1944. (see report below) As a gun crewman, light artillery with A-Battery, PVT D’Appolonio fought in the following battles and campaigns: Holland, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe campaigns.

Company Morning Reports

Company Morning Reports were produced every morning by the individual Army units to record personnel matters. The following events were reported for PVT D’Appolonio:

  • March 23, 1944, assigned and joined A-Battery, 319th Glider Field Artillery from the 456th Parachute Infantry.

  • June 7, 1944, from duty to sick bay to the 217th General Hospital on May 30, 1944.  He returned to duty at 1800 hours on June 10, 1944. 

  • July 24, 1944, PVT D’Appolonio from duty to furlough 5 days, to Manchester, England, at 0600 hours.  

  • February 16, 1945, while in Stavelot, Belgium, PVT D’Appolonio was promoted to Private First Class. 

  • June 11, 1945, promoted from PFC to Corporal while stationed in “Camp Chicago” - Marchais, France.  

    (see below)

 

A-Battery barracks - Berlin, Germany, August 1945

The war was over. The US Army used the Adjusted Service Rating Score (ASR) at the end of the war to determine when soldiers were eligible for discharge. By August 1945, CPL D’Appolonio was now stationed in Berlin, Germany for occupational duty with other 319th soldiers having an ASR score of less than 85. They were housed in what had formerly been a Nazi SS barracks.

CPL D’Appolonio shown below (L-R) while stationed at the 82nd Airborne “Ramp Camp” in Epinal, France and Hurth, Germany.

Photos courtesy of Joseph Covais, author of BATTERY.

A-Battery gun crew - Joseph D’Appolonio kneeling (center) - Germany - 1945 - Photo courtesy of the Casimir Sobon family

A-Battery SGT Bob Rappi during a 2004 interview recalled D’Appolonio. “He was my gunner corporal, from Ohio. He was a ball player. I played ball all the time too. In France we had a ball team and we played ball, I remember that. He was in the infield. D’Appolonio was a good shortstop.”

By early December 1945, CPL D’Appolonio returned to the USA and separated from the service at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

CPL Joseph D’Appolonio was awarded 3 Bronze Battle Stars, Bronze Arrowhead, Good Conduct Medal, the Belgian Fourragere, Presidential Unit Citation Badge, Victory Ribbon and the European-African-Middle Eastern Theatre Ribbon. 

Joseph E. D’Appolonio, 95, died August 11, 2020.

God Bless this hero.