The Lonely Years of World War II

About the Book

A small child’s journey through the Lonely Years of World War II, doing without most of the joys of childhood, decided his only way out of the circumstances he found himself in was to join the United States Marines ten years later. Maturing faster than he had any right to, Stevie tried many daring escapes from the clutches of orphanages that tried to keep him incarcerated. Sent there by the courts, on December 7, 1941, it would be his “date of infamy”. As a seven-year-old, his use of reasoning was farther ahead then his age reflected. Sometimes he seemed lovable, others incorrigible.

Trained on the streets of the Lower East Side to live by his wits, he did not, could not fit in with children of his own age at the orphanages. The strict, regimented structure in place at the orphanage invited rebellion from young Stevie. Adult type punishment meted out to him for infractions of rules only hardened him and made him tougher to handle when he got older. He could not remember being a child; he was always a man doing daring things that defied logic. His life reflected the same thoughts and conditions that millions of forgotten and neglected children suffered during World War II. Children were not drugged into submission with medication such as Ritalin, as they are today. As harsh as life was for Stevie, there was hardly an attempt by counselors to destroy his spirit.

In one of the orphanages, The Mission of the Immaculate Virgin, the Saintly Father Drumgoole founded Mount Loretto on Staten Island, was a philosophy of purpose. They tried to educate and teach homeless and destitute children a trade to equip them for society. All children are orphans at the Mount, regardless of family status. Stevie’s mom fought hard and pleaded with a judge not to send him away. The severity of the offense, burning down a firehouse, and the size of her family, four sons and twin daughters, the judge turned a deaf ear, he did not think the fire was an accident, and decided it was best to get the menace off the streets of New York.

However, Stevie did not blame the judge for inadvertently giving him a life sentence. He did blame others for not visiting him for important events, such as his First Holy Communion, and Confirmation. He tried to forgive his family for not visiting him on Christmas Day. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming to attend a Minstrel show he starred in. The show was a huge local success and cited in New York papers and headlined in local papers, that catapulted him into star status at the Mount.

Even as he was walking the boulevards and streets of Staten Island, he did not think the Nation would return to normalcy. It was rare to see a car, and if he did see one off in the distance he could identify whether it was a Ford, Chevy, Lincoln Zephyr, Packard, La Salle, Buick or Studebaker. New cars went into limbo from 1941 to 1945. Gas rationing was limited to three gallons a week and the speed limit was thirty-five miles an hour. When he saw a car he waved vigorously, hoping people inside would stop and talk with him. He particularly wanted to talk about the war, how it was going. A radio program at the Mount tuned to Fibber McGee and Molly, the Green Hornet, The Shadow Knows, and other family-type shows, hardly any news about the war. Stevie was convinced with war’s end he would return home with his mom, sort of a Prodigal Son returning to ask forgiveness. Instead of squandering a fortune, he felt he was squandering his childhood. He had serious doubts about America winning the war, after all, it had been going on for three years, until the B-17’s arrived.

When the skies filled with fortresses flying in V formation, much like Canadian geese, over New York his heart thumped with excitement. They were his ticket to freedom. He watched with astonishment at the contrails they left behind and felt the power under his feet as they thundered over-

About the Author

Born in New York’s Lower Eastside on March 27, 1933, Charles Di Bartolo lived in a section known as “Little Italy”, and part of the outskirts of The Five Points division popularized by the movie, “Gangs of New York”, by director Martin Scorsese. After a number of turbulent years living in the “most dangerous section in the world” was raised by an orphanage at Mount Loretto on Staten Island. Moved to Rhode Island, owning several businesses, he graduated with two degrees, from Arts and Sciences as a history major at Rhode Island College, the oldest student on campus at 73.