My Grandma In World War II By Jessie R. Valley View Elementary 2003

Jeanne (Lograsso) Prestwich My Grandma’s name is Jeanne (Lograsso) Prestwich and she was in the Navy during World War II. She joined in 1944 when she was 21 years old. She was born and raised in Angola, New York. It was a small town of about 1500 people. Her family was Italian and her dad owned a pasta factory, butcher shop and general store. She had 3 brothers and 4 sisters and her mother took care of the family.

She went to boot camp at Hunter College in the Bronx, New York. While she was in camp she saw President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his dog Fala. The President came to review the troops. Once during a weekend leave she went to New York City. She saw Charles Broulliet, a famous movie star, at a French bookstore and got his autograph.

After that she went to Milledgeville, Georgia to the USNT College where she was trained to be a storekeeper. Then she was assigned to the Naval Supply Depot in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. There they kept track of the supplies for the Navy operation on the east coast. There were POW’s from Germany there while she was there. She went to see Harry James, a popular singer, in concert in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which was close by. He sang a popular song called, “It’s Been A Long, Long Time”.

Next she went to Washington D. C. to work for the Navy’s legal review board. She worked as a secretary for the Navy’s lawyers. While she was in Washington D. C. she would go with her friend to a restaurant. Nat King Cole owned the restaurant and he would play the piano there. She left the Navy in 1948 when she got married.

I asked her what she wants future generations to remember about the war. She said people should remember the Holocaust and how horrible it was that innocent people were killed. It was fun to interview my grandma. My family and I learned many things about her that we didn’t know.