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STAFF
SERGEANT ROCCO PILIGNO was born in New Jersey in 1921 to John and Mary
Piligno. Rocco Piligno was the youngest of five children, coming after
Carmela, Joseph, Josephine, and Rose. The Pilignos were living in
Camden, New Jersey by He lived in Camden NJ. As a youth he lived at 1299
Decatur
Street, where his father had a grocery in he spring of 1930. After
attending Hatch Junior High School on Park
Boulevard, Rocco Pilgno graduated
from Woodrow Wilson High School on Federal Street in Camden in February
of 1940. The family
later moved to 1610 Pershing
Street.
Rocco Piligno was drafted
in July 30, 1943. After qualifying for flight duty, he trained as a
member of a B-24 bomber crew. Serving in the Pacific Theater, he
had met his nephew, Staff Sergeant Charles Marlowe, shortly before he was killed in action at the age of 22 while serving with the U.S. Army
Air Force on April 30, 1945. Flying
in a B-24 bomber piloted by First
Lieutenant Benjamin Whiteker, serial #44-41869 and assigned to the 394th
Bomb Squadron, 5th Bomb Group, 13th Air Force, Rocco Pilgno his
crew were killed
in Action on April 30, 1945 while on a combat mission over Davao,
Mindanao, Philippine Islands, when his aircraft collided with another
B-24, serial #44-41541, and crashed into the sea. The pilot of the other
aircraft was First
Lieutenant. Benjamin B. Smith. On
the 30 April 30, 1945, the 394th Bomb Squadron took off from
Guiuan Air Strip, Samar Island, Philippine Islands, for a combat bombing
mission on Davao, Mindanao Island, Philippine Islands. The flight
to, and over the target, was successful. After they had completed
dropping there bombs, they proceeded toward Morotai Island, in the
Molucca Islands, where they planned to land They
were approximately thirty miles from Morotai Island, near Race Island,
flying in their usual formation, when two of the airplanes in the
formation collided. B-24M Serial No. 44-41869 and B-24L Serial No.
44-41541. The collision damaged both planes severely, causing them
to crash into the ocean immediately. There were no survivors on
either aircraft, and only one of the bodies was recovered, that of F/O
Arthur B. Sobol, T-128 478, after a through search had been made by
surface craft and low flying search aircraft. Rocco
Piligno's older brother Joseph owned
his own barber shop in Camden, then became a welder during WWII and by 1947 a police officer in Camden. After retiring he became
Captain of the Guard of the Garden State Race Track. He was the
cofounder and past president of the Camden FOP Lodge# 1 and the New
Jersey State Lodge. He remained active in the FOP until his death,
attending meetings throughout the state advocating support of the
brotherhood. He was the husband of the late Helen J. Piligno (nee
Chudzinski). Two of his brothers-in-law, John
Chudzinski and Leon
Chudzinski, were members of the Camden Fire Department. |
