Albert Crescenzo Costanzo

West Point, 1951

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by J. A. "Andy" Chacon on October 8, 2011:

Albert Crescenzo Costanzo Born April 15, 1927 -- Died October 5, 2011 Albert Crescenzo "Al" Costanzo was born on 15 April 1927 in Lewis Run, PA. After graduating from St. Bernard's HS, he was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Corps on 23 July 1945. He served as a surveyor and attained the rank of Corporal. After receiving an AUS appointment to West Point, he attended USMAPS and entered West Point on 1 July 1947. Al's roommates foretold the reason for his good fortune in the "Howitzer". They said, "He was never happy unless he was working. Full of ambition and perfection, he never let a day go by without inventing a gadget to ease the life of his roommates. He was never satisfied until he had the 'Big Picture'." On graduation, Al went in Corps of Engineers. His first troop assignment was training draftees at the Training Center at Fort Belvoir, VA until February 1952. He then served with various engineer companies during four Korean War campaigns. Noteworthy was that, as the Company Commander of an Engineer Dump Truck Company, he was responsible for integrating the unit as required by President Truman's 1948 Executive Order. For his Korean War service, Al earned the Bronze Star Medal, a Meritorious Unit Citation and a Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. In 1956, Al obtained a MS degree in Civil Engineering from MIT. He then attended Harvard before he was assigned to teach at West Point from 1957 to 1961 as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics. His next assignment was on the Staff and Faculty of the U.S. Army School Europe from 1961 to 1963 where he taught NATO officers nuclear weapons effects. This was followed by a one year assignment in Germany as the S-3, Operations officer, of the 540th Engineer Group. Al was awarded the Army Commendation Medal on completion of this assignment. Upon his return to the United States in 1964, the US Army CGSC was Al's next assignment. On completion in 1965, he was assigned to the Defense Communications Agency in the Pentagon as an Operations Research Analyst responsible for designing war gaming models for the Joint Chiefs of Staff's Joint War Games Agency. This time, Al was decorated with the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Al then found himself in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, first serving as the Battalion Commander of the 589th Engineer Construction Battalion and later as Chief of the Construction Branch in the U.S. Army Engineer Construction Agency. He was awarded a Legion of Merit, a second Bronze Star Medal, and another Meritorious Unit Citation and served in four Vietnam War campaigns. On return to the States, he was assigned again to the Pentagon. This time, he served for one year on the Army Staff as a Force Planner in the Office of the Army's Assistant Chief of Staff for Force Development. He received the Army General Staff Badge and the Army Meritorious Service Medal. on completion of this assignment, he went once again to school to attend the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and graduated as a Distinguished Graduate in June 1971. During the last 10 years of his service, Al served as a Colonel in threee key assignments. From 1971 to 1974, he was the District Engineer for the Corps' Wilmington District in Wilmington, NC. He was awarded his second Meritorious Service Medal for this assignment. Then in 1974 to 1977, he served again in the Pentagon. This time he was the Deputy to the Army's Assistant Chief of Engineers. His last military assignment was at Fort Belvoir, VA from 1977 to 1981 as the Resident Member, of the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors. Al was awarded his second Legion of Merit for his work. He retired on 30 June 1981 as a Colonel after serving 36 years in the military as an enlisted man, cadet, and officer and in three wars with over 5 2/3 years of overseas service. Al married his hometown sweetheart, Rose DiFonzo, on 30 June 1954. They lived at 18181 Edwards Shop Road in Elkwood, Virginia where they own and operate a 70-acre tree farm raising 2,500 Christmas trees for sale as a "choose and cut" operation. Both Al and Rose served on the Board of Directors for the Culpeper County Literacy Council. They also worked as volunteer tutors for the Literacy Council. Rose teaches adults how to read and write, while Al taught inmates at the Culpeper County Jail to help them qualify to take the high school equivalency (GED) test. They also both enjoyed making quilts. During the Summer 2000, one of their astronomy-themed quilts was on display at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor' Center and another at the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg, VA. They had five sons and a daughter and seven grandchildren. Two of their sons work as civilians for the Department of the Army, another works as a full-time civilian environmental engineer for the Virginia Air National Guard and also serves as a Captain in that unit, a fourth is a full-time Captain in an artillery brigade in the Virginia Army National Guard, and their fifth son served a three year tour in the Army as an enlisted man and then as a reservist in the U.S. Air Force Reserves in the Chicago area. He is a high school fine arts teacher and the father of five of their gradchildren. Their daughter has two sons who are still too young to decide if they want to pursue a military career.

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