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Tony Bennett, the Grammy award winning American singer died on July 21, 2023, at the age of 96. Bennett served in the military after just turning 18 in 1944. He was deployed to Europe in March of 1945. The singer was drafted in the 63rd Infantry Division to fight in World War II.
At the time of his death, Tony Bennett was in his hometown in New York. His cause of death has not been disclosed yet, although it is known that he was suffering from Alzhiemers disease since 2016. The news of his demise was announced on his Twitter handle:
Tony documented his first-hand experience of war in his autobiography, The Good Life, where he called the second world war a "front row seat to hell." Being the son to Italian immigrants in the second world war, the young soldier reportedly suffered significant mistreatment from his sergeant.
The military life of Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto, known by his stage name Tony Bennett, was born in Long Island city to two Italian immigrants on August 3, 1926. Growing up during depression, Tony did not have much to his name. He got deployed to serve in the World War II as a soldier in the 63rd Infantry Division in 1945.
Tony later became one of the most beloved artists of all time, winning 20 Grammy Awards.
As it was for most soldiers, Bennett had a traumatic time in the military during World War ll. The New York State of Mind singer wrote about the horrors of war in his autobiography The Good Life.
Recounting the time he liberated a concentration camp in Landsberg, Germany, he wrote:
“I’ll never forget the desperate faces and empty stares of the prisoners as they wandered aimlessly around the campgrounds.”
He continued by saying that the people there “had been brutalized" to such an extent that most didn't believe that the Americans were there to help them and not kill them.
Racism in the American troops of WW2
There were several instances of blatant racism in the military. Tony Bennett wrote about the same in the The Good Life, where he deemed his sergeant "an old-fashioned southern bigot" who harrassed him because he was "an Italian from New York City."
He then continued:
"I wasn’t the only one who experienced prejudice — it was just as bad for other ethnic groups, especially the Blacks and Jews.”
One of the incidents from Bennett's military days significantly mpacted the rest of his life. This was when he unexpectedly met his good friend and fellow quartet singer, Frank Smith, on Thanksgiving Day in 1945.
The two were berated by an irate officer just for having a meal together as normal men. Though friendly interaction between people of different skin color was severely frowned upon at the time.
Recalling the incident, Tony Bennet wrote in his autobiography:
“This officer took out a razor blade and cut my corporal stripes off my uniform right then and there.”
The officer then spit on the two and threw them on the floor.
The experience made Bennett an avid supporter of the fight against racism. He marched with Martin Luther King Jr. on March 25, 1965.
Tony Bennet had a splendid music career with evergreen songs like Rags to Riches and I Left My Heart in San Francisco. He also collaborated with Lady Gaga on multiple songs including Anything Goes and Just In Time.
