DOB/DOD: October 15, 1963 (Willimantic, CT) – October 23, 1983; 20 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
ENLISTMENT: October 5, 1981
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 0352, Anti-Tank/Assault Guided Missileman
UNIT: AT Tube-Launched Optically-Tracked Wire-Guided (TOW) Company, 2nd Tank Battalion
FAMILY: Born to Loreto “Laurence” A. [Navy veteran] (1938-1994) and Janet M. Rousseau Mattacchione Rice Childress [d. 1979]. Stepmother, Bernadette Pierce Mattacchione. Three brothers, Anthony L., Nicholas J., and Vincent D.. One sister, AnneMarie Mattacchione Matheny Ingalls.
DECORATIONS: Awarded the Purple Heart Medal, Navy Unit Commendation, Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation
1980 East Hartford High School yearbook (junior year)
1981 Windsor Locks High School yearbook (no picture)
From The Day (New London, CT) November 5, 1983
By Maria Miro Johnson | Day Staff Writer
MARINE EULOGIZED AS ‘PEACEMAKER’
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9-10
GROTON – Marine Private First Class Joseph John Mattacchione’s life was a high price to pay as a member of the Beirut peacekeeping force. Was it worth it?, asked Chaplain James M. Leone at today’s funeral services.
It is a question that will always be asked, the Reverend Leone told about 40 relatives and friends of the slain 20-year-old Marine, formerly of Windsor Locks.
“And the answer will probably always be yes,’ he concluded.
Mattacchione’s mother, Janet Rousseau Rice of Sanford, North Carolina, wept bitterly and gripped a framed portrait of her son as her sister read a biblical passage.
“Man’s days are like those of grass; like a flower of the field he blooms,” Mattacchione’s aunt read. “The wind sweeps over him and he is gone and his place knows him no more.”
Incense streamed upward into the church. Through windows behind the altar, amber leaves could be seen falling. Six Marines who served as pallbearers sat across the church aisle from the close group of mourners.
“The people saw and did not understand,” she said, her voice cracking as she read another passage.
Although Mattacchione was born in Willimantic and had lived in Windsor Locks, the funeral services took place at the non-denominational Shepherd of the Sea Navy chapel in Groton because the young Marine was very close to his uncle, Navy Senior Chief Ronald Mattachione.
The Reverend Leone told of his own experiences with a marine sergeant who never failed to point to young marines and, mindless of rank, said: “Chaplains, there goes a man serving his country,” the Chaplain said.
Joseph was a young man serving his country, and he paid a great price to serve his country. But not only Joseph paid a price. His family paid a price. Those who knew and loved him paid a price.
“The Marine Corps paid a price. The United States paid a price,” the Reverend Leone said. He quoted one of the beatitudes, a passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew, that refers to peacemakers as “children of God.” The mission in Lebanon was one of peace, he continued. Joseph, he said, “was a son of his church, but also a servant of peace.”
After the services, Mattacchione’s body was carried into a waiting hearse as the Marines stood at attention and saluted. Standing outside the church, Anita R. Cote of Montville, one of Mattacchione’s aunts, said her nephew was brave.
Also, she said, ‘he was a little mischievous. That was a part of him I loved. He had that glint in his eye. He was very precious to me. I’d say he was brave.
“He had a strength that very few people knew he had. I loved him very much. I really did,” she said.
Mattacchione will be buried at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, Massachusetts.
Buried in Massachusetts National Cemetery, Connery Avenue, Bourne, Massachusetts; Section 2, Grave 39. Photo from FindAGrave.com by contributor Sue Silva.
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