Stockton speaker on WWII Vet grandfather
Wednesday, November 20, 2019 • The Hammonton Gazette • Page 3
by Joseph F. Berenato
G azette S taff W riter
HaMMONtON—Gina
Maguire gave a presentation on
November 13 at Stockton Univer-
sity’s Kramer Hall, 30 front St.,
as part of the “Second Wednes-
days” program presented by
Stockton Center on Successful
aging (SCOSa).
Maguire’s presentation, “it was
fate,” focused on Maguire’s
grandfather, Nick Venturella, a
World War ii veteran who helped
liberate a concentration camp dur-
ing his time in the military. During
his last years, Venturella shared
his past with Maguire—an ad-
junct Professor of Gerontology at
Stockton University—who com-
piled his stories, photos and letters
into a memoir
During Venturella’s last years,
he shared his past with Maguire,
and entrusted her with his photos,
souvenirs and letters. Maguire
compiled these materials into a
memoir entitled It Was Fate: A
War, A Massacre, A Romance.
it was during a period when
Venturella was living with
Maguire that the seeds for the
memoir were planted.
“i spent a lot of time talking to
him about our family, just learning
about life in general. then i got
him starting to talk about World
War ii, which was not easy, and
not something he had ever done
before,” Maguire said.
Venturella joined the army, and
was shipped with his unit into the
european theater, landing in
france in September of 1944, just
three months after the invasion of
Normandy.
“He said that when they landed
on the beach, they were wonder-
ing what kind of funny sand did
they have in france; it’s red and
thick. then he realized that wasn’t
sand; that was blood,” Maguire
said.
While Venturella described
most of his time during World War
ii as not being especially harrow-
ing, there was one event that stuck
with him: his time in Gardelegen,
Germany, site of the Gardelegen
massacre of april 13, 1945.
“the Nazis emptied the Mittel-
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bau-Dora Concentration Camp,
and marched the prisoners ...
when they realized the americans
were right behind them, they
started shooting people. then they
realized that wasn’t effective, so
they marched a little over 1,000
prisoners into a barn on a private
estate. they doused the entire
barn with gasoline—it’s horrid,
absolutely horrid—they block-
aded the doors with rifles so that
if you pushed it they would shoot,
and they lit it up, and then the S.S.
officers took off,” Maguire said.
Venturella’s unit was nearby,
and saw the dead prisoners along
the road. they found one who was
still alive and were able to save
him.
“His group is considered a con-
centration camp liberator, because
they liberated and had someone
live,” Maguire said.
Venturella and his unit removed
all of the bodies from the barn and
laid them out, and then went and
got everyone from the surround-
ing area to come and see all of the
victims so that they knew exactly
what transpired in the farmhouse.
then, with their help, the unit
buried each victim in separate
graves.
“that was the hardest part of
the war for him,” Maguire said.
according to Maguire, Ven-
turella never gave a thought as to
the heroism of his actions.
THG/Joseph F. Berenato. To purchase photos
in The Gazette, call (609) 704-1940.
Gina Maguire gave a presentation at
Stockton University’s Kramer Hall on
her grandfather and his time in World
War II.
“there was a war. People were
being harmed. You go to help
them. it is what it is. He had no
clue that he was a hero,” Maguire
said.
SCOSa’s next presentation at
Stockton University’s Kramer
Hall will be “it Was fate,” pre-
sented by Gina Maguire, on No-
vember 13 at 1 p.m. to register,
call (609) 626-3837.
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