Steven Gonzol participated in the invasion of Attu Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska in May 1943 with the 7th Infantry Division. His WW2 service medals included the Bronze Star, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Philippines Liberation Ribbon, WW2 Victory Medal, and 2 Purple Hearts.

Newspaper articles:
Middlesex Youth Reported Injured
Pfc. Steven Gonzol Hit in Leg by Shell Fragment in Pacific Fighting
MIDDLESEX, March 11 (1944)---Pfc. Steven Gonzol Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Gonzol of 133 Dayton Avenue, is one of 16 New Jersey men listed as wounded in action today by the War Department. Pvt. Gonzol's family has been advised that he was wounded slightly in the left leg by shell fragments in the fighting on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands on February 4 (1944) and that he is now hospitalized in the Pacific area. The youth, who is 21, is one of four members of his family in service. He enlisted in the Army and was inducted on October 14, 1942, and received his basic training at Fort Butner, N. C. From there he was transferred to Fort Ord, Calif., and went overseas with an infantry unit last spring. He attended Bound Brook High Schol and the Middlesex County Vocational School in New Brunswick and was employed by the Bakelite Corporation before entering service. Pvt. Gonzol also saw action in Attu in the Aleutian Islands. The soldier has four sisters, Mrs. James Caffarelli, Mrs. James H. Wells and the Misses Elizabeth and Ida Gonzol, all at home and four brothers, Pfc. Frank Gonzol, stationed in the European theatre with an infantry outfit, Andrew, George and Joseph, all at home. Mrs. Caffarelli's husband, Seaman 1c Caffarelli, is in the Southwest Pacific with the Seabees, and Mrs. Wells' husband is a private serving in Australia with the Army Medical Corps.

Pfc. Steven Gonzol Wounded Second Time by Japanese
Bound Brook--Jap bullets many times strike twice, as Pfc Steven Gonzol Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Steven Gonzol of 133 Dayton Ave., reported by the War Department to have been recently wounded. Private Gonzol was also wounded in 1944 in action on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshalls Islands. Gonzol joined the armed forces October 14, 1942 and received his basic training at Fort Butner, N. C. Before going overseas he received further training at Fort Ord, Cal. Prior to joining the service, he was employed by the Bakelite Corporation, Piscataway Township. He attended Bound Brook High School and Middlesex Vocational School, New Brunswick, His brother, Pfc. Frank Gonzol is stationed in Europe.

Article from newspaper-Clearwater, Florida "Faces in the Crowd", by Jacquin Sanders
"This is a reunion I can't miss"
Steven Gonzol will journey from his comfortable home in Clearwater next month to one of the uglier, more desolate chunks of American real estate -- the Aleutian Island of Attu, some 2,000 wet miles from mainland Alaska. Gonzol last saw the place exactly 50 years and two days ago, when he climbed gingerly off a landing barge and waded waist-deep into the Bering Sea, toward shore and 2,500 desperate and determined Japanese. This trip will be gentler, and much more exclusive. It is a reunion of American veterans of the invasion, but only 85 will attend. The Attu get-together is the hottest reunion ticket in any town. "There are no hotels, no town, no inhabitants, except a few service people in an observation station," Gonzol says. "They can scare up accommodations for 85, so it was first-come, first-served. I was 50th on the waiting list, then 10th." Gonzol breaks into a gnarled smile. "Just this week, they called from Anchorage and said there were enough cancellations so I was on the 'go' list."
The Battle of Attu was the only World War 2 engagement fought on the U.S. soil. It was a brief but ferocious campaign, lasting less than a month. "In terms of numbers engaged, Attu ranked as one of the most costly assaults in the Pacific," the official U. S. Army history says. Some 2,500 Japanese died at Attu. The United States had 549 dead, 1,148 wounded. The Japanese took over the island shortly after the war began and established a small air base. Six months after Pearl Harbor, they used it to bomb Dutch Harbor in Alaska. Ultimately they saw Attu as a base for the invasion of mainland Alaska. Gonzol was a private first class in the 7th Infantry Division, which ran into stubborn resistance soon after it reached shore. "They were dug in deep, deep, and the terrain was terrible to fight on," Gonzol recalls. "The island was mostly mountain and rocky soil. Hardly any vegetation. Hardly any roads. Everything had to be hand-carried. We couldn't use vehicles. They even tried out some experimental jeeps with treads on them. End of the experiment." There was no capturing the Japanese on Attu. They could be beaten, but they would not surrender. In the end, only 25 survived to be taken prisoner. The Army history estimates some 500 commited suicide by hand grenade. "I didn't see them do it, but I saw the results," Gonzol says, "and it was a mess. The ones we captured just didn't have time to do it, or they were out of grenades." Gonzol had a hard war. He went on the invasion of Kiska, the other Aleutian Island seized by the Japanese. For once, there was a pleasant surprise. The Japanese had withdrawn a few days earlier, leaving a fully equipped base. Gonzol was in the invasion of Leyte and then of Okinawa, where he was hit in the leg by shrapnel: "They put me and five or six other wounded on top of a tank and brought us in. Not much pain. I was full of morphine. I woke up in a hospital like M*A*S*H on TV, feeling to see if my leg was still there. It was." The wound produced Gonzol's second Purple Heart, and marked the end of his combat career. He also was awarded a Bronze Star and his 7th Division got a presidential citation. Gonzol went back home to New Jersey, got into the heating supply business, had three children and eventually retired with his wife, Margaret, to Clearwater. The Reunion in Attu will cost $1,400 -- not an easy sum for a man living on Social Security and a 40 percent battle-wound disability pension. "I scraped it up," Gonzol says. "This is a reunion I can't miss.