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SSG Justin Davis
to remember
Gatto, Albert Pete, Sr., Pfc.
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Contact Info
Home Town Coketon
Date of Passing Apr 26, 1959
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Last Known Activity:
PFC ALBERT PETE GATTO SR. SERVED IN ITALY WITH COMPANY A, 345TH ENGINEER GENERAL SERVICE REGIMENT FROM 9 APRIL 1945 TO 14 SEPTEMBER 1946. DURING OCCUPATION DUTY PFC GATTO ATTENDED MINE WARFARE & DEMOLITIONS SCHHOL AND BRIDGEBUILDING & ROAD CONSTRUCTION SCHOOL IN ROME. ON 9 NOVEMBER 1946 GATTO WAS HONORABLY DISCHARGED AT FORT MEADE, MARYLAND.
Albert Pete Gatto Sr. Son of Gregario and May Marie (Lombard) Gatto, husband of Ruby Johnson, father of Albert Pete Gatto, Jr. Worked as a mechanic, served in the US Army during World War 2, belonged to the VFW and the Loyal Order of Moose, and was a member of St. Thomas Church. Died when struck by a race car while a track flagman at the Potomac Valley Speedway in Fort Ashby, WV.
AUTO RACE FLAG OFFICAL KILLED, Ft. Ashby, WV
Albert P. Gatto Sr. of Cumberland, MD died yesterday after being hurled 90 feet by a skidding stock car at Potomac Valley Speedway.
Gatto, 42 year old flag offical, was standing near the inside edge of the track in front of the grandstand when he was struck by a car driven by Kenneth Jeffries of Loanconing, MD.
Officials said Jeffries' car skidding after coming out of a turn on the second lap of the 10 lap race and the driver was attempting to right the vehicle when Gatto was hit.
WWII - European-African-Middle Eastern Theater
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Description The European-Mediterranean-Middle East Theater was a major theater of operations during the Second World War (between December 7, 1941, and March 2, 1946). The vast size of Europe, Mediterranean and Middle East theatre saw interconnected naval, land, and air campaigns fought for control of the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The fighting in this theatre lasted from 10 June 1940, when Italy entered the war on the side of Germany, until 2 May 1945 when all Axis forces in Italy surrendered. However, fighting would continue in Greece – where British troops had been dispatched to aid the Greek government – during the early stages of the Greek Civil War.
The British referred to this theatre as the Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre (so called due to the location of the fighting and the name of the headquarters that controlled the initial fighting: Middle East Command) while the Americans called the theatre of operations the Mediterranean Theatre of War. The German official history of the fighting is dubbed 'The Mediterranean, South-East Europe, and North Africa 1939–1942'. Regardless of the size of the theatre, the various campaigns were not seen as neatly separated areas of operations but part of one vast theatre of war.
Fascist Italy aimed to carve out a new Roman Empire, while British forces aimed initially to retain the status quo. Italy launched various attacks around the Mediterranean, which were largely unsuccessful. With the introduction of German forces, Yugoslavia and Greece were overrun. Allied and Axis forces engaged in back and forth fighting across North Africa, with Axis interference in the Middle East causing fighting to spread there. With confidence high from early gains, German forces planned elaborate attacks to be launched to capture the Middle East and then to possibly attack the southern border of the Soviet Union. However, following three years of fighting, Axis forces were defeated in North Africa and their interference in the Middle East was halted. Allied forces then commenced an invasion of Southern Europe, resulting in the Italians switching sides and deposing Mussolini. A prolonged battle for Italy took place, and as the strategic situation changed in southeast Europe, British troops returned to Greece.
The theatre of war, the longest during the Second World War, resulted in the destruction of the Italian Empire and altered the strategic position of Germany resulting in numerous German divisions being deployed to Africa and Italy and total losses (including those captured upon final surrender) being over half a million. Italian losses, in the theatre, amount to around to 177,000 men with a further several hundred thousand captured during the process of the various campaigns. British losses amount to over 300,000 men killed, wounded, or captured, and total American losses in the region amounted to 130,000.
