Nutley Author Publishes Military Dad’s Letters From Overseas

NUTLEY, NJ — “Discovering my dad’s letters helped me know him a lot better,” local historian and author Anthony Buccino says.

That’s what Buccino, a Nutley resident and Belleville native, had to say after finding his military veteran father’s missives to friends and family overseas nearly 60 years after they were mailed, censored, read by his buddy and “forgotten in a footlocker in his best friend’s attic.”

Buccino later curated and transcribed his father’s letters, which he eventually published with Cherry Blossom Press as “WW2 Letters Home from the South Pacific.” (Learn more about the book here)

“Of his war experiences I knew very little,” Buccino said of his father. “He was at Guadalcanal, and he had malaria. The latter meant that he couldn’t donate at blood drives. So, through these letters I got to meet him as a young man. He was drafted before Pearl Harbor was bombed. And he left the service in 1945.”

Hopefully, the book will provide a way to remember the young private, his sense of duty, his sense of humor, and the years he spent on hot bug-infested islands defending all he left at home, Buccino said.

Buccino has been described by some community members as “an unsung history hero.” According to his online biography, Buccino has published 19 books, including five essay collections, three local military history books and seven full-length poetry collections. He's also written several articles for Patch.com, including 'Don the TV Man… In Old Belleville," which won a 2nd place prize in the 2011 Society of Professional Journalists – New Jersey Excellence in Journalism Awards contest. (Read more of Buccino's work on Patch here)

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Photos: Anthony Buccino