S1c Mike Joseph Quarto

When Michael “Mike” Joseph Quarto enlisted in the Navy on Oct. 15, 1940, economic times were tough for most American families.

Born May 3, 1919, he was still just 21 and had been working as a laborer for the Works Progress Administration, a federal jobs program. 

Mr. Quarto was living at home in Norwich in southeastern Connecticut with his parents, Joseph and Rosa, both Italian immigrants. The father was a construction laborer and the mother a machine operator in a shoe factory. A daughter, Louise, was a clerk at a department store. All together, the family earned $292 in 1939, according to the Census.

Mr. Quarto was a seaman first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

A granite bench next to the Columbus monument at Broadway and Crescent Street in Norwich honors Italian-American War Veterans Michael J. Quarto Post #20. As of November 2017, it does not appear that the post still existed. Quarto Road in Norwich is named in his memory.

Sources: Navy muster rolls; The Day newspaper of New London, Connecticut; US Census; “Legendary Locals of Norwich, Connecticut,” by Beryl Fishbone. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.