Nov 1, 2022
[Editor’s note: Tim Flaherty wrote about Medfield’s extended Palumbo family in the July/August Portal. This addendum about Bruno Palumbo contains information about his World War II service which was not available when the original story was written.]
My uncle Bruno Palumbo was the third from the youngest of the 10 children of Luigi and Antoinette Paumbo of 59 Frairy Street. After graduating from Medfield High, where he played football and baseball, Uncle Bruno studied business administration at the Fisher School in Boston. On Jan. 12, 1942, Bruno enlisted in the US Army and served 35 months during World War Two working as an airplane mechanic, returning to the United States in August of 1945.
One of Uncle Bruno’s best memories was casting his first vote in a presidential election for Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936. Like FDR, he once hoped to run for political office because he had the will to work for the good of the people.
Early in their marriage, Uncle Bruno and Aunt Lillian lived in Chelsea where they started their family with their daughter, Darlene, and son, Jimmy. However, before long Bruno and Lillian decided to move to Medfield. Both Darlene and Jimmy attended Medfield schools and did very well academically. Bruno became the bank president at the Hudson National Bank in Watertown, Mass., while Lillian was the homemaker raising their two children.
Bruno Palumbo was as decorated war hero with great distinction. Staff Sergeant Bruno Palumbo was chief engineer of the 447 Bombardment Squadron and the 86th squadron Bravo Fight of the 79th Fighter Group USAAF from Jan. 12, 1942, to August 31, 1945. As airplane maintenance chief, he supervised the inspection, maintenance, repair, and aircraft equipment performed by all of the maintenance crews of the squadron. The 79th Fighter Group was one of the most successful units of the United States Army Air Forces in World War Two.
Staff Sergeant Palumbo received commendations for the following campaigns: Egypt-Libya, Tunisia, Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno, Germany, Air Combat-Balkans, North Apennines and Po Valley.
Bruno Palumbo made lifelong friends as a result of his travels. Along with his fellow countrymen, he experienced the horrors of war and was devastated by the inhumanity of the concentration camps. In liberating those death camps, they were humbled by their success. Bruno Palumbo was a loyal member of the 79th Fighter Group Association, attending gatherings when he could.
Staff Sergeant Palumbo is interred at Arlington National Cemetery with his wife Lillian and is celebrated as a highly decorated war hero.
If you missed the story about the Palumbos in the July/August issue, here’s a link.