Sam Endrizzi
When Frank Carrozza was treated to his Honor Flight to visit the WWII Memorial he made several new friends. He also met up with an old friend, Sam Endrizzi.
Sam was another participant in the Honor Flight and was accompanied by his daughter who was a volunteer. Santo (his given name) had actually been in the same squadron and group Carrozza was in, at the same time. He worked on the ground crew, repairing and prepping the planes. Grandpa said he was not sure if he worked on grandpa’s plane, but that he mentioned the name of another plane Carrozza remembered. Apparently, Santo and Frank spent the entire day together reminiscing and talking. Grandpa did not remember the Sam initially, but when Endrizzi saw the name Frank Carrozza in the book he remembered it. He said how nice it was to see Frank and that they had a good time together and they parted like old friends part.
During a recent conversation with Hasey Casey, I was able to get Sam’s contact information. We had a delightful phone conversation. Here’s some notes I took from the conversation;
Sam turned 92 this year (2013). As a young man he played Accordian in resorts near Catskill. He has a drawing of a noseart design from one of the B-26’s. I’m hoping to get a picture of that. He came to the European Theatre via Scotland, Glascow on Queen Elizabeth. The transatlantic voyage took 5.5 days. He served as a waiter, and as a result, got better run of the ship and extra food. Other recruits couldn’t move around ship and only got 2 meals a day…which was sometimes not enough.
I recently found a picture of Santo and Frank together from the Honor Flight.
Sam Endrizzi (left) and Frank Carrozza were reunited on their Honor Flight.
Here’s lots of great pictures Sam posted on B26.com
