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Mt Zion Historical Society
Lest We forget-Vet Special
(Related contributions by Evo G Facchine and Mary Bentz)
Remembering: Carmine Anthony Parziale by Evo G. Facchine
Wars are fought by brave men in many battle fronts on land, in the air and at sea, but certainly among the bravest men must
be those that served under the sea in a submarine. Jay Township was not without such a brave hero who served in World War II
in such a dangerous capacity.
That military man was TM3 Carmine (Carmen) A. Parziale, born in Weedville on April 11, 1921. He was the tenth of thirteen
children born to Ralph and (Mary) Louise Cimenari Parziale. Mr. Ralph Parziale passed away at an early age; Carmine was
little more than three years old. Mrs. Parziale later married Thomas Scarzo (Scott). Mr. Scarzo was arbitrarily given
the name Scott by his employer.
To all that knew Carmine as a boy, a playmate and a student at Weedville School, he was a quiet, personable young man
with a talent for music and a fine sense of humor, which he used to tease his mother and siblings. And, yes, according
to some of his classmates, he brought his humor to the classroom. His popularity with his fellow students was evidenced
by the many visits to his home by classmates during his absence from school while recovering from a rather serious sledding
accident.
His talent at playing the trumpet led to his being part of a musical group called the Merry Makers, one of the first such
groups formed in the Valley. Later it led to his being a member of the Navy Band. On a special occasion at a naval base
in Newport, Rhode Island when the band played for the President of the United States, Carmine had the distinct honor of
shaking hands with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
After attending and graduating from the Weedville High School class of 1940, he enlisted in the Navy and was assigned
to basic training for submarine duty. His training and first assignment was aboard the submarine USS Barracuda. At the
inception of World War II with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Carmine was already a trained
submarine naval seaman. In early 1942, he was reassigned to the USS Grunion (SS216). Ironically, this submarine was
commissioned on Carmine’s twenty first birthday, April 11, 1942.
In keeping with his special personality, Carmine surprised his parents and family on his last furlough at home prior to
his new assignment. During that time, he visited his alma mater and told the students that he loved the Navy. Typical
of his humor was his telling the students, "After all, you have to eat beans at home sometimes, too."
The Grunion, with some seventy officers and crew, sailed for the Pacific on May 24, 1942. A week later, as she transited
the Caribbean Sea to the Panama Canal, she rescued sixteen survivors of the USAT JACK, a ship that had been torpedoed and
sunk by a German U-Boat. This rescue is quite dramatically described in a letter from George F. Drew, one of the rescued
soldiers, to Catherine Abele, wife of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele, Commander of the Grunion. Mrs. Abele then
sent a copy of that letter to all the families of the men aboard the Grunion. The letter is in the possession of Sister
Faye Buck, O.S.B., Carmine’s sister. She, along with Mrs. Francis (Mary Parziale) Gerber of St. Marys, is the only living
member of Carmine’s immediate family.
The Grunion arrived in Pearl Harbor on June 20, 1942. Shortly thereafter, in fact on June 30, the Grunion was assigned to
its first enemy patrol in the waters off Kiska Bay in the Aleutian Islands. On July 10, the Grunion immediately made her
presence known by sinking two Japanese patrol boats and seriously damaging a third. The Grunion and other subs continued
operating in the Kiska area and on July 30, after reporting increased anti-submarine activity in the area, was ordered to
return to Dutch Harbor. Grunion never responded to that order and was never heard from again. The tragic loss of the
Grunion and its crew of seventy officers and men remains a mystery to this day.
On that day it can be assumed Torpedo Man 3rd Class Carmine Anthony Parziale died. He was only 21 years old. It was not
until early October that a telegram arrived informing the family that Carmine was listed as missing in action. Mean while,
Lowell Thomas had already reported on a radio that the Grunion had vanished. On November 2, 1942, the Navy finally struck
the Grunion from its list of active submarines. For the US Navy, the story necessarily ended there.
In each of these articles we actually find three stories: the story of the man, the story of his military organization and
the story of those left behind. And now for that story.
At the time of his death, Carmine left behind his mother, Mrs. Louise Cimenari Parziale Scarzo; his step father, Thomas
Scarzo; two brothers; six sisters; and numerous nieces and nephews. And yes a sweetheart named Genevieve, who went on to
get married, have a family and is now deceased. Carmine’s mother was no stranger to tragedy for, by this time, she had
lost her first husband and five other children. It is interesting to note here that there was another son, the eighth
child in the family, also named Carmine, who died at the age of only ten days. In the tradition of Italian families
at the time, the next male child would also be given that name and so it was for Carmine, the tenth child, the son that she
hoped and prayed until her dying day would somehow be found and return. She would carry his last letters in her apron
pocket and have her other children read them time and time again. In those times, Weedville had a train station. When
the train stopped and blew its whistle in the early morning hours, she would ask one of her other children to go outside
to see if Carmine was coming, again to surprise her as he did on his last furlough. Louise Cimenari Parziale Scarzo,
according to Mary Lou Parziale Bentz, her granddaughter remembers that she always talked of her son "lost at sea."
The name Carmine Anthony Parziale (Carmen) is carved in stone in various monuments from Pearl Harbor to Groton, Connecticut,
and of course, in the monument in his hometown of Weedville—all in an effort that we might remember him and all the other
brave heroes of that generation.
Mrs. Mary Louise Ciminari Parziale Scarzo and her family never forgot….
"Lest We Forget."
Finally, a little poem that some old time submarine survivors have written and is often read at military ceremonies
for wives. Here, we will change the word wife and replace it with mother. It goes like this:
She stood at the Pearly Gate,
Her heart was beating fast,
She meekly asked the man of fate,
"Permission to go past."
"What have you done," St. Peter asked,
"To seek permission here?"
"I was the mother of a submarine sailor
For many a weary year."
The gate swung sharply open
As old St. Peter hit the bell,
"Come in," he said, "and take a harp.
You’ve served you share of Hell."
"Lest we forget…"
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