Obituary of Joseph Muscato

Joseph Muscato, who served with the U.S. Army Air Corps in the South Pacific during World War II and later worked for the U.S. Postal Service and as a cook on board tug boats, died April 29, 2012 in Jacksonville, FL. He was 91.

Joe participated in battles fought in the Northern Solomon Islands and Bismarck Archipelago, monsoon-swept jungle terrain near New Guinea. He was attached to the 319th Fighter Control Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Corps, serving as a radio operator.

Joe was born January 13, 1921 in Manhattan, New York and lived his earliest years in the teeming Little Italy section. His father, Christopher Muscato, had emigrated from Calabria in southern Italy and his mother, Rachel Martocci, from the Basilicata region in the first decade of the 20th century. The family lived on Mott Street until the death of Joe's mother in 1929 when he was 8 years old, then moved to the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn.

Joe, a great raconteur, was fond of telling stories about his boyhood in a neighborhood that bordered the Fort Hamilton Army base. After the war, he began a career in the Postal Service in Florida. He loved to cook, whether to make fried chicken or Italian specialties for his family, or a meal big enough for the crew of a ship. He became a member of the Seafarers International Union, cooking meals for ship crews working Jacksonville's harbor and the Gulf Coast region.

Joe is preceded in death by his sons, Joseph Christopher and Michael Christie Muscato; sisters Josephine D'Esposito and Margaret Davis; and his brother Leonard T. Muscato, Sr.

He is survived by his daughter, Janet H. Muscato; his sisters Marie M. Bradley and Anne T. Moses; and numerous nieces and nephews. Joe's nephew Leonard T. Muscato, Jr., became like a third son to him, for which the family especially thanks him.

A graveside service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 26 in Arlington Park Cemetery, 6920 Lone Star Rd., with Father Thanh Thai Nguyen presiding.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to a charity of your choice in memory of Joseph Muscato.