Luigi and Gabrielle Tull bought a house at 321 E Custis from Gabrielle's father in 1915 and began their efforts at a family.  Their first child was born in 1916 but died ten months later.  Their second child, Joseph Anthony, was born on 30 June 1919.  The marriage was unravelling, however, and in 1923 they sold the house back to Gabrielle's father.  Gabrielle and young Joseph moved into her father's other house at 318 E Windsor Ave, which would be her home for the rest of her long life.

Joseph graduated from GWHS in 1939, having been part of the track, football and basketball teams.  He then took work as a plumber's apprentice with George Boteler's heating and plumbing business based on Terrett Ave.  With the arrival of the war on US shores he joined the Marines and after training was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, a part of the vaunted 1st Marine Division.  As a corporal, he was with the 7th Marines for the exceptionally nasty battle of Peleliu, which the National Museum of the Marine Corps called “the bitterest battle of the war for the Marines”.  They landed on 15 September 1944 and on 19 September he was wounded by a fragment to the right shoulder.  Initially it was not thought serious but his condition deteriorated overnight and he passed away the next day.

World War Two Losses

Joseph A Tull