TONY D'AMICO • VIETNAM WAR
Tony D’Amico, 81
Gloucester, MA
Born: 5/19/44
Born/Raised: Gloucester MA
Service: US Air Force
Rank: Airman 2nd Class
Dates of Service: 1964-1966
Tony D’Amico wanted nothing more than to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, Frank, a decorated US Army 1st Lieutenant serving with the 25th Infantry Division in the Binh Duong Province of Vietnam. Frank had gone to Officer Training School but that wasn’t in the cards for Tony, a 1962 graduate of Gloucester High School. “I was 88 pounds in high school.” He enlisted instead in the US Air Force in 1964.
The two brothers and their two sisters, Ida Marie Chambers and Angela Grace Ciarametaro, were raised on Proctor Street by their Sicilian-born parents, Joseph, a fishing captain, and Mary D’Amico – they themselves were brought to Gloucester as small children.
Off to the Air Force, Tony trained at Lackland Air Station in Texas, and became a truck mechanic with the 363rdTransportation unit. “I loved taking them apart and rebuilding them.” The Sullivan Act prevented Tony from being sent into combat since his brother was already posted in a combat unit. “I didn’t want that, but I could see what my parents wanted.” Instead he was stationed at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina. It was there, in April 1966, that Tony would learn of Frank’s death by a sniper in the Ho Bo Woods while out on patrol just days before his 25th birthday.
Tony had been prepared to be sent off to Germany for the next phase of his enlistment, but Frank’s death triggered Tony’s release from his military commitment and he returned to Gloucester. One of his first jobs was for Keene Associates doing computer programming. He then worked for Gloucester Corporation before taking a dispatcher and service advisor position for 18 years at Herb Chambers. He retired at 64.
Tony and Debra, who despite living across the street from each other met at Tick Tock on Main Street. They have been married for 53 years and have four children: Malia, twins Joseph and Frank, and Lacey. They have five grandchildren, Luca, Gavin, Giada, Rome and Fiona.
He is photographed holding a portrait of his brother Frank.