I spoke to 94 year old Angelo DeRosa at the 50th anniversary of the
South Hackensack V.F.W. Post 8005, which was held at the Fiesta on Route 17 in Wood Ridge, N. J. on October 16, 2011. Angelo DeRosa was one of three original Charter members of the V. F. W. Post back in 1961, who attended the dinner. Only four are still living out of the 50 plus men who founded the South Hackensack Post. Angelo DeRosa told me he graduated from Hackensack High School in 1935. He said he remembered being the first number called #158 in the draft back in October 10, 1940, a little over a year before Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941.
Angelo DeRosa started out with the Army 4th infantry and was a
Transport Sergeant; he was then transferred to the
Air Force First Commando’s in Burma and then a Troop Carrier Commander in China. During this time, he was involved with communications and said he had trained at the best communications camp state side at Camp Scott Field, Illinois. Angelo DeRosa said he left camp from service on
Christmas Eve of 1945 and arrived home on Christmas morning.
Angelo Derosa said seven days later after the first of the year, he was sworn in as Chief of Police of South Hackensack where he worked for the next 25 years.
Written by:
Bob Meli
October 16, 2011
