Picatinny legend honored with plaque dedication

By Audra Calloway
Picatinny Public Affairs Office

Former Picatinny employee Frank “Doc” D’Auria was posthumously honored for his lifelong commitment to Picatinny, the Army and the surrounding community during a plaque dedication ceremony here May 4.

The plaque, which hangs in the lobby of building 151, was unveiled during a ceremony attended by the Commander of the Joint Munitions and Lethality Life Cycle Manage-ment Command and Commander of Picatinny Maj. Gen. Paul S. Izzo, Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen and a number of D’Auria’s co-workers, friends and family.

“(D’Auria’s) love of the installation never tired, never waivered and never subsided,” said Izzo during the ceremony. “Today we honor Doc for his contributions to Picatinny and the Army by dedicating a special plaque in his honor.”

Izzo thanked the attendees for helping commemorate a man who truly exemplified the term Picatinny employee — a man whose love of Picatinny was legendary.

D’Auria, who died in January, began his career at Picatinny in 1938 working as a machine operator. He advanced to the position of materials coordinator until he entered the Army in 1942.

After his service in the Army, he returned to Picatinny in 1948 as an expeditor and administrator in the Protocol Office, where his duties included working with contractors on technical presentations and briefing the many VIPs who visited Picatinny. He later transferred to the Visitors Briefing Bureau and the Congressional Affairs Office.

Regardless of the position he held, D’Auria always considered his main duty to be “trying to keep up the image of our mission and organization to visitors.”

In addition to his regular duties, D’Auria coordinated the Combined Federal Campaign for five years and served as president of Local 225 of the American Federation of Government Employees for three years.

D’Auria retired from Picatinny in December 1981 and upon leaving said, “I guess you could say I’ve had a love affair with Picatinny. It’s been my life.”

D’Auria’s devotion to Picatinny, which he called his second home, was truly remarkable, even after he retired, Izzo said.

“After Doc retired in 1981, his ties to Picatinny continued,” Izzo continued. “In the years that followed he took delight working with the work force. He wanted to tell everybody about the great work here at Picatinny. And every two years when a new Picatinny commander arrived, it was Doc who invited the new commanding general to meet the members of what was then called the Dover Chamber of Commerce.”

Izzo went on to referred to D’Auria as “Picatinny’s ambassador to the community” following his retirement.

Frelinghuysen agreed saying that D’Auria was the “public face of this remarkable installation.”

“He retired in 1981, but never retired from the arsenal,” Frelinghuysen said.

Besides his dedication to Picatinny, D’Auria was involved in a number of community organizations. He participated in many local activities both on his own and as a representative of Picatinny, including the American Cancer Society Board of Managers, the County College of Morris Foundation and the Salvation Army Advisory Board. He was also president of the Dover Board of Health and the Non-Profit Housing Corporation, a federal effort in Dover.

In addition, he served as president of the East Dover Field Club for 10 years and organized the New Jersey Semi-Pro Football League.
Pete Corritori, D’Auria’s nephew-in-law, said D’Auria was a wonderful man who loved life and everything in it.
“He inspired others to be more like him,” Corritori said.

“As we all know, he loved Picatinny,” said D’Auria’s niece Marie Shaft. “I think we came here more than we visited his own home.”

As a fitting tribute to Doc’s love of Picatinny, his plaque will hang in building 151, where he worked for many years.

“For as long as this building stands Doc will greet those who enter just like he did so many years ago,” said Izzo.