Recognizing an Inwood family’s military service

Memorial Day this year is on Monday, May 28. The last day of a three-day holiday weekend it is typically filled with parades and barbecues, and also marks the start of the summer vacation season.

Initially called Decoration Day, the holiday originated after the War Between the States to honor Union soldiers that were killed during the Civil War. It was inspired by the manner in which the Southern states recognized their dead soldiers, and was celebrated on May 30.

Following World War I, Decoration Day was expanded to include all men and women, who died in any military action. After the Second World War, it became Memorial Day. In 1968, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act was passed by Congress, which declared it a federal holiday and Memorial Day on the last Monday in May. That change went into effect three years later.

No matter the name of the holiday, U.S. military men and women have always served their country in times of strife or peace. Four members of the Santora family from Inwood have been in the military.

Originally from Rockaway Beach, John Santora and his sister Filomena served during World War II. John was in the Navy from 1943-46 and was trained as a machinist mate. He served on the U.S.S. Crater, a cargo ship that operated in the Pacific Theatre. In April 1945, John was assigned to the U.S.S. Sarsfield, a destroyer in the Atlantic fleet. Testing new anti-submarine warfare technology was the Sarfield’s primary responsibility.

John, who will be 89 on Memorial Day, earned the Asiatic Pacific, American Theatre and Victory medals. “I thank God for being able to return home and pray for those who did not,” he said. After the war he ran Arista Dry Cleaning on Sheridan Boulevards in Inwood and served as a commander of the Inwood-based John J. Oliveri V.F.W. Post 1582 and as president of the Inwood Veterans Association.

Filomena served in the WAVES from 1944-46 at a naval base in Bloomington, Ind. and then at Pearl Harbor. The WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) were a W.W. II division of the Navy. However, at the end of the war the WAVES were not allowed to continue in the Navy. She lived in New Jersey, never married and died in 2008 at 90.

John and his wife Sara, who died in 2007, had two sons, Frank and Joseph. Frank, 63, served in the Army from February 1969 to November 1970. On his 19th birthday, he went to Vietnam. On Feb. 8, 1970 he was wounded and earned the Purple Heart.

A widower, he has a son, John, a daughter, Marcia, and three grandchildren. Frank works as a maintenance supervisor in the East Rockaway School District and currently serves as the junior vice commander for Post 1582.

Joseph, 42, served in the Navy from March 1976 to March 1979. He trained as a main propulsion engineman and a bulk of his time was at the Washington , D.C. Navy Yard. “The Navy Seal trained there and the presidential yacht, Sequoia (it was sold in 1977), was moored there,” he said. His last six months in the Navy were served in Europe.

An Island Park resident, Joseph and his wife, Laurel, have three children, Joseph, Christina and Jean Marie. He teaches automotive technology at Lincoln Tech in Whitestone.