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    This Is War: One Sailor’S True Story of Survival in the South Pacific During Wwii
    This Is War: One Sailor’S True Story of Survival in the South Pacific During Wwii
    This Is War: One Sailor’S True Story of Survival in the South Pacific During Wwii
    Ebook142 pages2 hours

    This Is War: One Sailor’S True Story of Survival in the South Pacific During Wwii

    By Valeria Ann Carrano

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    Arcangelo Sonny Parisi grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, and as the eldest brother of eight siblings, he spent a lot of time protecting his family.

    There were plenty of fights with bullies and the Irish police, but he didnt let that stop him from running the streets, stealing food, and seeking out adventure. From an early age, he learned to rely on himself and his Italian-American instincts for survival, which served him well when he was drafted into World War II and sent to the South Pacific.

    Told by his granddaughter, this life story of a courageous sailor celebrates Parisis many achievements from surviving the Great Depression as a youth, to marrying the love of his life, serving his country, and later becoming a mechanic. His life story is proof that no matter how big or small the goal, determination achieves results, whether its fixing a car or surviving a war.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateAug 13, 2014
    ISBN9781491734711
    This Is War: One Sailor’S True Story of Survival in the South Pacific During Wwii
    Author

    Valeria Ann Carrano

    Valeria Ann Carrano grew up in Madison, Connecticut, and always enjoyed listening to her grandfather’s stories about World War II. She is a cum laude graduate from Northeastern University with a dual degree in journalism and modern languages. She is the communications director for Exclusive Cruises, a yacht charter agency, and divides her time between Italy and the United States.

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    Reviews for This Is War

    3/5

    17 ratings4 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Not sure why I grabbed this one. Young girl dies; entitled country club folks tsk-tsk and then continue with their martinis; plucky girl gets determined to figure things out.
    • 1/5
      The main reason I wanted to read this book was because I really enjoyed the Roecker's first book, The Liar Society. (They also write really hilarious blog posts, just FYI). I knew very little about the story but thought I would enjoy anything the two wrote. Unfortunately, I was wrong.The story begins with Willa's thoughts on death right before she drowns. The book is then divided into five parts, each told from the perspective of one of Willa's friends who have banned together to take down her killer. The Setting- Hawthorne Lake Country Club, a place where the rich can basically do whatever they want to whomever they want, no questions asked, no consequences. This was the first thing that bothered me. Money is not everything. You can't just throw money at people to make things go away. Especially when that "thing" is murder. The fact that all the characters were so easily paid off to keep quiet was beyond frustrating. Does no one at this club have any morals? Apparently not. The Characters- The story is broken up into five parts each focusing on a different one of Willa's friends, their secrets, and memories of the night she died. Neither Rose, Lina, Sloane or Madge were likable characters. They were all spoiled rich brats, disillusioned about the real world and very stereotypical. The worst was Sloane a.k.a. "the dumb one" whom often got annoyed with herself for being so dumb. Her part was definitely the hardest to tolerate. None of the girls had any self respect, which was hard to take. There isn't even a strong enough word to describe my disgust of the Gregory brothers, who were basically club royalty. Alcoholic, drug dealer, rapist, murderer, all of these words apply to at least one of the Gregory boys. Trip Gregory treated girls like objects, drugging them to "relax" them (practically knock them unconscious) and have sex. I wanted to vomit!! The thing is, most of the girls were dumb enough that they took the pill no questions asked! Seriously?!? I feel bad writing such a negative review, but I honestly didn't enjoy a single aspect of this story. If the points mentioned above don't make you want rip your hair out or throw up then go ahead and give it a try. I'm sure some people will like it. I'm also sure a lot of people won't.
    • 4/5
      I received an ARC from a GR giveaway.

