Veteran recalls WWII battles

War, Frank J. Pistone, Sr. said, should never be glorified.
“In Hollywood movies, they glamorize the war,” Pistone said, “using terms like ‘Band of Brothers.’ That’s pure hogwash. At all the great battles you never knew anyone for more than a week. You didn’t even want to get close to anybody. The losing (of life) was sad.”
Pistone, an Army veteran of World War II who served in Italy, the Anzio beachhead, southern France, Germany, and Austria, was keynote speaker Thursday at Independence’s annual Veterans’ Day tribute inside the Truman Memorial Building, 416 Maple Ave. Pistone recounted many of the gory memories he said have stuck with him for more than 64 years, including 123 days in a foxhole during the Battle of Anzio in 1944.
Anzio, a coastal city in Italy about 33 miles south of Rome, was the site of an Allied forces landing, an operation intended to outflank German forces of the Winter Line and open the way for an attack on Rome. Pistone was a member of the 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. The regiment fought Nazi forces on three fronts – North Africa, Italy and Northwest Europe. It conducted four amphibious landingss, including landing at Anzio on Jan. 22, 1944, before conducting a breakout in May of 1944 and driving toward Rome.
“For some unknown reason, I was never wounded and I never got sick,” Pistone said. “I survived until May 23, 1944, for a total of 123 days until the day we finally broke out of that hellhole. I’ve asked myself many times how did I survive?”
Helen Matson, volunteer coordinator for the city, said she was moved by Pistone’s story and speech. Matson helped coordinate the Veteran’s Day Tribute and kept in constant touch with Pistone, who moved to Independence with his wife in 1994 to be near their children and grandchildren.
“He’s had a very hard time,” said Matson, tear-eyed as Pistone finished his 20-minute speech. “But, he’s a very good man.”
City Council Member Jim Page, a Vietnam War veteran, said he empathized with Pistone, but said the 12-member unit he served with in 1968 as part of the U.S. Army Airborne Special Forces – better known as the Green Berets – was indeed a “band of brothers.”
“Once you’ve been shot at, it’s a lifelong bond,” Page said.
Pistone too, Page added, is his brother-in-arms.
“We have combat infantry badges,” Page said of all military members who engage in combat. “Even though 24 years separates his service and my service, once you have a CIB, it’s a brotherhood.”