Next in line was Sergeant Giovanni Pietro Tomasello who was born on May 12, 1895 in Pinewood, Florida, the son of Peter and Eulalie Tomasello. Brought to Bagdad as a small child, he grew up among the moss draped oak trees and the dark waters of Blackwater River. When the war clouds burst over Europe in 1914, the Tomasello family prayed that America could stay clear of the conflict. But the fates had other plans! As his country moved closer and closer to war, Giovanni enlisted on May 17, 1917 in Company "K" of the Florida National Guard that was recently recruited in Milton. They drilled incessantly while waiting to receive their uniforms and weapons. Within the company, he advanced to the rank of sergeant by September 10, 1917. However, when they were activated for combat duty he returned to the rank of private in the regular Army. He was assigned to Company "C" of the 106th Field Signal Battalion that was attached to the 31st Infantry Division.
He was ordered to report to Camp Wheeler, Georgia where he received his training in the communication methodology of the day. Keep in mind, this would the America's first war that involved the use of electricity. The new technology was already in use with such inventions like telegraphs, telephones, and radio communication. But, this new technology was still primitive at best given the hardships of weather, terrain and dependency on "wired" connections. In such hard times, carrier pigeons, messenger dogs and dispatch riders on motorcycles carried dispatches between units. While at Wheeler, he also joined the "Headquarters" football team and celebrated their great victory over the "Supply Train" team on Thanksgiving Day 1917. By 1918, all training was complete and the battalion boarded the SS Euripides on October 7, 1918 in Brooklyn, NY and headed for the war front.
Fortunately, the armistice was signed on November 11th and all hostilities ended, sparing Giovanni his first taste of combat. As the American forces were being returned home, the young Bagdad boy patiently waited his turn. On April 18, 1919, his battalion embarked on the SS Siboney in Bordeaux, France and set sail for Hoboken, New Jersey. He received his honorable discharge on his birthday May 12, 1919 and returned home to his parent's home. His father had since left Bagdad and taken a position in Millville, Bay County, Florida as superintendent of a lumber mill. It was the timber industry that created the town located along Watson Bayou. The industry in Millville had exploded after the German American Lumber Company acquired the St. Andrews Lumber Company. And it was the nature of his father to follow the timber in whatever direction it carried him.
But it was soon discovered that his son Giovanni had contracted tuberculosis while serving overseas like so many of our WWI veterans. Eventually, the disease began to take its toll on the young man. At first he was able to work so he obtained a job as a mechanic in the railroad shop of his father's lumber mill. But, he soon began to weaken and was sent to a government hospital in Asheville, North Carolina where he succumbed on July 10, 1921. His body was shipped home and buried in the Bagdad Cemetery with full military honors provided by the American Legion. There, he rests peacefully today surrounded by his parents.
Sergeant Giovanni P. Tomasello, WWI (1895-1921)
Giovanni and the 106th Field Signal Battalion at Camp Wheeler, Georgia 1917
Troop Transport SS Siboney that brought Giovanni home from WWI
Grave site of Sergeant Giovanni P. Tomasello
Bagdad Cemetery, Bagdad, Florida