Vincent C. Penio
Biography: Vincent Charles Penio “Chuck” was born on July 23, 1921, in Chicago, Illinois. He was the son of Pasquale and Petrina Penio and attended Chicago public schools through the 10th grade. After leaving school, Chuck found work with the Superior Plating Company also in Chicago.
On October 11, 1942, Chuck married the former Esther Calamia who had been born in Kansas City, Missouri and was the daughter of Pasquale Calamia and Josephine Durso.
Service Time: Chuck entered the service on March 10, 1943, and was sent to Camp Grant, IL, for his basic training. He was then assigned to the 653rd Tank Destroyer battalion and trained with them at a number of military facilities, including Camp Bowie and Camp Hood in Texas as well as Fort McClelland, Alabama. We are not sure of the timing but Chuck was separated from the unit and shipped overseas as an Infantry replacement. The 653rd had been disbanded on May 10, 1944, and its men were transferred to the 144th Infantry Regiment. This may have been when he went into the replacement ranks. He was shipped overseas from New York, NY, and arrived in Liverpool, England. From there he traveled by train to Southhampton in southern England and then to France, arriving at Omaha beach in Normandy around Labor Day (September 4th) and spent some time in a replacement depot.
We are not sure of the date but he was assigned to the 704th Tank Destroyer battalion, which had been in France since July. The 704th had raced eastern across France, passing north of Orleans, and crossed the Moselle River to Luneville in early September, remaining in the general area through October. Fighting in the Morhange region in November, they crossed the Saar River by month’s end. Deploying to the Ardennes on December 19th, the 704th fought around Bastogne in January, 1945, then moved back south. The unit advanced into Germany near Sinz in February, fighting through the Siegfried Line and into the Saar-Moselle triangle. Supporting the drive to Bitburg in March, they the reached Rhine by mid-month. Crossing the river on March 24th at Nierstein, the unit roared east to Gotha by April 4th and passed through the Harz Mountains to Bayreuth in late April. On May 6th, the 704th entered Czechoslovakia at Volyne.
With the war basically over of the 704th, Chuck was reassigned in June to the 9th Tank Destroyer Group, which was now focused on occupational duties and needed additional personnel to replace men leaving with higher ASR (Adjusted Service Rating) scores. Many of the men had entered military service a year or more before Chuck, which provided their higher scores. We are not sure of Chuck’s last few month’s overseas but we believe he continued with the 9th TD Group until they shipped back to the U.S., arriving in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on Aug. 9, 1945. Chuck received credit for four campaigns, which we believe were Northern France, Rhineland, the Ardennes and Central Europe. Chuck was awarded the Bronze Star Medal along with the EAME Ribbon and Good Conduct Medal. He also received the Purple Heart for injuries he sustained to one of his fingers. Chuck also shared in the 704th’s award of the Distinguished Unit Citation. He initially didn’t realize he was hit and thought the extreme cold was what he felt. He only realized he had been hit when he saw the blood. Chuck left the service on October 22, 1945, at the rank of Private First Class.
Chuck returned to Illinois where he was reunited with wife Esther and his new daughter Petrina “Pat” who had been born in 1944, while he was away serving. The couple would have two additional children, JoAnn born in 1947, and Steven in 1956. Chuck found work as a toll booth collector and as a fireman with the Chicago Fire Department, rising to the rank of Captain. In his spare time, Chuck enjoyed traveling and fixing things and volunteered to help his community. He was also known for his whistling.
Chuck passed away on September 16, 2010 and was buried in the Queen of Heaven , Cemetery in Hillside, IL. In addition to Chuck, his two brothers also served in the military, Paul in the Navy and Sam in the Army. I want to thank Chuck’s granddaughter Tina, for providing the photo and information, used in this tribute.