Gabriel Frangione was born in Somerville N.J. on September 7, 1923 son of Italian immigrants from Salerno, Italy. He lived in Somerville at 13 S. Doughty Avenue. (His childhood home and entire neighborhood are no longer standing as they were knocked down to build what was the Pathmark Shopping Center) He graduated from Somerville High School in 1941
Gabriel was a tailor who worked at his dad's tailor shop (Frangione Tailors) - when his dad retired he took over the shop. Gabriel worked there until his retirement in 1988. The shop was in the above building at 18 Division Street in Somerville from 1928 thru 1988. In 1988 another tailor rented the space, but he has just recently vacated the premises. The lettering saying "ALTERATIONS" from the days of The Frangione Tailor Shop can still be seen in the windows today
	On Pearl Harbor Day, December 7th, 1941, he was in attendance at a football game at The Polo Grounds in New York City. He realized that something had happened as many announcements were made at the game asking for military personal to return to their bases immediately. After the game he found out that the Japanese had attacked the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
	He volunteered and was inducted into the army in February 1943. His training was in Engineering Combat at Camp McCain, Mississippi His unit was informed that they were training for a special mission. This would turn out to be the invasion at Normandy, France, today it is known as D-Day
	He served in the Headquarters Unit of a combat engineering division. He was responsible for storage and logistics of building materials and munitions. His unit stormed the beaches at Normandy on June 6th, 1944. They would later move across Europe toward Germany.
	For his service in World War II he was awarded the: European-African Middle Eastern Ribbon French Normandy Beach Medal New Jersey Distinguished Medal Somerset County Distinguished Medal