Rosato, Joe

Joe Rosato was born June 8, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York.  He spent his early years in Wantagh, Long Island, before the family returned to Brooklyn.  Joe’s early years were not easy:  his parents had a difficult marriage and divorce, and Joe recalls that he and his brother were caught up in the tumult before they went to live with their grandmother.  They also grew up against the backdrop of the Cold War – and the consequent threats that were omnipresent for all Americans in that time.  Joe’s father was a World War Two veteran, and one of Joe’s uncles was killed in the Pacific, and those events helped to inform his later experiences too.  Joe completed high school but he remembers feeling lost his senior year; two teachers pointed him in a direction though, and he enrolled in night classes and joined the navy in the days when Vietnam was intensifying.  He went to submarine school at first, but when he didn’t meet the physical requirements a navy doctor transferred him to the regular navy, and he reported first to the USS Bristol and then the USS America.  The aircraft carrier completed a round-the-world trip en route to Vietnam, stopping in ports-of-call such as Rio and Capetown on the way.  Once in the Gulf of Tonkin, the USS America became the centerpoint of Yankee Station, the naval base of operations off the coast of North Vietnam.  Joe was a fully trained helmsman by that time, so he served on the bridge and also had duties in the folkscastle.  During his time at Yankee Station, Joe witnessed the war from the carrier, watching the aircraft come and go as they attacked targets.  His homecoming took place in December 1968 – finally the chance to reconnect with his young wife; the welcome was marred by the presence of protestors at Newark Airport.  Joe was expecting to go on a second tour, but America went into drydock and then President Nixon changed the deployment policies.  Joe was discharged in short order, and he resumed his career in logistics, which he followed through to his retirement.  In recent years Joe has become active in veterans’ causes, and he is an active docent at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial and Museum.  Joe Rosato was interviewed by Scott Masters at his home in New Jersey in July 2025.