Bronx Resident Has War Museum
Joseph Garofalo stands among his war relics that include these Army, Navy and Marines insignia. Items from all four branches of the military are featured.
Grenades of various types, coins and medals donated by local vets can be viewed by visitors, who can also look up and enjoy the models of war planes collected by Garofalo.
Korea and Vietnam conflicts are remembered among these badges of honor that hang beneath some of the equipment of war.
Nazi motorcycle gloves, a box labeled “beans with frankfurter chunks,” and a knife made out of the propeller of a downed Kamikaze plane. They are just some of the small relics of war Bronx veterans have brought home over a century, and Joseph Garofalo is fighting to find them a home.
The 87-year-old retired carpenter and lifelong Bronx resident has created an eclectic exhibit of more than 100 items - what he loosely calls the Bronx Veterans Museum.
It is currently housed in a corner of the sitting room at the John Dormi & Sons Funeral Home on Morris Park Ave.
The exhibit’s most popular feature is two growing binders filled with photos of Bronx veterans, dropped off by family members or the vets themselves.
New this month is a showcase, paid for by veterans, filled with uniforms from the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force from World War I through the Vietnam War.
“People come in almost every day,” said Terry LeVoci, office manager of the funeral home. “They want to look at pictures or artifacts. They are drawn to it.”
Garofalo would like to find a permanent display area in the Bronx.
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