Charles F.

"Honey" Lanzillo, Sr.

WWII Veteran and Devoted Family Man

Charles F. "Honey" Lanzillo, Sr., a lifelong resident of Chelsea, and a member of The Greatest Generation who served the nation with unwavering fortitude, died peacefully at home on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, at the age of 101.  Mr. Lanzillo was predeceased by his wife of 67 years, Dorothy D. (Beaulieu) Lanzillo, who died in 2010.

Mr. Lanzillo grew up and lived for most of his life on Chester Ave.  It was his mother who conferred upon him the nickname "Honey" on account of the headful of golden curls he had as a little boy.  The longtime Lanzillo family home on Chester Ave. was where Mr. Lanzillo and his wife raised their three children, all of whom are products of the Chelsea public schools.

He attended the Shurtleff School and earned his Chelsea High School diploma with the Class of 1939.  A lifelong member of the Class of '39 annual reunion committee, he treasured the friendships made at Chelsea High and did all he could to keep classmates connected through the years.

After attending the former State Teachers College in Bridgewater, MA., (now Bridgewater State University), Mr. Lanzillo answered the call to fight in World War II.  He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on September 11, 1942, and served until his honorable discharge on Nov. 25, 1945, three months after the Japanese surrender.

Possessing an abundance of intellect and mechanical skills, Mr. Lanzillo earned certification in airplane mechanics, with a specialty in the maintenance and repair of the B-17 aircraft, a critical component of the arsenal that defeated the Axis powers on three continents.  His training took Mr. Lanzillo, and later, too, his wife, to bases in Amarillo and Delhart, TX, and then to McCook Air Base in Nebraska.

While stationed in Nebraska, he and Dorothy, due to limited housing at McCook, lived for a time in the nearby home of a family by the name of Nelson.  During that period, while advancing to the position of flight engineer, he received training on both the B-17 and B-29 bombers.

The Nelsons had a son named Benjamin, who would go on to serve Nebraska as governor (1991-99) and U.S. senator (2001-13).  At Senator Nelson's initiative, Mr. Lanzillo and he re-established contact during the early-2000s.  Whenever the senator was attending an event in the Boston area, he would invite Mr. Lanzillo to be his guest and would always make a point of introducing "Charlie" to the audience as a longtime friend of his family and "a true American patriot."

In 1943, Mr. Lanzillo was promoted to the rank of technical sergeant and sent to the war's Pacific theater, where, as a crew chief, he was responsible for keeping B-17s and B-29s battle-ready, and would have the final say on whether the craft under his care and supervision could be deployed in the skies against the enemy.  He was assigned successively to the Marianna Islands and Tinian Island, from which the historic, war-ending flights that dropped atomic bombs on Japan were launched. For most of the war, Mr. Lanzillo served in the 1 ^st squadron of the 9 ^th bomber group (HV) as crew chief for the B-29 named "Dinah Might."

Illustrative of his skills and value to the war effort, Tech Sergeant Lanzillo was brought on a special flight from Tinian to the island of Iwo Jima late in the winter of 1945, where one of the bloodiest battles of World War II was raging.  His assignment: repair a B-29 that had made an emergency landing there when it was unable to draw fuel from its second tank.  As a crew chief, he oversaw the maintenance of aircraft that went on innumerable combat missions.  For his exemplary service, he was awarded the Bronze Star, the Asiatic Pacific Theater Campaign Ribbon, the American Theater Campaign Ribbon, the Good Conduct Medal and the Certificate of Appreciation for War Service.

After the war, Mr. Lanzillo went to work in the composing room of The Chelsea Record, then a high-circulation daily newspaper, and long regarded as one of the city's bedrock institutions.  With his formidable mechanical skills, serious mindset and endless drive for perfection, Mr. Lanzillo became a major cog in the operations of "The Record" -- and he remained so during his decades of employment there.  With a knowledge of the community only held by true "Chelsea guys," he was also a quiet, unerring source of help and inspiration to new reporters who joined the publication's editorial staff through the years.   Mr. Lanzillo retired from the newspaper in 1981.  Subsequently, he worked at printing companies in the Chelsea-Everett-Revere area.  Where some in the printing business saw old and troublesome equipment, he saw marvelous machines needing the touch of an experienced hand and the mind of mechanic who loved the industry.

Upon retirement, Mr. Lanzillo and his wife moved to the Chelsea Village Apartments at Admiral's Hill, and, several years after his wife's death, he moved to the Cohen Florence Levine Estates assisted living facility, also at Admiral's Hill.

Mr. Lanzillo was devoted to his family and loved creating special memories with each of his children.  He also took pride in volunteering at events in his neighborhood, such as the annual Fourth of July celebration at Highland Park.

Family survivors include his son, Dr. Charles F. Lanzillo, Jr., M.D., and wife Sharon of Lakewood Ranch, FL; daughter Susan DeSantis and husband Andrew of Saugus; daughter Joan Hahesy and husband David of Revere; and grandchildren Dr. Charles F. Lanzillo, III, M.D., Richard Marotta, Jr. and Mathew Marotta..  He also leaves five great-grandchildren: Mason Marotta, Max Marotta, Alexis Fyfe, Sylvie Lanzillo and Tippi Lanzillo.

Mr. Lanzillo was predeceased by his parents, Louis Lanzillo and Catherine (Smith) Lanzillo, and by his siblings: Anthony Lanzillo, Angelina (Dolly) Cimino, Louis Lanzillo, Jr., Lorraine Beaulieu, Richard (Dick) Lanzillo and Grace Giannantonio.

ARRANGEMENTS: Visiting hours will be held from the Welsh Funeral Home, 718 Broadway, Chelsea on Thursday Nov. 11th "Veterans Day" from 4 - 8 P.M. Relatives and friends are most kindly invited to attend.  In order to protect the public health, we advise that all visitors wear face masks while in the Funeral Home.  Funeral from the Welsh Funeral Home on Friday Nov.12th at 9:00 A.M.  Followed by a funeral mass in St. Rose Church, 600 Broadway Chelsea at 10:00 A.M.  Services will conclude with interment at Holy Cross Cemetery, Malden.

DONATIONS: Should friends desire, contributions in Charles' name may be made to Chelsea Jewish Life Center, 201 Captain's Row, Chelsea, MA 02150. https://chelseajewish.org/donate-now/

For directions or to send expressions of sympathy, please use the links below .

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