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Belleville, N.J. -- In
mid-2006, seven street names in the new residential development at City
Homes At Essex Park were
renamed to honor veterans and four of the Belleville heroes who died
while in service.
Streets were named
for Raymond De Luca, Carmine Olivo, Clatie Cunningham Jr. and William
Hamilton.
Army Spec. 4
Raymond P. De Luca, of Meacham Street, died June 27, 1968, as a result
of wounds in a firefight in Vietnam. De Luca attended Essex Catholic
High School, Newark, where he graduated as an honor student in 1966. He
was trained as a medic at Ft. Sam Houston in Texas, he was attached to
Company C, Ninth Medical Battalion, 9th Infantry.
Sgt. Carmen Olivo,
29, of Magnolia Street, was killed when his ship was sunk in the
English Channel during the invasion of Normandy, France. He is listed as
killed in action on June 9, 1944.
Three Belleville
sons, Sgt. Edward Henris, Staff Sgt. Arthur Burke and Sgt. Olivo were
likely to have perished on the same ship as all three served in
3422nd Ordnance Automotive
Maintenance Company. The families were notified in July, November and
December 1944, respectively.
Staff Sergeant
Clatie Ray Cunningham Jr., was killed in action on a mission over the
Mekong River in French Indo-China, or Vietnam, on July 23, 1945.
Cunningham Jr., 23,
was survived by his wife Alice Sylvia, of Stephens Street, Belleville,
and twin sons Clatie III and John W, born June 5, 1945, in Glen Ridge,
N.J., whom he never saw.
Sgt. William
Hamilton was killed in action in Germany on April 2, 1945. He served
with the 7th Army. Hamilton grew up in Newark
but lived on Arthur Street for years before he entered the service in
1942.
Former
Belleville Mayor Gerald DiGori, former Councilman Louis Pallante and
former Township Manager Mauro G. Tucci worked with Centex, the developer
of the site on Franklin Avenue near the former Essex County Isolation
Hospital.
The
street name changes, which also include Memorial Drive, Hero Way and
Freedom Lane, were ordered earlier this year, and upon coordination with
the U.S. Postal Service, went into effect recently.
The
stories of the153 soldiers from Belleville who died while in service
were collected in a paperback "Belleville Sons Honor Roll - Remembering
the Men Who Paid for Our Freedom" was compiled by Anthony Buccino and
his daughter Andrea. Former Belleville Fire Chief George Sbarra also
contributed to the research.
Sources
Raymond De Luca
Carmine Olivo
Clatie
Cunningham Jr.
William
Hamilton
Belleville Sons Honor Roll Blog
Township of
Belleville
Centex -
Essex Park
Map of New Street Names
Street sign photos
by Anthony Buccino taken as construction was ongoing. The development is
a gated community.
A campaign led by Belleville
Councilman Kevin Kennedy began when on September 19, 2015, Belleville
honored
Pfc. Donald Saunders with a sign on the street where the soldier had
lived.
Read more
Links subject to change
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Belleville
Street Sign Memorials
In June 2016,
Belleville Township Council this month passed a resolution to
dedicate certain streets in town to servicemen who hailed from the
municipality.
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