      This was an enjoyable adventure story involving young girls growing into women, figuring out themselves and the world and what justice means, while also learning to define and redefine friendship.
      All is not what it seems, and there were a few nice surprises along the way.
      The climax was a bit weak, but overall, the 16-year-old in me liked this read.
      I particularly enjoyed the sections in Rose's and Sloane's points of view.
      3.5 stars.
    • 3/5
      2.5 hearts

      This is W.A.R is a story about revenge and a mystery of who really did it. Willa has drowned been murdered and now her friends are out for revenge for the one who they blame and want justice. Family with money, gets away with murder. This is what got my attention, I am always up for a good revenge plot. Sadly, that isn’t what I really got.

      These are very different girls, who come together with a scheme of “revenge”. Rose is the daughter of the Country Club event planner, she is the shy one, and seemed to have a things for one of the suspects they have for Willa’s murder. Sloane is the girl trying to live up to what her parents expect her to be. Lina is the rebel of the group, she does everything she can to be different. And then ther is Madge, who is Willa’s step-sister. I believe she really care for her sister. All of these girls have their own secrets and their own reasons for wanting revenge against the Gregory boys.

      In this there are several different POV’s, each from the girls and their flashbacks and the present. The flashback did give some insight into the the events that lead up to the night that Willa drowned but I found myself scratching my head wondering why these girls acted the way they did. Where were their parents in all of this? This Country Club is one place that was filled secrets, people being paid off to keep quiet, to drugs being sold. There was talks of date rape drugs and the girls took them. And willingly. Yes willingly. There wasn’t much romance other than teenage lust. The plot of this moves at a slow speed and at times I was just waiting for somethings to happen. They planned “silly pranks” as part of the revenge plan to get the killer. They didn’t work very well, and I saying to myself, “Nail the killer already!”. There were some part that I enjoyed, like Willa’s flashback, and finding out who really did drown her. This is one of the things I liked and so I kept reading, I wanted to know if my hunch was right on who did it.

      Overall, this wasn’t a bad book, just not what I was expecting and looking for. I hope you’ll check out some other reviews. Predictable yes, but the mystery was pretty good. Fans of murder mysteries will enjoy it.

    Book preview

    This Is War - Valeria Ann Carrano

    PROLOGUE

    For as long as I can remember, I would sit with my grandfather and listen to his stories about his service in WWII. I can recite them all by heart, as I have heard them thousands of times. Somehow I never tire of hearing them and I love to listen to him tell me over and over again. We sit in the small kitchen, my grandmother cooking something that smells delicious on the stove (usually meatballs), and my grandfather and I sitting together at the little round table; a small glass of Italian table wine placed neatly in front of him that he sips on every so often.

    My grandfather and I have always had a special bond. Closer, it always seemed, than any of my friends had with their grandfathers. Perhaps it is because his daughter, my mother, passed away at a young age and I have in a way taken her place in the family. Maybe we would have been just as close despite her death, as I believe we would have.

    Regardless, my grandfather is my hero and as I grew up and began to understand life, I also began to realize that the stories he so often told me were not ordinary stories. They were emotional stories of survival that needed to be shared with the world.

    So I got to work. We would sit down together any opportunity that we had and he would talk while I would type.

    Years later, after much laughter and some tears, the book is finally coming together. I don’t know if the words will do the story justice; that is for the reader to decide, but I do know that the true Angelo Parisi comes alive on every page of this book. Passionate and loving, hot headed or a quick witted survivalist, Angelo portrays pride and confidence in who he is, where he comes from and what he believes in, a lesson that every human being should carry close to their heart.

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    Angelo, Valeria and Mitzie at Valeria’s graduation from Northeastern University

    NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, 1920’s AND 1930’s

    THE BEGINNING

    I was born on February 20, 1925. My wife Mitzie still insists that it was the 21st because my mother convinced everyone that I was born on George Washington’s birthday. President Washington’s birthday actually falls on the 22nd, so there has always been a discrepancy on the date of my birth. I was the second of eight children, born to Jennie Antonocci and Arcangelo Parisi. Being the first son, I am named after my father. The siblings from oldest to youngest are: Agnes, Angelo, Marie, Anthony, Freddy, Ann, Jean and Joseph.

