Casamento Park on Muncey Road

On October 12, 1987 the park on Muncey Road in West Islip was dedicated to Anthony Casamento. If you never took the time to read the plaque in the park that explains who he was and what he did, then you do not know that he was a World War II hero who called West Islip home.  You also do not know that it took 38 years for Casamento to be fully recognized for his war duties. 

His story began a lot like other men's stories from his generation.  His parents emigrated from Italy to New York before he was born on November 16, 1920.  One government source sites the city of Manhattan as his birthplace. However, the United States Marines Corp., the branch of service Casamento enlisted with on August 14, 1940 shows his birthplace as Brooklyn.

Basic training sent Casamento to Parris Island, South Carolina and then overseas with the 5th Marines, 1rst Marine Division. By August 1942 the Marine assault on Guadalcanal began and Corporal Casamento of Company D. 1rst Battalion, 5th Marines was one of the first units to arrive. 

Two weeks before he turned 22 (Nov. 1, 1942), Casamento was serving as a leader of a machine gun squad when the unit came under heavy attack. The members of the unit were either killed or severely wounded, including Casamento. However, he continued fighting to keep the enemy at bay, protecting the wounded members of his unit from additional harm and protecting the other Marine units on their way into that battle location. 

 Casamento became permanently disabled from that event, but that was only the beginning of how his life would change.  

Once he was treated in Asia for his injuries, Casamento was sent back to the United States to a naval hospital in Oakland, Calif. He did not receive any awards for his valiant effort because from all accounts of the battle, it was believed that every witness to Casamento's actions was killed in that action. He settled in West Islip where he and his wife would eventually raise four daughters.

In 1964 two eyewitnesses came forward to say they saw what Casamento did in the Guadalcanal battle, so he started to receive some awards for his service, including a Purple Heart and the Asiatic-Pacific Medal.

He was finally awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on Sept. 12, 1980 by President Jimmy Carter in a ceremony held at the White House Rose Garden.  However, it took more than twenty years of testimonies for him to revieve the medal.  Pictures of that ceremony and others of Casamento are on permanent display at the West Islip Library.

Casamento also received the World War II Victory Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the the Presidential Unit Citation and the American Defense Service Medal.  He died from cancer in July, 1987 at the age of 66, leaving behind his wife, four daughters and some other family members.  Less than three months later, the park was dedicated to him. In 1991, a plaque was placed inside the park on his behalf by the Italian American War Veterans.  It has the following inscription:

"CPL Anthony Casamento (1920-1987) A Corporal in the Marines. For Extraordinary Heroism-Guadalcanal U.S. Marines-November 1, 1942 WWII dedicated by Italian American War Veterans. Anthony Casamento, Long Island Memorial Post No. 46---1991."

(Special thanks to the West Islip Library, particularly Andrew Hamm, for his assistance with this week's history column.) 

The answer to last week's trivia question is: The original name of the Paul J. Bellew School was the Secatogue School.

This week's trivia question: What was the original name of Casamento Park? The answer in next week's column.