John Basilone Street Sign
Details:
The Basilone Street sign is located on street pole adjacent to a commercial shop. It is on the left side of the road as you walk from the intersection of Via Roma and Via Montegrappa.
The street name sign is made of painted ceramic bordered by wrought iron. It is located on a standard street sign pole about 8 feet off the ground. There is only one street sign in the town with the name “John Basilone”. The text on the sign is written in brown on a light brownish white background with the city of Colle Sannita symbol in the upper left corner.
In 2019 the Cities of Colle Sannita, Italy and Raritan, New Jersey, USA became “Twinned Cities” (Gemallaggio cities in Italian) or “Sister cities”. To commemorate the cities becoming sister cities, Colle Sannita named a street after John Basilone, the son of an Italian immigrant from Colle Sannita, and a World War II US Marine who won the Medal of Honor in the Pacific theater of operations during the battle of Guadalcanal in October 1942. On August 5, 2019, the city of Colle Sannita held “John Basilone Day” to remember “Manila” John Basilone and to initiate the city twinning with Raritan, NJ. John Basilone was a Gunnery Sergeant in the US Marine Corps. He won the Medal of Honor during the battle of Guadalcanal and was later killed in action on Iwo Jima in February 1945 where his actions won him the Navy Cross for valor posthumously.
Monument Text:
The text on the street sign is written in Italian:
John Basilone
Eroe della Secondo Guerra Mondiale
Buffalo 1916- Iwo Jima 1945
Gia’ Via Roma
Translation:
John Basilone
Hero of the Second World War
Buffalo 1916 - Iwo Jima 1945
Formerly Via Roma