Horace Carratelli, a 1st Armored Division veteran who served as a first sergeant in North Africa and Italy during World War II, died March 23 at 107 years old. He was believed to be one of the last surviving members of the division who fought during the Tunisia campaign, which included the pivotal Battle of Kasserine Pass in February 1943.
The 1st Armored Division, known as “Old Ironsides,” honored Carratelli in a social media post following his death. The division, now headquartered at Fort Bliss, Texas, has long maintained a relationship with its WWII-era veterans through its annual Torch Week celebrations and the 1st Armored Division Association.
A Brooklyn Kid Goes to War
Carratelli was born Jan. 27, 1919, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the oldest of three sons raised by Robert and Maria Carratelli. The family endured the Great Depression in a single-parent household after his mother died, and at 15, Carratelli left Brooklyn to live with relatives on a farm in Walden, New York.
He eventually returned to the city, working full time during the day while attending night classes at St. John’s University, where he studied accounting. He had been accepted into the FBI’s Fraud Division when the Army drafted him in 1941.
Carratelli trained at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and in Louisville, Kentucky, before being assigned to the 1st Armored Division’s 123rd Armored Ordnance Battalion. The unit shipped overseas to Ireland and England, then deployed to North Africa as part of Operation Torch in November 1942.
From Kasserine to Rome
The 1st Armored Division was the first American armored division to enter combat in the Second World War. Its soldiers fought across Algeria and Tunisia, where the division clashed with German and Italian forces under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in a series of engagements that culminated at Kasserine Pass.
The battle, fought from Feb. 19 to 24, 1943, marked the first major confrontation between American and European Axis forces and dealt U.S. troops a costly defeat that forced sweeping changes in Army leadership and tactics.
Carratelli’s division later fought in Italy, taking part in the amphibious assault at Anzio in January 1944 and the subsequent liberation of Rome. He rose to the rank of first sergeant during his service and was eventually reassigned to an intelligence role in Milan, where he worked alongside a joint FBI team involved in capturing the remaining members of Italy’s Fascist leadership.
He returned home in 1945 and went to work in his father’s factory in New York City’s Garment District.
A Life of Service After the War
Carratelli married Loretta Gatti in 1948, and the couple settled in Fresh Meadows, Queens, where they built a home they would share for more than 70 years. Their son, Robert, was born in 1956. Loretta died of cancer in 1991, and Carratelli became a grandfather to twins, Emily and Robert, in 1995.
Beyond his career in the garment industry, Carratelli helped establish the 1st Armored Division Association, serving as both its national secretary and president. He remained an active presence in the division’s legacy well into his later years. In 2019, at age 100, he traveled to Fort Bliss for Torch Week, where he fired a training M4 Carbine in the installation’s simulation center alongside active-duty soldiers.
In January 2026, Carratelli celebrated his 107th birthday surrounded by family. New York State Assembly Member Nily Rozic presented him with an official proclamation thanking him for his service, and VA Home Based Primary Care staff from the St. Albans Community Living Center were among those in attendance, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Carratelli’s death is another reminder of how few Americans who served in WWII remain. Of the 16.4 million who wore the uniform during the conflict, roughly 45,000 were still alive as of 2025, according to Department of Veterans Affairs data compiled by the National WWII Museum. That figure represents less than half of 1% of those who served. The youngest surviving veterans are now approaching 100 years old, and VA projections estimate fewer than 8,000 will remain by 2030.
