Photo By Aaliyah Essex | 221020-N-XS877-7186 LAGO PATRIA, Italy (Oct. 20, 2022) Lt. Patrick Daniele, from...... read more read more
NAPLES, Italy -- The U.S. Census Bureau established October as Italian American Heritage Month in honor of those who have come from the Italian peninsula and made an impact in the U.S.
Of the roughly 15,947,138 Italian Americans that the Census Bureau accounts for, one individual is making an impact in his father’s homeland as a U.S. Naval officer stationed onboard Allied Joint Forces Command (JFC) Naples.
Lt. Patrick Daniele, staff planner for the JFC Naples Joint Engineering Division, from Saddle Brook, New Jersey, has Italian-American roots that date back to the 1880s.
Although his ancestors began moving to the United States decades earlier, Daniele’s immediate family relocated to the U.S. for work opportunities starting in 1967.
Daniele’s mother, Mirella Daniele, relocated from Fraine, Italy in 1967 with her parents and her brother when her father’s family began to move to Saddle Brook, New Jersey.
Her father worked as a mason and her mother worked as a seamstress.
Patrick Daniele’s father, Pasquale Daniele, relocated from Trentinara, Italy as a child with Patrick Daniele’s grandfather, Donato Daniele, and approximately 30 other people from the town in 1972.
Pasquale Daniele explained that his father applied for green cards for his family with plans to work in their family’s fabric factory in Saddle Brook making women’s sports coats.
“He [Donato Daniele] decided to go try America with what would be the equivalent to about $50,000,” Pasquale Daniele explained. “My uncle was there, he had a [fabric factory] business. We established another five businesses.”
“[The factory] was like a hot bed for people from South America, Central America and Italy and they all worked in the factory together,” Patrick Daniele added.
Generations later, the families’ choices to relocate to New Jersey has resulted in Patrick Daniele becoming a U.S. Naval Officer and serving in his father’s home region, Campania, Italy.
Patrick Daniele grew up in Saddle Brook, NJ where his father worked in the same family-owned fabric factories that his grandfather came to the United States to work in.
The Naval Officer recalls growing up within a household that held onto many Italian traditions.
“My father kept a lot traditions alive from handmaking wine and sausages to celebrating different Italian events like the Saints’ days,” said Patrick Daniele.
“We grew up around other Italians—it was a pretty large culture in the area so I feel like I grew up with similar ideas as my family members [in Italy]—especially now that I am reconnecting with so many of them here” Patrick Daniele said as he described the impact his heritage had on his upbringing.
“But at the same time, I can see the American side of things and how I differ. Very similar to how my family members grew up here [in Italy].”
He described how his dad demonstrated and encouraged the strong work ethic that he sees in his family in Italy today.
Both Mirella and Patrick Daniele also spoke on the value that Italians put in family and unity and how they have held on to that in America.
“[In Italy] Everyone is one big family. You can walk down the street and everyone is so friendly,” said Mirella Daniele.
Patrick Daniele described the family values that his parents and culture instilled in him as one that pushed him to join the U.S. Navy.
“Something that I noticed about civilian workers is you don’t really know your coworkers. I worked for a few years for a couple of engineering firms and realized I don’t like that I have zero camaraderie,” Patrick Daniele explained.
“It wasn’t a ‘one unit, one team, one fight’ type of thing,” Patrick Daniele added.
After speaking with friends who were in the military, he felt the military would give him the sense of unity that he desired.
In March 2015, he joined the U.S. Navy as a civil engineering officer.
“I’m very proud of my son and the fact that he represents the great USA in the area I was born in,” said Pasquale Daniele. “As JFK [John F. Kennedy] once said: What can you do for your country? It’s not what can the country do for you,” Pasquale Daniele added.
NSA Naples is an operational ashore base that enables U.S., allied, and partner nation forces to be where they are needed, when they are needed to ensure security and stability in the European, African, and Central Command areas of responsibility.
For more news about NSA Naples and the Sailors who serve onboard the installation, please follow us on Instagram @NSANaples and Facebook at facebook.com/NSANaples/.
| Date Taken: | 10.31.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 10.31.2022 08:21 |
| Story ID: | 432304 |
| Location: | IT |
| Hometown: | SADDLE BROOK, NJ, US |
| Web Views: | 224 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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