A Morning Twist

Liotti Ikefugi Playground

From The Department of Parks NYC website

"This playground honors the memory of Sergeant Carmine Liotti (1924-1945) and Private First Class Lloyd Ikefugi (1923-1945), two young men from Staten Island who died fighting for their country in World War IIl place of birth: New Brighton, Staten Island"

This playground was a block over from my house growing up,  I have memories of my Aunt Frances taking me there to go on the swings.  Playgrounds back then were metal swings,  burn on your skin if it was hot metal slides,  and monkey bars. The ground was concrete and if you fell you ran home, bloody, and  your mom would put stinging iodine  or mercurochrome on the cut.  

Every Memorial  day. I guess from when I was born to around  1968 or 1970,  I was often awakened to the sounds of military shouts, taps, and a gun salute.  The local American legion post would assemble there with their flags. Salute these two young men, have a gun salute. and play taps,  That ushered in my summer.  Sweet memories.

So I have a twist of gratitude  for the memories of Memorial day morning as a child so many  years ago and  I have much much more than a twist of gratitude  for  Private Ikefugi and Sgt Liotti and the members of the Greatest Generation.

From Find a Grave here  are the biographies of these two young men. hometown heroes Not lost in time but honored here  78 years later.

"Carmine was one of twelve children of Italian immigrants. Three of his brothers also joined the Army. They all survived the war. Carmine lived in New Brighton at 18 Ely Street and attended P.S. 17 on Harvard Avenue. At McKee High School he played football. The Journal of American Football listed him as an all-star player. Carmine joined the army immediately after high school and became a Technician Fourth Class in the 319th Infantry. By April 15, 1945, Liotti's unit advanced to the town of Glauchau. While Carmine attended to wounded men on the battlefield and prepared them for transport to the hospital in town, a German nurse called upon him to help evacuate an injured German as well. Lifting the German onto his litter jeep, Carmine proceeded up the main street of the town. A 14 year old German soldier, perhaps unaware that a German lay in the vehicle, threw a grenade at the jeep. Carmine died only moments after a priest was allowed to administer him with the last rights. His parents decided to lay him to rest among his comrades at Margraten War Cemetery. There is a playground named in the honor of Carmine Liotti and Lloyd Ikefugi on Winter Avenue in Staten Island,New York."

"A Staten Island resident. Fought bravely in World War II and gave his life in service of his country, Lloyd Ikefugi, born and raised on Staten Island, lived at 112 Winter Avenue in New Brighton and graduated from Curtis High School. He worked as a machinist at the Great Eastern Brass Works in Long Island City, worshiped at Brighton Heights Reformed Church, served as assistant scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 10, and, in April 1944, he joined the Army at age 20. Ikefugi became a member of the famous all Japanese-American 442nd Infantry, a company distinct by its very definition. At the time, the United States military maintained a policy of segregation that required minorities, including Japanese-Americans and African-Americans, to fight in special units.  The 442nd Infantry earned recognition in history by demonstrating extraordinary bravery on the battlefield, in defiance of the stereotype that Japanese-Americans could not be loyal to an America at war with Japan. In the spring of 1945, the Allies began breaking through German defenses in Italy, and Ikefugi's outfit proved an important part of that effort. On April 7, 1945, less than a year after he joined the Army, Ikefugi was attacking an enemy strongpoint and was struck down by machinegun fire. He died instantly and posthumously received the Purple Heart."