History takes on a whole new life inside funeral home

Veterans museum inside Dormi and Sons Funeral Home
Bronx Times
By Robert Wirsing

Community News Group / Robert Wirsing

Joseph Garofalo, curator, shares his WWII knowledge and personal

experiences to eager P.S. 108 students.

History takes on a whole new life inside one local funeral home.

John Dormi and Sons Funeral Home, at 1121 Morris Park Avenue, has one feature setting it apart from all others.

Inside the lobby are display cases housing various military artifacts hailing from all the WWII combatants. Joe Garofalo, 94, is the curator of this room-sized museum. A WWII veteran, Garofalo was a petty officer second class for the Navy’s Seabees attached to the fourth Marine Division. He fought and participated in three invasions in the South Pacific theater.

“I had good times and bad times,” shared Garofalo. “But some of my best times were in the service.”

On Friday, October 24, students from P.S. 108 visited this museum. Eagerly, they viewed each exhibit, carefully handled various military artifacts, and listened intently to real-life accounts from veterans. Garofalo; Albert Maza, WWII army civil core; and Jeremy Warneke; district manager of Community Board 11, an Iraq War veteran, shared their stories to the fifth graders who clung to every word and asked many questions throughout.
read more here