201. Four Bagdad Brothers Go to War 1918 (Part II)

Updated: Mar 30, 2022

Peter Tomasello came to America in 1882 where he entered the lumber business, eventually making his way through Georgia and to Bagdad, Florida. He would meet and marry his wife Eulalie from Georgia in 1885. Knowing that the lumber industry was highly lucrative in Bagdad, he and his fledgling family bought passage by ship to Pensacola and then on to Bagdad by river boat. He quickly moved from a laborer to an operator to a superintendent to owning the Robinson Point Lumber Company along with his brother Rudolph P. Tomasello. Their four sons would quickly become homegrown patriots during WWI for their adopted homeland. They were Adone Daneri (born December 10, 1891), Giovanni P. (born May 12, 1895), Dewey P. (born December 12, 1887), and Pietro Tomasello Jr. (born 1-6-1900).

The next of the Tomasello brothers to head "over there" was Adone Daneri, who rose to the rank of Major before the end of the war. He was born in Bagdad on December 10, 1891 and attended the Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Ga. Although recently began in 1908, Adone occupied a desk in their fledgling Class of 1913. There, he was known as "Geech" and excelled in sports as a member of the 1910 football team and the 1911 tennis and boxing team. He would marry Aldora "Dora" White in c1915 (possibly from Bluff Springs) and set up housekeeping in Bagdad.

With the entrance of the U.S. into World War I, Adone was called up to active duty from the Florida National Guard on August 15, 1917. He was assigned to the 5th Company, 157th Depot Brigade at Camp Gordon, GA. There he was assigned as a Sergeant 1st class in the sanitary department of the 1st Florida National Guard Infantry Regiment. But in May 1917, he was chosen for Officer Candidate School at Ft. McPherson, GA and commissioned a Captain of infantry. Upon his return to his unit at Camp Gordon, the 6' 2", 200-pound officer came under the eye of Commanding Officer James B. Erwin. He was immediately chosen for Erwin's Camp Gordon champion football team.

But with the war entering its fifth bloody year, it was time to go! He was assigned to the Headquarters Company of the 328th Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Division. He and his regiment walked up the gangplank and boarded the SS Grampian in Boston, MA on May 1, 1918. Just down the gangway in Company "G" was a quiet, older man from Tennessee by the name of Alvin C. York. However, on October 8, 1918 this backwoods unassuming Tennessean alone wiped out a German machine nest, plus killing twenty and capturing 132 enemy soldiers. His feat is still recognized today as one of the most significant acts of heroism by a single soldier during World War I. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and a spot in Hollywood history in the film "Sergeant York" played by Gary Cooper. After disembarking in Le Harve, France,

Adone's regiment entered the Toul sector of the line on June 27th, in support of a French Division. From July 3, 1918 to July 14th, Adone served as regimental adjutant. On August 9th, the regiment took over the Marbache Sector that lay astride the Moselle River. Here, he was made regimental operations officer on August 12, 1918. He saw his first action during the battle of St. Mihiel from September 12th to the 18th. Then came the Battle of Verdun where they were thrown into the Meuse-Argonne offensive on the 6th of October. There, they fought until October 30th at which time they were withdrawn to lick their wounds. Casualties were 8,300 with 169 taken as prisoners of war. Thankfully, the Armistice was signed ending all hostilities on November 11, 1918. Afterwards, Adone would receive his promotion to Major on November 18, 1918. The regiment would embark on the SS Scranton on May 9, 1919 at the port of Bordeaux, France and sailed for home. Adone was discharged from the Army on May 23, 1919 returning home to Bagdad.

Upon his discharge, he took a job as the superintendent of a sawmill in Bay County, Florida. This was most likely the St. Andrews Lumber Co., which was closed in 1930 due to depletion of the surrounding forests. Therefore, its president, Walter C. Sherman moved his operation to Okeechobee. And it was about this time that Adone and Dora moved their family to Okeechobee where he became the proprietor of a sawmill, most likely the Sherman Lumber Company. The company employed over 1,000 men as an entire community built up around the mill becoming the largest unincorporated community in the county.

However, the mill was badly damaged by the 1928 hurricane and eventually was closed by 1937. As the community of Sherman began to fade away, the Tomasello's moved yet again. By 1940, Adone had taken a job with the Florida Agriculture Department as a citrus fruit inspector in Bartow, Florida. Dora would pass away in 1966 and was buried in the Wildwood Cemetery in Bartow. Adone would join her three years later on April 25, 1969.