Joseph Saprella

Like most boys named Joseph, this person only used that formal name on paper. When Joe was born in 1902 he had an older brother and sister but by the end of the decade there were two more sisters. They were all born in Philadelphia to Austrian immigrants, Roman Thomas Zaprala and Eva Karpiak. Roman eventually used just his middle name, and Joe eventually changed his last name to Saprella.

The children grew up on Adams Avenue in the Frankford section of Philadelphia. Neither boy had any involvement in the first world war. Joe married Catherine Muldoon on June 30, 1926 in Elkton, Maryland and on November 18 they had a daughter, Marian.

The 1930 census lists them living with Catherine’s parents in the neighborhood known as Eastwick, although it happens to be the southwesternmost section of Philly. Joseph listed his job as both pipefitter and plumber. On the third day of 1931 a second daughter, Norma, was welcomed to the family, but there was sadness in July when Eva died of heart failure.

Joe and his sisters had another death to deal with in 1937 and almost had two. His father was living with Joe’s single brother, who was a truck farmer in Eastwick, but both of them were suddenly sickened at home. John died of food poisoning but Thomas recovered.

The 1940 census lists Catherine as head of the Saprella household and her marital status as married, but for some reason Joe wasn’t counted. She and the girls were living with her sister just north of the Art Museum. Meanwhile, Thomas was living with Anna, his oldest daughter, and her family in Eastwick. That’s where he died from hardening of the arteries in May of that year.

The paper trail caught up with Joe on February 16, 1942 when he registered for the draft. Answering the question, “name and address of person who will always know your address” he listed his oldest sister, Anna. He worked at the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot, which was operated by the U.S. Army to provide uniforms, meals, and other supplies to deployed military members.

Joe chose to enlist in the Naval Reserve on December 7, 1942 but wasn’t placed on active duty until the following April. He went overseas in February, 1944 on the USS General Brooke. He is shown here as part of Company A of the 67th Construction Battalion (C.B.), commonly known as the Seabees. His draft card confirmed his small stature (5’8” and 140 pounds) but that was a good match with his skills as a pipefitter. They were put to good use as a Seabee who had the rating of Shipfitter 1st Class.

After that tour was over in the summer of 1945, Joe was stationed at San Francisco and given a furlough. He hopped on a train from San Francisco to Philadelphia on July 15 but somewhere in western Pennsylvania he suddenly became ill. A few minutes after he was taken off the train at the Harrisburg station he died from a heart attack. A local newspaper story said he was survived by his wife, Catherine.

Because he was still on active duty, the Philadelphia Naval Hospital received the body and arranged for the burial and headstone here in the Naval Plot. The rest of his family was buried elsewhere.