By JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer
NORTH BRUNSWICK – Memorial Day held an extra special meaning this year as members of the North Brunswick Adams Athletic Club (A.C.) dedicated a bench in honor of a Korean War veteran.
The family of Phillip Dellasala attended the unveiling at Sabella Park on May 29 to honor the 88-year-old who passed away in February. Dellasala was one of the founding members of the Adams A.C. and was instrumental in naming the park on Cozzens Lane after Pfc. Joseph Sabella, his childhood friend who was killed in Korea one week after being deployed for the war.
“This is a tribute to my dad,” Dellasala’s son John said before the ceremony. “Memorial Day was always a big day for him. I guess when you go through war and one of your buddies dies, you don’t forget. These old guys always have a sense of history.”
Dellasala’s wife Angela, his daughter Joyce Frye, his other son Robert and his grandchildren Greg Dellasala and Michael Streger were in attendance.
“This doesn’t surprise me because he was so loved by everybody,” Angela Dellasala said with tears in her eyes. “He was a wonderful man.”
She said her husband would not have expected a bench in his honor, but that “this club meant everything to him.”
“He’d be so appreciative,” she said.
Mayor Francis “Mac” Womack commented, “By the grace of God, Phil came home, but Joe didn’t. And now Phil is gone. But, Phil will be with us in living memory for all of us to carry in the years to come. … He wasn’t just a soldier but a fine citizen to our town.
“We honor two people [today] who meant so much to not only our country but to our town,” he said.
Prior to the unveiling, Joe DiPane of the Adams A.C. said the ceremony was to honor all veterans who have given the supreme sacrifice of death.
Representatives of the Clark-Moetz VFW Post 2319 from Milltown and North Brunswick American Legion Post 459 paid their respects to their departed comrades. Members of the North Brunswick Township High School Student Government Organization, Adams A.C. Ladies Auxiliary, Adams A.C. Men’s Club, North Brunswick Fire Co. No. 3 and the American Legion placed wreaths at the base of the memorial.
“From the Revolution to those who stand on foreign soil, today we must come and we must honor … them in total and forever memory,” Womack said.
Contact Jennifer Amato at [email protected].

