Brothers band together to honor one of their own

Brothers band together to honor one of their own
by Michelle Gladden

A replica of almost every medal and ribbon that has ever been produced by the United States military can be found in the basement of Frank DeAngelis’ Middletown home.

Many are on display in a room next to his workshop, but for the most part they rest in file cabinets or are neatly stacked in plastic containers that line the back wall of his workshop a space he uses to create shadow boxes for veterans of past wars.

“This is a request I received today,” he said, referring to a letter from Tacoma, Wash. “I’ll send it out in two weeks.”

In those two weeks, DeAngelis, a World War II veteran, will continue work on the five shadow boxes that currently are in various stages of development while researching the request from Tacoma. Once that veteran’s accolades have been confirmed, DeAngelis will begin to recreate the multicolored ribbons and medals. The placement of a veteran’s honors are meticulously measured against a black backdrop and, when finished, will tell the complete history of his military life…

Next week, members of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army, will travel from across the country to honor DeAngelis for his work.

“We are honoring him because of his charity,” said Col. Edward Shames of Virginia Beach, Va., an original member of Easy Company. “We are honoring him because of his service to all veterans.”

DeAngelis, a Navy veteran who spends a few hours each day creating the shadow boxes, has made more than 600 to date. He now creates them exclusively for the men of Easy Company.

“I know he’s (done) them for a lot of different men in a lot of different branches,” said his son, Richard, of Flemington.”He’s never taken any type of payment. He’ll always say, “Buy me a cup of coffee someday; I don’t want anything else.’ ”

Anchors aweigh

Frank DeAngelis was born in Cliffside Park. After his parents’ death, a 3-year-old DeAngelis was placed (along with his brother, Jack) into foster care. By 16, he would enlist in the Navy.

“We were free; the state no longer owned us,” DeAngelis said. “The war was going on, and my brother had left to join, so I joined. About two months past 17, I was already in the Pacific War.”

DeAngelis served from February 1943 to June 1946. During that time, he worked as an engineer in the boiler room of the USS Salem, a mine layer, and on the USS Odum, a marine transport.

“We went to the Solomon Islands, the Marianas, Marshall Islands and the Philippines,” he said. “I didn’t get home until the war was over. And when I got home, I was not 21-years-old I couldn’t vote, and I couldn’t go get a drink.”

His career began with a number of odd jobs, including salvage work and laundry pick-up at a dry-cleaning store. Before long, he’d convinced his brother to partner in a construction business.

But his hobby, creating shadow boxes, took shape when his wife of 52 years, Elizabeth, bought him one for his own medals.

“I used to keep them in a cigar box,” he said.

Soon, DeAngelis would share the pride of seeing his medals on display with hundreds of the nation’s veterans and their families.

“I’d read an article about a Marine from Virginia who had served in the Vietnam War and had risen through the ranks to become a colonel,” he said.

Determined to create a shadow box in honor of the highly decorated officer, DeAngelis began a search to find the Korean War and Vietnam veteran.

“I got the phone book and found his mother by luck,” he recalled. “I said, “You don’t know who I am, but I need your son’s phone number so I may call him.’ And she gave me the number. That’s how trusting that woman was.

“I called the Marine,” he said. “I told him I’d like to make a shadow box up, and he gave me a place where I could probably get some medals.”

A determined man

Soon, DeAngelis created a company, Frank’s Sports and Hobbies, to purchase the medals for his new hobby. Over the years, he’d create close to 500 shadow boxes for men in all branches of the military.

“Rank didn’t mean a thing,” he said. “It’s who I chose to make a shadow box for.”

With 500 shadow boxes under his belt, DeAngelis retired when surgery for Dupuytren’s contracture affected his ability to affix the intricate details onto the medals and ribbons. Dupuytren’s contracture is a thickening of deep tissue that passes from the palm of the hand into the fingers.

But three years ago after medical intervention to ease the discomfort DeAngelis came out of retirement and began exclusively creating shadow boxes for the men of Easy Company, their families and for the families of the men who were killed in action.

“I’d seen the movie and read the book,” he said referring to the “Band of Brothers.”

“I’d had a heart attack, and my doctor told me I’d needed to get a hobby,” he said.

So DeAngelis contacted Major Richard Winters to begin creation of shadow boxes for the men of Easy Company and their families.

Two years ago, he was made an honorary member of the Band of Brothers for his work.

“He’s never passed up a chance to help veterans,” Shames said.

“He’s a very determined man,” said Richard DeAngelis. “Once he gets an idea in his head nothing will stop him from achieving his goal. He’s learned how to overcome obstacles to get what he wants to get accomplished. He has done well for himself, from where he started in life. Crafting the shadow boxes it’s almost a way of him giving back.”