Joseph Cicchinelli, better known as ''Joe'', was born on August 27, 1923 in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He came out of a large family of Italian immigrants, with 10 children.
In 1942, Joe volunteers for the United States Army. After basic training in Camp Wolters, Texas, he joins the paratroopers. He joins parachute training (Class 42) in Fort Benning and Camp Mackall. He joins the ranks of an independent Parachute Infantry Battalion, the 551st.
As a young, but highly motivated paratrooper, Joe moves to Panama with the Battalion, crosses the Atlantic Ocean to Africa, Italy and participates in “Operation Dragoon” (August 1944).
His unit, also called the ''GOYA’s'' will fight in the Maritime Alps until November 1944 and move to Laon, Northern France, before being deployed to the Belgian Ardennes to help stop the ongoing German offensive.
There, the 551st, first attached to the 30th Infantry Division, later to the 82nd Airborne Division, fights with great courage in the Werbomont region, the Northern Shoulder of the “Battle of the Bulge”.
His unit will perform one of the last bayonet attacks recorded, but will pay a very heavy price. After several days of intense fighting, the Battalion had lost close to 84% of its combat strength.
Joe was taken Prisoner of War on January 6, 1945. He is interrogated at the famous ''Dulag Luft'', near Frankfurt, a special interrogation center for downed aircrews. From there he and another 551st paratrooper are transferred to the Stalag IVb, but during that journey an attack by an Allied plane injures Joe in the shoulder and neck badly. He will bear these pains for the rest of his life…
April 1945, Joe is liberated by the soldiers of the Red Army at the Elbe River, but after fighting with them against the Germans, he decides to take his chance and cross the frontier between Russian and American troops. He succeeds and after a long trip back, passing Camp Lucky Strike in Le Havre, France, he finally joins his beloved wife Jean and young daughter Paulette, who was already 7 months old.
Since 1984, Joe has returned to Europe many times and has a large group of good friends. He is a welcome guest in the Ardennes as well as in Southern France.
DURING HIS LAST VISIT TO EUROPE (2010), THAT TOOK THREE MONTHS, I MET JOE THREE TIMES.
IT WHERE VERY EMOTIONAL MOMENTS AND I'M PROUD THAT HE CALL'S ME ''HIS FRIEND''
