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Submitted: 7/13/21 • Approved: 7/14/21 • Last Updated: 7/17/21 • R436656-G0-S3
Texas
CAPTAIN 779 Squad 464 Bomb Group Army Air Force
World War II
January 26, 1921 - April 4, 1967
Air Force Commendation Medal
Purple Heart
John Battista Sinisi was born in New Jersey on January 26, 1921 to Dominick Sinisi & Lena Corubia. Mr. Sinisi died on April 4, 1967 in Houston, Harris County, Texas, at 46 years of age.
In 1946, in Harris County, Texas he married Wanda Mae Grelle (1925-1996). They had a daughter from this union named Aliene Sinisi. The infant was born and died on May 14, 1947. Around April of 1950 they had another daughter. The couple also had a son named John Battista Sinisi, Jr.
Captain Sinisi is a World War II Air Corps (Heavy Bomber) Veteran. He is also a Prisoner of War. He and 9 others were captured on July 8, 1944 by the Germans while serving in the European Theatre: Austria, during World War II. They were taken to Camp Stalag Luft 1 Barth-Vogelsang Prussia 54-12.
Mr. Sinisi is a Purple Heart Recipient and an Air Force Commendation Medal recipient.
Names of those captured with him were:
Aldo Benito Girasole; Lloyd Louis Brave; Aristo Gavaloon Quesada; Joseph Chandler Gregory; Benjamin Reginald Varner; Theodore V Filicsky; Bruno John Chiarello; Charles Kenneth Phifer; Charles Joseph Simonelli
A few years after his return, around 1950, Mr. Sinisi sat down with a reporter for the Houston Chronicle and discussed his experience and future. As he hung on his parachute in the sky above Vienna, watching his plane crash and crumple he swore to himself "Never Again". After being shot up more than once during his 25 combat missions in 1944, with the 15th Air Force in Europe, he convinced himself there was no future in military flying for him. But, less than a week later he received orders to go back on Active Duty. He was one of the first Air Force reservists to volunteer for active duty after the Korean War broke out and he was accepted within a week and told to "wait for orders". Three months later he was told to report to Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. During the war, he served 4 years as a Bombardier with the 464th Bombardment Group in Italy. In June of 1944, his plane was badly crippled and he had to get out of formation, risking flying home alone. Then, on July 7, the Vienna, Austria skies lit up with aircraft fire and Mr. Sinisi bailed out to become a Prisoner of War. He was eventually returned to U.S. Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated.
In his civilian life he managed a boot and shoe shop. And, to the surprise of his comrades he was the first to volunteer as a reserve. He served without pay until 1949 when the government began to offer pay to some of the units.
Garden of Gethsemani is the cemetery listed on his death certificate. It is now known as Forest Park Lawndale or Forest Park.
Contributed on 7/13/21 by deanakh1
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Record #: 436656
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