In Memory of Rocco Caniglia, From Abruzzese Immigrant to Vietnam War Hero

By Nancy DeSanti

Our Society has lost one of its original members, Rocco Caniglia, who passed away on July 10, 2026, at the Veterans Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia.  His life was a remarkable one—from an Italian immigrant, to a Vietnam War hero, and then a successful businessman and restauranteur.

At the age of 23, having recently emigrated from Italy, Rocco was  drafted into the U.S. Army and found himself in the jungles of Vietnam fighting for his life.  Rocco was in the 1st Cavalry Division of the U.S. Army and on June 21, 1967, he and his unit were on a Vietnamese island south of DaNang, near the Cambodian border, when they became engaged in a vicious firefight with soldiers of the North Vietnamese Army.  Rocco remembered American helicopters flying overhead while the American troops on the ground were fighting to push back the North Vietnamese.  The fighting was fierce and he remembered that other Americans were wounded too, and he recalled laying on the ground next to one young soldier who had also been shot but who wanted to end his life, and Rocco recalled trying to calm this despondent young guy.

Rocco lost a lot of blood and had only dim memories of being airlifted to a medical facility in the Philippines and then to a hospital in Japan.   It turned out Rocco had been shot and the bullet went through his left hip, which led to the blood loss and to difficulty walking for many months.

Not long after he was shot, Rocco remembered a high-level Army official awarding him the Purple Heart while he was still hospitalized.    

Rocco’s Purple Heart and insignia from his Army unit.

After returning to the Washington, D.C., area, he became active in the Italian American community.  He joined AMHS and he was also a contributing Founder of the Italian American Museum of Washington, D.C. (IAMDC). He was a parishioner of Holy Rosary Church and a member of the original Circolo della Briscola.  He was originally from Orsogna in Abruzzo and came to America in 1956. After his wartime service, he became a successful businessman and restauranteur.  He  founded Caniglia Masonry in Maryland and built his own home brick by brick. He owned Mamma Mia’s Pizzeria in Waldorf, Maryland, for 35 years. As a chef, he catered numerous AMHS events at Casa Italiana over the years.  One of our members who grew up in Italy recalled Rocco’s pasta as the best he had ever tasted outside of Italy.

Rocco is survived by his three children, Nicola, Michelle and Antonio. Rocco’s first wife and their mother, Patricia Lee Caniglia, died unexpectedly in 2006.  Rocco is also survived by his loving wife, Yoni, his stepdaughter Antonella, and several grandchildren, along with his brother Beniamino and sister Maria.  Yoni, an immigrant herself, from Sicily, first met Rocco when she was 17 before they went their separate ways and reunited many years later.

His funeral Mass was held on July 28, 2026, at Holy Rosary Church.  His many family members and his many friends filled the church.  Rocco will be greatly missed by them all.

Fall 2026