Ol'Harry

GLENWOOD HAD WW II GIRLS TOO

An iconic poster dominated the Greensboro community of Glenwood's landscape during WW II, entitled, GLENWOOD BOYS IN SERVICE.  This column offers equal opportunity recognition of a Glenwood girl.

POW WIDOW LOOKS OVER POSTER OF WW II
NEIGHBORS FROM GLENWOOD COMMUNITY

  

Helen Hayworth could have easily jumped to the conclusion she had picked the wrong G.I. for her beau.  Since platoon-sized groups of soldiers came and went from her Glenwood home for meals, parties, and fellowship, she had many to choose from. 

“Our house seemed to be a magnet for out-of-town soldiers.  My father would bring a carload of them home with him sometimes.  Many took their meals with us, but others  were happy just to sit around on the porch and talk,” Hayworth recalls. 

“They were all very nice.  The fact that my father was a Greensboro policeman may have had something to do with that.  My mother pampered them with food and attention.  She said, ‘I know someone would do the same for my boys.’  My brothers, Robert and Tommy served in World War II.”

While none of the soldiers who visited the Hayworth home passed Helen Hayworth’s  muster, one she met at a July 4^th parade did.  “He was from the north, but I really liked him.  He came back to Greensboro on several weekends to see me.  He promised to write after he went overseas. 

I was so terribly disappointed when I didn’t hear from him for months on end!”

The truth be known, Corporal Antonio (Tony) Sanginite, a Brooklyn, New York native, may have written his southern belle while in route overseas.  Unfortunately, outgoing mail went down with his ship.  It was torpedoed by Luftwaffe bombers three miles off the African Coast in November, 1942.  Hours later, it was torpedoed by a German submarine, after which the USS Leedstown (AP-73) went down in 10 minutes.

Sanginite swam ashore and fought as an infantryman.  His 39^th Infantry Regiment swept across North Africa until the Battle of the Kasserine Pass in February, 1943, where he was captured as a prisoner of war. 

Per Helen Hayworth, “Months after he promised to write, I finally heard from him – a solitary postcard notifying me he was a prisoner of war in Italy.  I couldn’t even write him back, there was no return address.” 

Meanwhile, Sanginite escaped from the POW Camp in Italy and rejoined U.S. forces, only to be captured again.  This time, he was imprisoned in Northern Germany.  This time, the war was over for him.

A SANGINITE GRANDSON SERVING AS ARMY OFFICER VISITED THE WW II GERMAN STALAG IN WHICH HIS GRANDFATHER WAS IMPRISONED AND BROUGHT THIS PAVER FROM THE RUINS FOR HIS GRANDMOTHER

For Helen Hayworth, it was another postcard – with no return address.

“Tony was liberated after VE-Day and came straight to Greensboro – he didn’t even go see his mother in New York.  When he knocked on the door of our house on Highland Avenue, I almost died! 

My sister had just married a returning veteran – they had a big church wedding.  I didn’t want a big wedding – I just wanted to marry Tony.  In less than a week, we had gone to York, South Carolina for our wedding.  It couldn’t have been better – the Justice of the Peace had a room all fixed up, a piano player, and everything!”

Tony Sanginite spent the rest of his life in Greensboro, working first as a mechanic and later with the post office.  Health ramifications, likely related to his POW experiences, took his life at the early age of 61.  The Sanginites have one daughter, Toni Price.

Helen Hayworth Sanginite is now 92.  She and Toni, along with Toni’s husband, Randy, remain active with the American Ex-Prisoner of War Association. 

The historic Glenwood Boys in Service poster, which hung for years in Glenwood’s Grove Street Café, was broken out at a recent AXPOW meeting.  Of the 200 photos, Sanginite knew most of them.  In some instances, “I don’t remember that boy’s name, but I remember where he lived.”

She has a cache of other memories as well, such as meeting Amelia Earhart, “I met Amelia through a friend, Jean Benson.  Jean lived out on High Point Road and flew her own plane.  Amelia visited her when she came to Greensboro.”

She also has memories of the Preddy brothers – preceding their World War II heroics.   “The Preddys were distant cousins.  When their family came to our home to visit, the Preddy boys tried their best to aggravate my sisters and me – they were very good at it.”

Sanginite attended McIver Elementary and Central Junior High Schools and graduated from Grimsley High School, class of 1941.

In addition to raising her daughter, she worked for Joseph Ruzicka Book Binders and Pilot Life Insurance Company.  An active member of the Greensboro’s First Moravian Church, she has taught Sunday School, sang in the choir and served as president of the Women’s Fellowship, “I always try to do what I’m asked.” 

She and her sister, Dorothy, served food at Potter’s House for over 20 years.

Should a poster of Glenwood girls who kept the World War II home fires burning be found, I expect Helen Hayworth Sanginite’s photo to be front and center.