AmyBeth Parravano’s father, Olindo Luigi Izzo, would have especially enjoyed this Father’s Day.
Izzo passed away in 1985 and would have turned 99 this year, but his service to the country is immortalized. Parravano recently received a Purple Heart on behalf of her father, who saved a young soldier’s life during World War II.
Izzo served as a tank commander for the 10th Armored Division Tigers and fought in the invasion of Normandy as well as the Rhine campaign in Berlin. He got injured at the Battle of the Bulge, and he told his daughter that medics said he was lucky to have survived.
“They used to tell me the story, he was next to a German soldier and they were in the same hospital room,” Parravano said during an interview at Sun Rise offices on June 7. “It sounds like a scene from a movie, but it really happened. And the German soldier said to him, ‘You’re an American soldier, we fight each other, but now we’re both fighting to try to stay alive.’ He would tell me this, and I would get goosebumps.”
Parravano said her father was always telling war stories, and she later learned that he appeared in several Army films. She even recalls him showing her a picture of himself with a rifle standing next to Gen. George S. Patton. She said she has searched the web for that picture, but has not been able to locate it.
During her years at college in the early ’70s, she would wear his service jacket. She was immensely proud of her father’s service.
“I used to think it was cool. My friends would make fun of it because it was the Vietnam War era, but I still liked showing off this,” Parravano, who grew up in Johnston, said with a laugh. “I used to walk around with my guitar on campus. I thought that was cool!”
She had been scouring every available resource for information about her father since his death in 1985, hitting roadblocks along the way that nearly discouraged her to the point of giving up.
Then, some internet searches of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration revealed some information about her father’s time at war, as well as his education, civilian occupation and marital status. She also noted that he was enlisted on Dec. 16, 1942, and discharged on Sept. 26, 1945.
She would later find out that, in addition to Izzo’s Purple Heart, he received a slew of other honors for his role in the war. She provided a list of his numerous recognitions, which included a Bronze Star and WWII Victory Medal.
As the 75th anniversary of D-Day passed last week, Parravano said it was important to spread the word about her father’s service and the medals she recently received that will keep his memory alive forever.
“It was cool,” Parravano said, looking over a picture of herself holding Izzo’s Purple Heart. “I never dreamed that I would be the one, years later, to help to carry on his legacy…I feel like I’m the one to tell the story. I figured this stuff should come out now.”
Parravano also provided to the Sun Rise a copy of the poem she wrote for her father, whom she said was a “humble man, citizen [and] soldier.”
“He was a faithful father, loyal spouse, who loved and reigned in our house,” Parravano wrote. “His valiant ideals, he taught his children from early youth work, toil and strife. With faith and hope he lived his life. He held in high esteem and fulfilled his vision [of the] American Dream.”
Her father isn’t Parravano’s only military connection either. Her husband, Tony – a Korean War veteran – accompanied her to the interview. He was wearing his real boonie hat from his time in battle, and took it off to show a slight fraying at the top. It wasn’t from age.
“It’s where I got buzzed,” Tony said. “This was my field cap.”
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