    I never thought I was too hot in school, but I graduated. I always felt like I was stupid in the subject of math and yet today it’s my best subject. I hated history and today the only books I read are history books. It shows that you think you know something when you’re young but you really don’t.

    My sister Marie and my granddaughter tell me that I’m smart and I feel good when they say that to me because I grew up during the Depression and life was difficult. Yet I finished high school and accomplished all of my goals. I wanted to work on a Destroyer in the navy and I wanted to make it out of WWII alive. I wanted to marry Mitzie, the love of my life, and then I wanted to be a mechanic. Whatever I wanted to do in my life I did; when I put my mind to something, I did do it. That is a life lesson for anyone, no matter how big or small the goal. Determination achieves results, whether it is as small as fixing a car or as large as surviving a war.

    MY MOTHER AND FATHER

    My mother was born in America to Italian immigrant parents. She was a saint; she was always there for us growing up. The woman was fantastic. She used to pinch me on my shoulder if I did something wrong, that’s the most she ever did to discipline me.

    My father came to America when he was about fifteen years old. He came from a small village in the Basilicata region of Italy called Montescaglioso. He was an only child; his father having died when he was young and left his mother, Agatha Mianulli to care for him and their land—full of almond trees, olive groves and large casks of wine in a cave on their property. In her lifetime, Agatha was married three times, outliving all of her husbands yet never having any more children. When he was just fifteen years old my father decided that he wanted to live in America so he boarded a ship in Naples and arrived in America by way of Ellis Island. He never returned to Italy. Family lore says that his mother cut off his inheritance for marrying a US born woman.

    I have no idea how my parents met, but I do know that there was a nine-year difference between them. My mother stayed at home to raise the children and my father worked as a crane operator for the United Illuminating Company. Growing up during the Depression was difficult but we were lucky because we had each other and our parents provided everything we needed. All of the Italian immigrants and their families stuck together in New Haven, forming a large community to maintain the old world culture and traditions.

    Image%2003.jpeg

    Angelo’s Parents: Arcangelo Parisi and Jennie Antonocci

    image%204-07242014.jpg

    The Parisi Clan, from left to right: Arcangelo, Jennie, Freddy, Ann, Jean, Agnes, Angelo, Marie, Anthony (Joe is missing from this picture)

    THE DEPRESSION

    When I was a baby my mother used to dress me like a girl. I had curly hair and she used to put me in dresses and bonnets. Finally when I was four or five years old, I had had enough of all of my mother’s friends coming to the house and grabbing my curly hair, shaking and kissing me. One day I went into the bathroom, grabbed the scissors and climbed up onto the toilet bowl. There was a mirror above the toilet and I proceeded to cut off all of my curls, one by one. When my mother saw me she screamed, but the damage was already done.

    As time passed more siblings were born and we sank deeper into the Depression. I had a good home but I liked to run around the streets a little bit and by the time I was eight years old I was starting to wise up.

    Image%2005.jpg

    From Left: Arcangelo Parisi, Lucielle Antonacci (Angelo’s Godmother and Jennie’s sister), Angelo (baby) Pietro Manueli (Angelo’s Godfather)

    STALE DONUTS

    My father always forbade me to run through the streets. Strictly forbidden; but I used to do it when he wasn’t home. So by the time I reached elementary school, sometimes I would stop in the pastry shop on Grand Avenue on my way home. I would put two cents on the counter and say to the Baker, Give me two cents worth of stale donuts.

    The Baker would give me a big bag full of donuts left over from the day before and I would take the bag of donuts home to my brothers and sisters as a treat. On the way home I would walk behind the houses where the milk man would leave the milk. Once in a while I would steal a pint of milk from one of the houses and sit on the curb drinking it while eating a

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