In 1943, Rye High School graduate Fred Talento was a pre-med student at Notre Dame. He interrupted his studies to serve his country, enlisting in the U.S. Army. Stationed in the European Theatre, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Mr. Talento received two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars.
In 1943, Rye High School graduate Fred Talento was a pre-med student at Notre Dame. He interrupted his studies to serve his country, enlisting in the U.S. Army. Stationed in the European Theatre, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Mr. Talento received two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars.
After coming home from the war, Mr. Talento didn’t go back to college as planned. “Life was so different,” he recalled in a recent conversation at his home. Instead, he went to work in advertising for close to fifty years.
Now 90, Mr. Talento said that while he didn’t graduate from Notre Dame, he’s always considered it his alma mater and held it close to his heart.
And Notre Dame feels the same way. On April 26, John Calcutt, the president of the Notre Dame Alumni Association, came to Rye and presented Mr. Talento with an honorary degree. He is now a member of the graduating class of 1945.
“We only confer alumnus status to a handful of people. Notre Dame has great respect for the military,” said Mr. Calcutt. “We have a large ROTC program and we’re proud that the Navy has long sent their officers to us.”
Earlier this year, Mr. Talento wrote a letter to the university, which was published in Notre Dame magazine. In his letter, he explains that his affection for his old school was partly due to Father Roland Simonitsch, a priest who was a “shining example of the spirit of Notre Dame and a bright star for The Greatest Generation.”
Simonitsch was not only a professor of philosophy and religion but also “the link to campus life for the Domers scattered across the globe in various theatres of the war.
“As the war raged on, Father Roland created an awesome mailing list of Domer names and their military base locations. The mailing list enabled him to have his newsletter reach a Marine on a Pacific island, a carrier pilot with the U.S. fleet, and in my case, in a snowy foxhole during the Battle of the Bulge… His newsletters were holding the warrior student and the beautiful campus they loved together.”
