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Contact Info
Home Town Boston, Massachusetts
Last Address Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts
Date of Passing Feb 17, 2014
Location of Interment New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery - Boscawen, New Hampshire
Wall/Plot Coordinates Unknown
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Joseph Cataldo was born on January 18, 1929, in Boston, Massachusetts. He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in July 19, 1946, and served as a Hospital Corpsman until receiving an honorable discharge on August 19, 1949. He next enlisted in the U.S. Air Force Reserve on May 23, 1952, and served until receiving his commission as a 2d Lt in the U.S. Army Reserve on October 7, 1957. During this time, Lt Cataldo completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemistry at Harvard University in 1953, and then attended Boston University School of Medicine. He went on active duty in the Army beginning October 14, 1957, and remained a student medical officer while attending Boston University School of Medicine until he completed medical school in June 1958. Capt Cataldo next performed his General Medical Officer Intern Training at the U.S. Army Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia, from June 1958 to July 1959, followed by service as a Medical Officer with the 10th General Dispensary in West Germany from July 1959 to May 1960, and then as a Medical Officer and then Commanding Officer of the 209th General Dispensary in West Germany from May 1960 to August 1962. He attended additional medical training at Johns Hopkins University from August 1962 to June 1963, followed by additional medical training and then residency training at the U.S. Army Hospital at Fort Ord, California, from June 1963 to June 1965. Maj Cataldo continued his medical training at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, from June 1965 to May 1966, and then served as Commanding Officer of the 20th Preventive Medicine Unit in South Vietnam from November 1966 to June 1967, followed by service as a Surgeon with the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from June 1967 to July 1969. LTC Cataldo attended Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, from August 1969 to June 1970, and then served as Chief of the Communicable Disease and Immunology Research Branch with the Army Medical Research and Development Command at the Pentagon from June 1970 until his retirement from the Army on December 1, 1974. During this time, Col Cataldo served with the Redwine Security Group during the Son Tay Raid, a clandestine mission to rescue American Prisoners of War in North Vietnam on November 21, 1970. After retiring from the Army, Dr. Cataldo opened a private practice in Alexandria, Va. He moved to New England in the 1980s, first working as a consultant for Blue Cross Blue/Shield of Maine and later as an emergency room doctor at the Elliot Hospital in Manchester. Joseph Cataldo died on February 17, 2014, and was buried at the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen, New Hampshire.
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially established as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated ISR, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.
The U.S. Air Force is a military service branch organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Air Force, through the Department of the Air Force, is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, and is appointed by the President with Senate confirmation. The highest-ranking military officer in the Air Force is the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, who exercises supervision over Air Force units and serves as one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Air Force forces are assigned, as directed by the Secretary of Defense, to the combatant commanders, and neither the Secretary of the Air Force nor the Chief of Staff of the Air Force have operational command authority over them.
Along with conducting independent air and space operations, the U.S. Air Force provides air support for land and naval forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field. As of 2017, the service operates more than 5,369 military aircraft, 406 ICBMs and 170 military satellites. It has a $161 billion budget and is the second largest service branch, with 318,415 active duty personnel, 140,169 civilian personnel, 69,200 Air Force Reserve personnel, and 105,700 Air National Guard personnel.
