John Mastrocola
Petty Officer 3rd Class
U.S. Navy 1943-1946
Pacific Theater
Petty Officer 3rd Class
U.S. Navy 1943-1946
Pacific Theater
John Mastrocola was born in Little Italy in New York City on October 8th, 1925 just in time for the Great Depression. His father left his family when he was very young. I asked what it was like growing up during the Depression and John said, “it wasn’t easy, but we always had food.” John moved from Manhattan to Ozone Park because he was becoming a street-smart kid that was a little too wise. “You had to be that way, otherwise they’d kill you.” Moving to Ozone Park didn’t quite help John “straighten out”. “My mother called Uncle Rocky the barber in Torrington, CT” and told him John needed to be straightened out. “I moved to Connecticut and worked with Uncle Rocky and he and his size 12 straightened me out.” John learned how to be a barber from Uncle Rocky and that would be his profession once he returned from serving in WW2. John is proud of his Italian heritage and his New York roots. “Day tell me I have an accent, but I dunno where day get dat from!”
“I dropped out of high school to enlist. I was only 17 so my mother had to sign the papers for me. That’s the way it was in those days. I told my mother I was going to enlist in the Navy because I was terrible with directions. I couldn’t back out of the driveway without getting lost. I knew the Navy would get me home.” John headed off for boot camp in Rhode Island but still had a problem with authority and that resulted in him getting the worst assignments possible. “I was still a wise-ass New Yorker. So, they gave me all the crap to do. I peeled spuds until they were coming out of my feet. But that changed my attitude.” John then headed to the Hospital Corps School in Norfolk, VA where he learned to be a Corpsman. He was eventually assigned to the USS Callan, which was a troop transport ship. He was aboard that ship for 20 months.
John has very strong personal beliefs and is very proud of his patriotism. He also gets very emotional and he teared up when pressed for details of his time in the service. It was very difficult to get specific details from him. He did say that he took men from all branches of the service, nurses and munitions to Saipan, Tinian and Guam. “That’s enough details. Nobody wants to know this stuff. What do you think, I’m Admiral Halsey?” I asked if he took men to Iwo Jima. “No, I never made it to Iwo, but my friend fought there.”
I asked if he ever worried during his time at sea. “No! You were 17-18 years old. You didn’t worry about nuthin”!” I asked him if he was ever worried that we wouldn’t win the war. Leaning forward in his chair, with his eyes bulging and his veins showing he said, “Never entered my mind. In those days we had balls like a bull elephant! We didn’t surrender!” I asked John for his most vivid memory of his time in the service. “I did my DUTY!” Duty, honor, discipline and survival were words that John used frequently during our discussion. In particular, discipline. “If you don’t have discipline, you don’t have nuthin’”.
John is very proud of his Italian heritage. “Boy could my grandmuther cook, and my muther and my wife! I was a skinny Guinea when I went into the Navy at 118 lbs and the same when I came out. Still 118 lbs.” “I remember living in Ozone Park and going down to the corner at Boyd Ave around 88th St. to wait from my Grandfather, Pasquale, to come back. My grandmutha would send him to the store for fresh mozzarella and ricotta. But every place he passed along the way they would say, “Pasquale, come in for a drink. So, he would come home with no money, no mozzarella, no ricotta and smashed.”
After the service John returned to Torrington CT. “Back then when we came home we wore our uniforms everywhere and we were honored. You couldn’t buy your own drink.” John, having learned to be a barber from Uncle Rocky, opened his own barber shop. It only had one chair. “I took appointments only. You know why? Because the doctors, the lawyers, the businessmen, they don’t wanna wait. To them, time is money. I had appointments so they don’t waste any time. They appreciated that.” John is very proud to have cut 4 to 5 generations of hair. “I like to talk. You’re a barber, you gotta be a bullshit artist or you gotta find another job.”
