Charles Arnao

Joseph Centonze has only fleeting memories of Army 2nd Lt. Charles Arnao. He knows that his Uncle Charles kissed and hugged him as a baby before he went off to serve in World War II, and that he came from a big and loving Italian family.

But one memory the 86-year-old can recall is a 1945 visit from the Army to the South Philly home of Charles’ mother, darkening Anna Arnao’s door with the solemn news that her son was gone.

“They presented my grandmother with something, I’m not sure what,” remembers Centonze, a Cherry Hill resident. “And she started crying. I had never seen my grandmother cry.”

That something was the incomplete story of what happened to Charles. Eighty years later, it  now has a beginning, a middle and an end. 

Charles was captured by the Japanese after they invaded the Philippines in 1942. He and about 299 other prisoners of war ended up on a freighter called the Enoura Maru that was supposed to transport them to a prison in Japan. 

It was a floating hell, one of a fleet of Japanese vessels whose conditions were as bad as any POW camp, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Americans on board were denied adequate food and water and bathroom facilities. Deadly disease was common.

But the worst condition of the so-called “hell ships” was one inflicted by the good guys. The U.S. military sunk 17 of them during the war, including the one carrying Charles, without realizing Americans were on board, according to the DPAA. 

The Enoura Maru went down while docked in Formosa, now Taiwan, on Jan. 9, 1945. No one survived, and Charles’ remains were buried with others in a mass grave on a nearby beach. The only record of his death was a memorial at the Manila American Cemetery. 

But the military never stops searching for its missing. U.S. personnel exhumed the grave after the war, but could not verify the remains. Decades later – between 2022 and 2023 – the DPAA took what was left of the men who died on the Enoura Maru to a laboratory for forensic analysis. 

In March, more than 100 years after his birth, Charles was identified by his jawbone and part of his teeth. But Centonze and his 10 cousins – Charles’ only living relatives – were initially suspicious when the Army called.

“At first we thought it was a joke,” Centonze recalled. “But it was an officer from Fort Knox.”

The family submitted DNA to confirm the remains, and the Army welcomed Charles at Philadelphia International Airport on Oct. 24 in a flag-draped casket. The short ceremony had all the spit and polish of any other dignified transfer.

The Army agreed Charles could be laid to rest at Calvary Cemetery in Cherry Hill rather than a military burial ground. Before that was an Oct. 30 service at nearby St. Thomas More Catholic Church.

“It was beautiful,” Centonze said. “It was raining like mad. But there were so many people there that had stories handed down of my Uncle Charles, who told me, ‘Your uncle was an amazing guy.’

“I’m just kind of sorry that his mother and brother and sisters weren’t here.”

But the family now has a grave to visit, along with the sepia-tinted picture of a young Charles that sat for years in his mother’s china closet. 

“I’ve seen that photo for as long as I can remember,” Centonze noted.

And while he acknowledges that Uncle Charles died at the hands of the Allies in World War II, Centonze has nothing but praise for the military who brought at least part of him home after eight decades. 

“We were so amazed, and the Army was so good,” he said. “I’d give them a Bronze Star. It was all extremely humbling.”

Sources: Legacy.com, Schetter Funeral Home, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Hellships Memorial.org

A death in the military family

The Gross-Hollinshed VFW Post 1270 is dying at the age of 101. 

Long a haven for veterans from America’s 20th-century wars, the Pennsauken post – like its counterparts across the country – is struggling in the 21st as VFW attendance wanes, the Greatest Generation is nearly gone, Korea and Vietnam vets are getting older and veterans from the country’s recent conflicts aren’t joining in the same numbers.

Post 1270’s building on Penn Street is now up for sale, just after members sold its dart board, a safe and a pool table, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. It’s on the market for $750,000.

VFW had a record 2.1 million members in 1992; by 2021, that number was just over 1 million, according to military.com. The military is unafraid to say that it needs younger blood, but post-9/11 vets are often turned off by misconceptions about their local posts. 

“These younger guys think it’s a lot of cigarette smoking and drinking,” Chuck Blankin, a 70-year-old Vietnam vet and post chaplain in South Carolina, told military.com in 2022.

But the local VFW or Legion post is more than that. It’s a community pillar whose volunteers support needy vets and sponsor events like blood drives, beef and beers and – in the case of post 1270 – an April dinner and comedy show.

It will be missed.      

Sources: Veterans of Foreign Wars, Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Times

Gregory A. Gallo 

As he announced in 2012 he wouldn’t seek reelection as Moorestown’s part-time deputy mayor, Gregory Gallo told the website Patch: “There’s no requirement that says how much time a council person should or shouldn’t spend. 

“But I do everything in my life … in detail.”

The 64-year-old – described in his obituary as an “accomplished pharmaceutical executive – had his career; his political life; and his faith, the latter as a committed member of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church.

But his commitment to family meant the most, as he noted when announcing his retirement from  government. Gallo, who was first elected to council in 2008, acknowledged that a combination of serious illness in his family and a hectic work life figured into his decision.

“It just became obvious that I would not be able to do a good job on the campaign part,” he told Patch. “I need to focus on my family and my growing business and finishing the term.”

But Gallo remained committed to the community he served, and his contributions to Moorestown as a legislator included outsourcing emergency dispatch and reducing spending, according to Patch. He also addressed critics.

“You almost have to expect (criticism) goes with the territory,” Gallo admitted. “ … But that in no way shaped my decision (to leave government). If anything, it kind of kept me focused and kept me committed to it.”

Committed to life’s details.

Sources: Legacy.com, Mount Laurel Home for Funerals & Cremation Services Inc.  

The Good Life appears twice a month. To suggest someone who recently passed away for a tribute, email Christina Mitchell at cmitchell@donnelly.media. Please describe in a few words something about the person’s life.