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PRIVATE FIRST CLASS
SANFORD C. SHAPIRO was born in New York on August 5, 1911 to Morris
and Babette Shapiro. Morris Shapiro had come to America in 1890. The
Shapiro family moved to Camden NJ when Sanford was a young boy. In the
1920s and 1930s Morris Shapiro
owned and operated a cigar store, and owned the property where the family lived, at
1023 Broadway in Camden NJ. The family later moved to 1118 Elm
Avenue in West Collingswood NJ. After graduating from Camden High School
in 1928, he took a pre-med course at the University of Pennsylvania for
two years before transferring to temple University, from which he
received a B.S. degree in education in 1933. He taught journalism and
adult education as part of a Works Progress Administration program in
Camden for two years, and worked as a substitute teacher in Camden for
three years before obtaining employment as a social investigator for the
Camden County Welfare Board, Division of Old Age Assistance on February
1, 1940. Unmarried, he made his home with his mother at the Elm Avenue
address. Sanford
Shapiro was inducted into the United States Army in November of 1942 and
was assigned to the
84th Chemical Battalion, Motorized. After training at Fort Rucker AL he
shipped out of Boston with his unit on April 29, 1943, and arrived in
North Africa on May 11, 1943. His unit took part in the invasion of
Italy on September 9, 1943. It was here where Private Shapiro
died of wounds received in action near Naples on October 22, 1943.
Sanford Shapiro was the first Camden County employee lost in the war,
and the flag atop the County courthouse was lowered to half-mast when
news of his death was received. After
the war, the body of Sanford C. Shapiro was returned to the United
States. He was buried at the Beverly National Cemetery
in Beverly NJ, on November 18, 1948.
He was preceded in death by his father, Morris Shapiro, and survived by
his mother, Mrs. Babette Shapiro, and a sister, Mrs. Beatrice Wollman,
of 4427 Terrace Avenue in Pennsauken NJ.. |
