The Rosselli Family of Camden, NJ
Camden born and raised Jimmy Rosselli wrote to me in the spring of 2015, with the idea of telling his family’s story. Due to some real-life issues — yes, there is life outside of the website! — it took a few months to get this together and into web-page. One thing Jimmy mentioned is that his mom is a member of the Falconiero family, and as I have a few Falconiero pals, I am pretty sure that this page will give birth to another page about Jimmy’s extended family. It’s all good… Camden stories that need to be told!
July 18, 2015
Jimmy's Story
I would like to share my life as best as I can remember, by telling a story about my mother and father, a love affair. They have both passed on. I think I owe it to them both.
James Rosselli Sr.
My dad, James Rosselli, was a World War II veteran who was drafted from Philadelphia. He took part in the North Africa campaign, and served in Morocco. My dad saved every letter my mother sent to him, while he was in the army. I have them all. After he was discharged they were married, on June 30, 1946 at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel church in Camden, New Jersey.
My mother, Rose Falconiero, was from South Camden. My grandparents had a grocery store at 901 South 5th Street. My uncle Paul was drafted in the Navy along with other relatives. I remember my mother telling me that during the war the air raid sirens would go off and the lights had to be turned off, and about rationing and other things.
1946 — Uncle Paul Falconiero with grandparents Mary and Nicholas Falconiero
Back in the day as I can remember, Camden was a good place to live and grow up. My dad worked at RCA in Camden, as a machinist. My mother worked in a dress factory in Camden. We lived on Pfeiffer Street in East Camden. I graduated from Camden High in 1966. I was drafted 4-A in 1968, and completed basic at Fort Dix, then Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Jackson. After that VIETNAM from May 10, 1968 to May 10, 1969 with the 9th Infantry Division. I am a combat veteran. My parents saved all the letters I sent home and I saved all my orders and medals. I was involved in 1998 when Camden County hosted The Traveling Wall, in Pennsauken at Cooper River Park. There are about 90 men on the wall from Camden County. On the dvrbs.com site I counted about 10 men from World War II that were in the 9th Infantry Division. I’m very proud to say I was with the 9th Infantry Division.
After completing AIT at Fort Jackson I received orders to go to the Republic of Vietnam. I flew to Oakland, California. When I got there I was told to look at a billboard to see when I was scheduled to depart for Vietnam.
As a soldier in the United States Army, I arrived in khakis at an Air Force base, from there went to the 90th Replacement Center, where again names were posted on a board, of what unit or division you were assigned to and where you were going. Sure enough, my name came up on a list for the 9th Infantry Division. They were then south of Saigon at Camp Bearcat where I was sent to report to. I remember being told that had moved farther south on the Mekong River, to a camp named Dong Tam. I was assigned to 2nd platoon, Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion of the 60th Infantry Regiment.
This is Ronnie Pace. We were in a fire fight that morning on March 29, 1969, the next morning in the rice paddies a sniper shot him from across the rice paddies, he got up to brush his teeth, I got up and sat down, he got up again and was shot in the forehead… March 30, 1969. I know we were aboard one of these LSTs. I went into Dong Tam base camp with another buddy from the unit to identify him. Ronnie’s cousin Charles sent this picture to me.
The guy in the center is Pete la Pena, from Los Angeles, he was in the 3rd platoon. His friends, actor Joe Pesci, in the Lakers hat, and me … gotta love it!
When I came home from Vietnam, my parents called the Philadelphia Inquirer. A reporter and photographer came out for a story and they interviewed me. I still have the original picture. My parents also purchased a “welcome home” flag which I still have.
I don’t and never have said that I was a hero, I just did what I was told to do like any other soldier. My highest rank was E5 sergeant. I kept the awards and medals received while in the service, and have stayed involved in veterans groups ever since, including the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Purple Heart Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America, Combat Infantry Badge.org, Mobile River Force Association (MRFA.org), and MRF.org. I am a past-president of South Jersey Vietnam Veterans.
Riverine Force's Role in War — Delta Patrols Recalled by GI
Philadelphia Inquirer — 1969
Sgt. James D. Rosselli, 21, of Camden, back after a tour with the Riverine Force in Vietnam, shows some of his medals to his mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. James Rosselli, and his sister, Cheryl, of 328 Pfeiffer St.
Riverine Force’s Role in War
Delta Patrols Recalled by GI
Few places along the length of Vietnam are so totally uninviting as the lower reaches of the Mekong Delta.
Delta waterways criss-cross, double back and tangle through the dense vegetation in a pattern similar to that of the veins in a frog’s throat.
Dry ground is hard to find, oozing mud is hard to navigate and the leeches and other flesh-preying animals and insects make human existence a daily misery.
The delta is a difficult place to just stay alive in, let alone fight a war in, but that’s exactly what the Mobile Riverine Force has been doing for the last few years.
RIVER PATROL
The unit is perhaps one of the most unusual and at the same time one of the most unpublicized outfits involved in the Vietnam conflict.
The force is composed of soldiers and sailors who operate from floating base camps in the South China Sea and the mouths of the larger rivers and patrol hundreds of miles of rivers through the delta.
Armed with recoilless rifles, machine guns, the force forages through thousands of uncharitable acres of swamps, rivers, paddies and mud flats searching out enemy forces.
LITTLE PUBLICITY
Riverine Force members experience very little contact with other American units. As a rule, they get very little time to rest and virtually no press coverage. Few correspondents care to test their luck against the foreboding inner Delta.
“It’s a real shame,” said 21-year-old Sgt. James Rosselli. He had just returned home to Camden after a year in the Delta. “All we ever read about out there was the damned marines up north.”
For a year, Rosselli was a floating soldier and patrolled the delta “flat lands.” He says there is not really much to tell about what the Riverine Forces do, but an alert glance at his uniform tells a different story.
8-RIBBON WINNER
On his chest he wears eight ribbons. They include one Bronze Star for heroism, two Purple Hearts, three Army commendation medals and two Air Medals.
Rosselli is a 1966 graduate of Camden High School and was drafted in 1967.
When he was first assigned to the Riverine Force in Kim Hoa Province, he found it a bit unusual to be a sea-going soldier.
Just four months after he arrived, he was injured, on Friday the 13th. On that September day Rosselli was a point man for his platoon.
A point man is the first one to scout an area and look for the enemy and booby traps. Halfway over a dike, he found a booby trap. The blast blew him over the dike and the shrapnel took a couple good-sized chunks out of his leg.
SECOND INJURY
A few months later, in the same area he was injured again by another booby trap. This one not only injured him, but also a number of men in his platoon. Rosselli dragged a number of his injured platoon members out of enemy fire, and then returned, armed with a machine gun, to return the fire. When the smoke had cleared, the enemy had fled and Rosselli had earned the Bronze star.
Rosselli returned on Thursday to his home at 328 Pfeiffer st. in Camden.
He said he has many memories of the Riverine Force, but none of which can match the memory of that plane trip home.
See Also
Camden Families