Vince Speranza, a member of the 101st Airborne division during WWII died on 2 August. He was 98.
Vincent J. Speranza was born on March 23, 1925, in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. He spent his childhood on Staten Island in a large and extended Italian family during the Great Depression. He had three brothers and four sisters. He graduated from high school in January 1943.
In 1943, after graduating from high school, Speranza enlisted in the United States Army. He tried to join at the age of 16, but had to wait until he was 18. Speranza was sent to Camp Upton in New York where he stayed until being sent to Fort Benning in Georgia where he trained for the infantry with the 87th Infantry Division, later volunteering for the Parachute Infantry, that he joined after completing a stint in Parachute School.
Speranza was sent to Europe with Company H, 3rd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. His unit arrived in France and would later fight in the Battle of the Bulge. Speranza’s first engagement was during the Siege of Bastogne where he operated a machine gun from a foxhole in a forward position outside of the town.
During the siege, he visited a wounded comrade at the field hospital set up in a local church, where his friend asked for a drink. Searching through the ruins of the town, he found a working beer tap and filled his helmet for lack of any other container. On delivering the beverage and returning for a second load, he was discovered by a medical officer and reprimanded. Here Vince tells the story in his own words:
Speranza spent a total of 144 days in combat and was discharged in January 1946. His highest rank was Private first class.
Speranza was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
After the war, Vince returned to New York and became a teacher at Curtis high school on Staten Island. In 2014, Vince published NUTS! : A 101st Airborne Division Machine Gunner at Bastogne.