Editor’s note: Ocean City resident Joseph Caserta, 98, died Feb. 5, 2021. The World War II veteran was born in Philadelphia and moved to Ocean City in 1985. To honor him, the Ocean City Sentinel is reprinting an interview the newspaper did with him in 2012 as part of interviews with other WWII veterans. In 2013, Caserta received France’s highest honor, the Legion of Honor, at a ceremony in New York City. He was buried at Veterans Cemetery in Cape May Court House on Feb. 20. Contributions in his name can be made to VFW Post 6650, 1501 Bay Ave., Ocean City, or American Legion Post 524, 4562 West Ave., Ocean City.
By ERIC AVEDISSIAN/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY – Joseph Caserta was working at a shipyard in Chester, Pa. when he was drafted in 1943 at age 19.
Now 89, Caserta reflects upon his service during World War II as an Army tank commander in Europe as part of the Third Armored Division, E Company, 32nd armored regiment.
“I landed in France two weeks after D-Day from England as a replacement and I was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division as a tank driver. I went from there from a tank driver to a tank commander and became a sergeant,” Castera said.
He said driving a Sherman tank with 75-millimeter armaments was at first tricky.
“The clutches were hard. I remember when the column would stop, I’d have to put two feet on the clutch to hold it in. Other than that, it was okay. It responded really good when you stop one track and pull the other one. You could turn really sharp. It wasn’t too difficult,” he said.
There were five men in a tank crew, Caserta said: the driver, assistant driver, loader, gunner and tank commander.
“We spent days and weeks in the tank at a time without going back for rest so you’d have to sit in your seat to sleep. The turret was round, but we’d take turns at night laying on the steel plate and stretch out which was a treat,” Caserta said.
While in France, his tank helped liberate Paris and moved onto Belgium. He was on his way to Germany when the Nazis began a sweeping offensive from Germany to the Ardennes the American newspapers dubbed the Battle of the Bulge.
From Dec. 16, 1944, to Jan. 25, 1945, the Allied forces experienced some of the harshest winter conditions.
“It was the coldest winter in 45 years,” he said. “We survived the greatest land battle ever fought by the United States Army. They lost a lot of men there.”
After the Battle of the Bulge, Caserta operated one of the first tanks through the Seigfried Line into Germany.
“I was buttoned up and all I had was a periscope all I could see from,” he said. “I ran into a bomb crater and the tank went over on its side and looked like it was going to flip over.”
The men exited the tank and went for cover, and an artillery shell came in at ground level and exploded nearby. Caserta was wounded and received a concussion and was knocked unconscious. Shrapnel was imbedded in his shoulder.
“When I woke up, I shook my tank commander and said ‘let’s get out of here,’ but he was dead. We were really close together. How I survived, who knows,” he said. “As I’m walking back, my shoulder is burning and I’m hurting. I had the million dollar wound. I’m not dead and I’m wounded and I could go back to the states.”
Instead of heading home, he received medical attention, was promoted to tank commander and sent back into combat.
As the tanks advanced towards Cologne, Germany, his company commander informed him through the radio that his tank was on fire. Apparently, the duffel bags stored on the rear of the vehicle were aflame, and dangerously near the gas tank.
“I knew the gas tank was right there. I never gave it a thought. I just jumped out, threw the duffel bags out and artillery fire was all around. I was saving our tank. I got back in the tank and the next thing you know the captain put me in for a Bronze Star,” he said.
He also received the Purple Heart for his wounds and the Bronze Star.
Caserta’s tank stopped when it reached the Soviets at the Elbe River in 1945. He spent six months in Germany as part of an occupational force, and returned home in November 1945. Like many returning G.I.s, work and marriage followed. He opened a gas station and repair shop in southwest Philadelphia and got married a few years later in 1948.
He retired from the gas station in 1987 and moved to Ocean City. His son still runs the gas station he established.
Asked about his thoughts on being categorized as a member of the “greatest generation,” Caserta smiled.
“We all wanted to join, like myself. I could have gotten a deferment and stayed home and worked at the shipyard, but I wanted to go and everybody else felt the same way,” he said. “We had a lot of pride in us and we were really upset about Pearl Harbor. The guys were joining like crazy and never gave much thought about it. We were patriotic and wanted to help our country.”
