ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Nicholas Francullo, 95, talks about landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day.
By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
LYNN — As U.S. Army SSgt. Nicholas Francullo got ready to feast on shrimp scampi in celebration of his 95th birthday on Monday, he recalled a time when his days were spent quite differently.
Francullo, who served in the 83rd Infantry Division, arrived on Omaha Beach in Normandy, 73 years ago Tuesday.
Francullo is a two-time Purple Heart recipient for wounds he received in Grassau, Germany on December 23, 1944 and April 15, 1945. He also received two bronze and two silver stars. His medals, certificates, and photos of his time in Europe are displayed on a wall in his home the family calls The Honor Wall. Two small bullets, once imbedded in the West Lynn man’s body, are taped to a frame beside his honors.
“We had 13 guys in the squad,” said Francullo. “We took turns doing guard duty. I was on night call duty and it was 2 in the morning when I heard German boots stomping towards me. I was behind a wooden fence and I hollered ‘halt’ but I was met with gunfire.”
A bullet traveled through the fence and struck Francullo on his left side, just between his ribs. He said he was brought to the medics immediately, where he complained to the nurse that the bullet was touching his bone.
“She reached in with pliers and pulled it right out,” he said. “She said ‘have a souvenir.’ The doctors said ‘aren’t you a lucky bastard. That fence saved your life.’”
Francullo said that as far as he can remember, the second Purple Heart stems from being hit by a stray bullet.
When he returned home to Lynn, he was faced with a new challenge. The first student to be drafted from Lynn English High School at age 18, he was left with five unfulfilled credits to graduate, he said.
“My mother went up there and said, ‘you give him his diploma,’ but they would only give me a war diploma,” said Francullo. “When I came home my dad said you have to get your diploma and take the civil service test to get a civil service job. So I had to go back for five credits.”
He secured a job with the post office, delivering mail in the area of Newhall Street, Surfside Road, and the Nahant Rotary, he said. He walked 11 miles each day on the job for 35 years until he retired.
“He’s the only man I know who walked across Europe, then came home and walked some more,” said his son, Nicholas Francullo, Jr. “That’s a lot of walking.”
As a mailman, his time was well served. He vividly remembers a day he was delivering mail on Newhall Street when he heard a woman screaming for help. He ran back down the road to find that her husband had collapsed in the bathroom, barricading the door. He pushed the door open, pulled the man out and called for help.
To his children, Helena Walsh, Francullo, Jr., and Terry Levasseur, he is and always has been Sgt. Nick.
“If he called for us from downstairs, we came right away,” said Levasseur. “He has always been our hero.”
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at bturcotte@itemilve.com. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.