An Interview with a Veteran...
John Azzolini
By Matthew Yeh
For my article I decided to interview my neighbor John Azzolini,
who is a World War II veteran. I asked him a number of questions
about his life in the war, what I found out was very interesting! I got
some info from an essay he wrote. I found out that he was drafted
into the army in 1942 when he was 20. He was assigned to a
destroyer, the U.S.S Beatty. The rest I found out from asking him
questions. Here were the questions I asked him:
Me: What job did you have on the Beatty?
Mr. Azzolini: I was a carpenter in an old steel ship. I fixed holes in
the ship made by torpedoes. Sometimes I clamped mattresses in
the holes to fix them!
Me: What was it like in the war?
Mr. Azzolini: It was good when there wasnʼt fighting on the ship,
but it was scary. Most of the people werenʼt trained properly so
yeah, it was scary.
Me: How many people were on the ship?
Mr. Azzolini: 300 plus. Everyone had a duty. no one was a
passenger. I loaded guns, but I didnʼt shoot.
Me: What did you eat?
Mr. Azzolini: We didnʼt eat very well. The chefs attempted steaks and hamburgers they werenʼt
good.
Me: Who sank your ship?
Mr. Azzolini: It was the German air force. JU-88 fighter-bomber.
Me: How did you survive?
Mr. Azzolini: By jumping overboard. I stayed in the water for 6 hours.
He was rescued by the S.S Lob.
He also gave me a lot of other facts about the the sinking of his ship.
- When his squadron of 7 ships was attacking Sicily (Sih-suh-ly), a German occupied island, He
was assigned with the job of laying the smokescreen to allow the invading troops to get in the
island without notice. He loaded guns with a solution that fires smoke instead of shells.
- The U.S.S Beatty was the only ship sunk in the squadron.
- Most of his rescuers were alcoholics.
- After the sinking he stayed in New York then moved to Boston and became headman of the
carpenter shop at a dockyard. He carried barges with war material up to Canada, but that only
lasted eight months.
In conclusion, John was a man that served his country bravely. If you ever see him, greet him and
tell him that youʼve read about his life on the U.S.S Beatty! Also,thanks to John for putting up with
all my questions!
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