Former Mayor/Freeholder Recalls Wartime Coincidence

NORTH WILDWOOD – At 97, former mayor and freeholder Anthony Catanoso is feeling nostalgic. Happy, coincidental, familial memories that occurred during World War II began coming back to him when he and his wife Phyllis received a call from the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial.
To help honor the nearly 11,000 members of the U.S. armed forces buried or memorialized at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, a visitor center was built and dedicated May 26. The new visitor center is strewn with photographs, films and interactive displays that convey personal stories. Catanoso’s is one of coincidence.
Italian-American Cpl. Catanoso served as a translator in the Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories (AMGOT) in 1944, following the Allied Invasion of Sicily.
AMGOT’s job in Sicily was to help the island get back on its feet again after suffering severe damage from the battles that ensued there. AMGOT aided businesses, hospitals, police departments, schools, etc. with ‘occupational money’ and helped with the rebuilding efforts.
“Americans don’t get much credit for helping to clean up after the bombs drop,” Catanoso said, attempting to change that.
Catanoso recalled he was awakened many mornings with a call of ‘Latte! Latte!’ from the street outside his hotel. “It was a man with a goat,” he said. “You would walk down to see him and milk the goat.”
One time, he gave a barber $10 (American) for a haircut and a shave without knowing that was a very large sum of money. When he returned to the barber the next day, someone told him the barber had gone on vacation with Catanoso’s money.
Day-to-day life in Palermo, Sicily was improving with time and people were doing their best to get back to normal. Catanoso was eager to do some traveling to search for his Aunt Maria, who lived somewhere in Italy. Unfortunately, he didn’t know where in Italy she lived; or for that matter, what Maria’s last name was.
One morning, Catanoso and a friend, John, decided to “borrow” a jeep and head to Messina. When they arrived, British officers asked them for their pass. They didn’t have passes to take the ferry, being that they had borrowed the military jeep without permission.
Catanoso told the British officers the truth and was granted a five-day pass to spend in Italy’s boot.
Once across, Catanoso and John drove their borrowed jeep to the town of Reggio Calabria. In Reggio Calabria, John connected with his own relatives. According to Catanoso, a “big celebration broke out in the streets” when they arrived. Every one of John’s family members was thrilled to see him. This of course delighted John, but Catanoso wanted to continue on and find his own family, his aunt. But how?
Catanoso left John and his family and went to a restaurant in Reggio Calabria for dinner. “As I’m eating,” Catanoso recalled, “this guy comes up to my table. He’s a professor. He sat down and we started to have dinner together. He asked if I spoke Italian and I said, ‘Yes, I’m a translator.’ He asked where I was from and I couldn’t say North Wildwood because nobody over there would know where that is. So I told him I was from Philly. His eyes lit up and he said, ‘Oh! You’re from Philadelphia? You must know my brother, Samuel Smorto? … Now what are the chances I would know this person he mentioned? Of all the people living in Philadelphia and I wasn’t even really from there? Well you know what? I did know him. Samuel Smorto was my godfather.”
Catanoso told the professor at his table the unbelievable coincidence and the man jumped up and began to scream, “My gumbadi! My gumbadi!” This is a phrase that means “My family!” or “My relative!”
“I couldn’t believe it,” Catanoso continued. “I told him, ‘I’m Carmelo Catanoso’s son’ and asked if he knew my Aunt Maria. He said that he did and he would take me to see her. She lived in Chorio which was only about 40 kilometers away!”
When they arrived at Catanoso’s aunt’s house, the professor called out to her, telling her there was an American here to visit her. She told him to go away, she didn’t want to see any American. “But then he told her I was her brother’s son,” Catanoso said. “She started screaming and grabbed a picture to show me. It was a picture of my entire family with me and all my eight siblings in it.”
From that moment on, Catanoso enjoyed his own family reunion. Everybody in town celebrated with him and his aunt and he stayed with her for three days before having to return to his duties in Palermo.
This story of coincidence was reported in the book, “My Cousin, the Saint,” by Justin Catanoso.
After the war, Anthony Catanoso returned to North Wildwood and was mayor for 27 years and a freeholder for 21 years. He and his wife Phyllis have been married 66 years. Catanoso has a daughter, Pati Sparks, three grandchildren, four great grandchildren and an additional five great grandchildren through marriage.
To contact Bryon Cahill, email bcahill@cmcherald.com.