Joseph Neacosia Sr.
PVT in 406th Engineer Combat Co
Military occupational specialty: 121 (utility repairman)
ASN#32774315
Born 1924 in NJ, Died 1995
Other residence(s): East Orange, NJ; Oswego, NY; Roselle Park, NJ
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Joe Neacosia* was born on September 19, 1924 in East Orange, NJ, the second of four children. His father, and all four of his grandparents, had been born in Italy, and his father worked as a finisher in a brush manufacturing company.
Photo courtesy Joe Neacosia, Jr.
Joe served in Europe with the unit; the only story he told his family of his Army days was that he had to write on toilet paper to send letters home. After returning to the states he was discharged on November 23, 1945. He then joined the Navy where he served on a submarine chaser that guarded the Great Lakes. He was based in Oswego, NY, and there he met Ellen June Pickard. He left the Navy in March of 1948, and on April 3 married Ellen in Oswego. They soon moved back to East Orange, and would go on to have six children: Joe Jr., Carol, Anthony, Michael, Sandra, and Christopher.
Joe worked for a while as a candymaker with the Terry Candy Company in Elizabeth, NJ. But in about 1957 he went to work in the maintenance department for the Irvington Board of Education, and would spend 30 years there, retiring in 1987. Joe was also a member of the Disabled American Veterans in Irvington.
At some point Joe and Ellen divorced, and he remarried a woman named Lucille. Joe and Lucille were living in Roselle Park, NJ when he died on January 26, 1995.
*The family name was changed from Nicosia sometime before Joe’s birth.
**Rubberset was known for its high quality shaving brushes and paintbrushes; it’s likely that Joe’s father worked there as well.
Sources:
1940 census
1942 draft card
1947 World War II Navy Muster Rolls
1948 marriage record
1948 Korean War era draft cards
1995 New Jersey death index
1995 VA death record
1995 Social Security death index
1995 obituary in the Star-Ledger (Newark NJ)
2025 emails from Joseph Neacosia Jr. to Catherine Hurst