Tony Pelle | U.S. Air Force

Born in Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge neighborhood, Tony Pelle grew up in Mount Vernon, the City of Trees, in Westchester County. Upon being drafted into the Air Force in March 1943, he trained as a mechanic on the ground crew and shipped off. He served overseas in North Africa and off Gibraltar. His outfit sank five of the eleven warships the German Air Force had stationed in the vicinity.

Tony served for 27 months in total and returned to New York to work in the Stage Employees union. He enjoyed a long and exciting career working behind the scenes on television and Broadway.

He married in 1950 and has been blessed with two children, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Now residing at The Arbors at Bohemia, Tony is grateful for having use of all his faculties and prays that the America he grew up in is experienced by future generations.