Article for The Breeze Newspaper By Bruce Doorly
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Less than one percent of those who served in World War II are alive today. That is why the Basilone Parade Committee was surprised and delighted when we received a call ten months ago letting us know that Roy Ruffa, a Raritan World War II veteran, was still alive. At the time, the 2024 Grand Marshal had already been chosen, so while Roy rode in the parade last year, he was not the Grand Marshal. But this year, the Parade Committee is proud that Raritan resident and World War II fighter pilot Roy Ruffa is one of our two Grand Marshals.
Roy Ruffa was born on May 9th 1925, in Raritan to Dominick & Cathrine Ruffa who both came from Reggio Calabria in Italy, but ironically met here.
His birth name was Gregory, a variation of Gregorio, – a family tradition, but his mother wanted something simpler, so she called him Roy.
He attended the Raritan Public Schools which were The Primary School (where the Municipal Building is today), the Intermediate School (the building is being converted to apartments), and the Washington School (demolished a few years ago.) He went to Somerville High School where he played a leading man in several plays.
The department store Glaser’s was practically right across the street, so they shopped for their needs there. Roy recalls that during the 1930s Glaser’s granted credit to his family and many others, allowing Raritan families to get through the Great Depression.
Roy notes that years later when Glaser’s was on the verge of going out of business, the Raritan residents went there to purchase anything to help them stay in business.
As a young teenager he sometimes hung out at the local Solberg Airport watching the planes. He eventually got to know the people there and several times he was invited to ride along in an airplane.
One job he had as a youth was caddying at the Raritan Valley Country Club. The fee for carrying the bag was one dollar with a fifty-cent tip being common.
Another caddie, a teenager several years older than him, was John Basilone. As the story goes, a limousine from Duke’s Estate pulled up with two guys who wanted to play golf. One was famous actor Clark Gable and the other was actor Leslie Howard. Roy remembers that Basilone quickly grabbed the bag of the more famous Clark Gable. Roy had to “settle” for Leslie Howard. When playing their round of golf, Roy was surprised that Leslie Howard had cheated – repositioning the ball when it was behind a tree. When he informed Basilone that Howard had cheated, Basilone said that Clark Gable had cheated too.
When Roy turned 18, he noticed that the newspaper had said that Gregory Ruffa had been drafted into the army. (The official draft notice had not been delivered to the home yet.) He told his parents about this and wondered who this other “Ruffa” guy was. His parents then showed him his “birth certificate” and informed him that his real name was Gregory. So, off to the army he went.
In World War II the Air Force was part of the army. Roy wanted to be a pilot. He found that volunteering to be a pilot was one thing, surviving training was another. There were physical challenges such as running one mile in the sand and mental tests of being able to follow a sequence of tasks while being intentionally interrupted. Many guys voluntarily dropped out of pilot training. But determined to be a pilot, Roy persevered.
One training exercise included being blindfolded and then being able to find all the controls on the dashboard. Another was to be able to instantly recognize the silhouettes of airplanes to determine if they were friend or foe.
Flight training could be dangerous. He recalls one guy being killed.
There were machine guns on both sides of the plane and a gun in the front. Over 500 rounds of ammunition could be fired. In addition, the plane carried two bombs.
In 1945, he was sent overseas to islands in the Pacific. Initially they only did a few scouting missions.
Then one day they were instructed that their mission would be targeting a Japanese airfield at night. A lead plane went in and dropped a signal flare to light up the airfield so that the other aircraft knew the target. Roy recalls all hell broke loose as they decimated the Japanese airfield. When the American planes would hit the fuel tanks, explosives resulted.
His P51D-Mustang unloaded both bombs and strafed along firing at the Japanese planes on the ground. Fortunately, that day all American planes made it back safely. Soon after, two Atomic Bombs were dropped on Japan, and the war was over.
Returning home Roy Ruffa worked at the Belle Mead Army Depot. There he met his wife, Carmella. They were married in 1948. They would have two girls and one boy.
Roy started his own Advertising Agency in 1950. The agency was very successful. It grew to 32 employees and 44 clients including PSEG, AT&T, Merck, RCA, and Ballantine Beer.
Sadly, after 70 years of marriage his wife Carmella passed away in 2018.
On Sunday, September 21st 2025 at 1PM in downtown Raritan Roy Ruffa will ride as Grand Marshal in the Basilone Parade. Everyone is invited.