These days John likes to be known as John “Never Surrender” Mastrocola. Every morning at 8 AM he sits in front of his apartment in a lawn chair wearing his WW2 Veteran hat and waving an American flag. He is darn proud of the US flag. Everyone knows him and they beep as they go by. He salutes and sometimes they salute back, but they always beep. “You know, I used to sit in front of the police station, but I gave my car to a veteran. I wasn’t driving that good and I didn’t want to hurt anyone.” John has been written about by the local newpapers and local magazines and been interviewed numerous times by the local TV stations. Most recently, the people of Torrington organized a car parade in John’s honor. All of the vehicles met in a parking lot not far from his apartment and then drove by where he was sitting.
John told me several times during our discussion, that he was dying of cancer. “When I’m gone no one is going to remember the sacrifices of the men and women of World War II.” Let’s hope that never happens.
“I dropped out of high school to enlist. I was only 17 so my mother had to sign the papers for me. That’s the way it was in those days. I told my mother I was going to enlist in the Navy because I was terrible with directions. I couldn’t back out of the driveway without getting lost. I knew the Navy would get me home.” John headed off for boot camp in Rhode Island but still had a problem with authority and that resulted in him getting the worst assignments possible. “I was still a wise-ass New Yorker. So, they gave me all the crap to do. I peeled spuds until they were coming out of my feet. But that changed my attitude.” John then headed to the Hospital Corps School in Norfolk, VA where he learned to be a Corpsman. He was eventually assigned to the USS Callan, which was a troop transport ship. He was aboard that ship for 20 months.
John has very strong personal beliefs and is very proud of his patriotism. He also gets very emotional and he teared up when pressed for details of his time in the service. It was very difficult to get specific details from him. He did say that he took men from all branches of the service, nurses and munitions to Saipan, Tinian and Guam. “That’s enough details. Nobody wants to know this stuff. What do you think, I’m Admiral Halsey?” I asked if he took men to Iwo Jima. “No, I never made it to Iwo, but my friend fought there.”
I asked if he ever worried during his time at sea. “No! You were 17-18 years old. You didn’t worry about nuthin”!” I asked him if he was ever worried that we wouldn’t win the war. Leaning forward in his chair, with his eyes bulging and his veins showing he said, “Never entered my mind. In those days we had balls like a bull elephant! We didn’t surrender!” I asked John for his most vivid memory of his time in the service. “I did my DUTY!” Duty, honor, discipline and survival were words that John used frequently during our discussion. In particular, discipline. “If you don’t have discipline, you don’t have nuthin’”.
John is very proud of his Italian heritage. “Boy could my grandmuther cook, and my muther and my wife! I was a skinny Guinea when I went into the Navy at 118 lbs and the same when I came out. Still 118 lbs.” “I remember living in Ozone Park and going down to the corner at Boyd Ave around 88th St. to wait from my Grandfather, Pasquale, to come back. My grandmutha would send him to the store for fresh mozzarella and ricotta. But every place he passed along the way they would say, “Pasquale, come in for a drink. So, he would come home with no money, no mozzarella, no ricotta and smashed.”
After the service John returned to Torrington CT. “Back then when we came home we wore our uniforms everywhere and we were honored. You couldn’t buy your own drink.” John, having learned to be a barber from Uncle Rocky, opened his own barber shop. It only had one chair. “I took appointments only. You know why? Because the doctors, the lawyers, the businessmen, they don’t wanna wait. To them, time is money. I had appointments so they don’t waste any time. They appreciated that.” John is very proud to have cut 4 to 5 generations of hair. “I like to talk. You’re a barber, you gotta be a bullshit artist or you gotta find another job.”
These days John likes to be known as John “Never Surrender” Mastrocola. Every morning at 8 AM he sits in front of his apartment in a lawn chair wearing his WW2 Veteran hat and waving an American flag. He is darn proud of the US flag. Everyone knows him and they beep as they go by. He salutes and sometimes they salute back, but they always beep. “You know, I used to sit in front of the police station, but I gave my car to a veteran. I wasn’t driving that good and I didn’t want to hurt anyone.” John has been written about by the local newpapers and local magazines and been interviewed numerous times by the local TV stations. Most recently, the people of Torrington organized a car parade in John’s honor. All of the vehicles met in a parking lot not far from his apartment and then drove by where he was sitting.
John told me several times during our discussion, that he was dying of cancer. “When I’m gone no one is going to remember the sacrifices of the men and women of World War II.” Let’s hope that never happens.