The Grand Marshall for the 2015 Basilone Parade is Tony Lettieri. During World War II he served in the US Navy aboard a highly decorated destroyer the USS Nicholas. Tony Lettieri was born in Raritan in 1926. His family lived at 21 First Avenue. His parents, like many from Raritan in that era, had been born in Italy. They both came to the U.S. as teenagers – meeting in this country. The family would have 4 children - three boys and a girl. They attended St. Ann's Church where Tony was an altar boy.

As a youth in the 1930s he played outside with other kids without adult supervision. Some of that play was in and around the Raritan River. While that may have been considered dangerous by today's standards, it was nothing compared to one of his other activities – shooting a gun. As a young teen Tony sometimes took has dad's shotgun down to an open field and practiced shooting the rifle. No one ever seemed alarmed. Times have changed.

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Source: http://www.raritan-online.com/