Francis James Spacco
Frank was the third child born to the Spacco's in the house on Cottage Street. By the time he was five the family had moved to Granger Street. He lived there until he joined the Navy in October of 1941 at the age of seventeen, forging his father's name to enter the service under age. On December 9, 1941 he was assigned to the Battleship New Mexico. One of his duties was the fire control (this is the individual who controls the aiming of the ship's offensive weapons). Quoting form the ships history:
"Her next operation was the invasion of Luzon, fought under a sky full of would-be suicide planes, against whom she was almost continually at general quarters. She fired pre-landing bombardment 6 January 1945, and that day took a suicide hit on her bridge which killed her commanding officer, Captain R. W. Fleming, and 29 others of her crew, with 87 injured. Her guns remained in action as she repaired damage, and she was still in action 9 January as troops went ashore." It was the repair of those guns by Frank that kept the ship in the battle. (For more information on the New Mexico click here: New Mexico )
After the war Frank came back home to Dorchester finding a job with a sign company. He married a neighborhood girl Gladys Bergstrom on September 22, 1946. Gladys had a job driving a forklift during the war at the South Boston Army base and then went to the phone company. A year later they would have their first child Walter. They would have two more children, Mary and Frank Jr., who would die from complication due to spina bifida before the birth of Steven. A child born after Steven died from the same disorder.
Frank always had a job, a true workaholic and he eventual found a job on with the Boston fire department in January of 1948. He worked for the fire department for 32 years, painting with his father during his off hours. In 1958 they purchased a home in Quincy were their boys could grow up in the suburbs.
After the death of his first wife in December 1998, he married Ruth Patten in November of 1999 and they currently live in Dorchester.
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