Albert S. Godalla
Rank: Private, U.S. Army
Serial: 33800146
Unit: 351st Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division
Entered service from: New Jersey
Died:
Buried at: New St. Mary's Cemetery, 515 West Browning Road, Bellmawr, New Jersey
Awards: Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster; Presidential Citation for Gallantry
Biography
Private Albert S. Godalla was born in Pennsylvania in 1907 to a Hungarian immigrant couple, John and Catherine Godalla. In 1920 the Godalla family lived in Philadelphia, where John Godalla worked as a spring maker. Older brother William, then 16, had gone to work as a helper in a store, and there was a younger sister, Amelia, 5 years old. Albert Godalla received a grammar school education before joining the workforce.
By the late 1930s, Albert Godalla had married. He and his wife Winifred made their home at 723 Jersey Avenue in Gloucester City, New Jersey. Prior to his military service, he worked at a manufacturing plant in Philadelphia. He was inducted into the United States Army at Philadelphia on September 25, 1943 and was sent overseas in May of 1944.
Albert Godalla was killed in action while serving in Italy on August 8, 1944. His death was reported in the Camden Courier-Post on August 29, 1944. He is memorialized on the war memorial in Gloucester City. He was survived by his wife, Winifred Godalla, who never re-married, and his brother and sister.
Obituary
Camden Courier-Post —
PFC. ALBERT S. GODALLA
Solemn high requiem Mass for Pfc. Albert S. Godalla, 74 Oxford Avenue, Gloucester Heights, will be celebrated at 9 a.m. Saturday in St. Mary's R.C. Church, Gloucester. Relatives and friends will meet at 8 a.m. in the McCann funeral home, Brown and Monmouth Streets, Gloucester, where friends may call Friday night. Burial will be in New St. Mary's Cemetery, Bellmawr, with military honors.
Private Godalla was killed July 19, 1944, in Italy while serving with the 351st Infantry. He was 34 and was posthumously awarded a Presidential citation for gallantry in action in North Africa, and a Purple Heart for wounds suffered there.
Surviving are his widow, Winifred, and his mother, Mrs. Catherine Zevyack, both of Gloucester; a brother, William Godalla, and a sister, Mrs. Amelia Lydon, both Philadelphia.