Charles Joseph Ippolito – Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army

Charles Joseph Ippolito, 87, a retired Army officer and IBM manager, died February 28, 2008, at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda of complications of pneumonia. He was a Germantown resident.Colonel Ippolito was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and grew up in the Bronx, New York. During World War II, he led an Army tank force that captured Dillingen on the Danube, a key river crossing, thus allowing Allied forces to continue advancing into Germany in 1945.

An April 22, 1945, issue of the Beachhead News described what happened: “Led by Lieutenant Charles J. Ippolito’s light tank platoon, the force swept into the town with guns blazing, routing more than 1,000 disorganized defenders and shooting up a retreating mechanized column.

Surging on to the bridge, the unit captured a handful of demolition men and drove other Nazis away with tank fire before the span could be blown.”

Colonel Ippolito received the Silver Star for his actions at Dillingen. He also received the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Purple Heart. At a recent reunion of the 12th Armored Cavalry, known as the “Hellcats,” a Holocaust survivor offered his gratitude to Mr. Ippolito for his rescue from a concentration camp by Mr. Ippolito’s platoon.

Colonel Ippolito stayed in the Army after the war and was stationed at bases in Japan and Germany, as well as in the United States. He also served in Vietnam and at the Pentagon, where he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1963.

After his retirement from the Army, he graduated from the University of Maryland in 1967 and began a second career with IBM. He was a systems analyst and then a configuration manager before retiring again in 1989.

He was head trustee of Washington Grove United Methodist Church and a member of the IBM “Lunch Bunch.” He belonged to the 12th Armored Division Association (43rd Tank Battalion) and was a past commander of VFW Post 9863 in Germantown.

Mr. Ippolito’s first wife, Edna Dorothy Knack Ippolito, died in 1998.

Survivors include his wife of eight years, Claudette Tucker Ippolito of Germantown, whom he met while both were doing their daily mall walking for exercise; four children from his first marriage, Charles Joseph Ippolito Jr. of Ellicott City, John Bruce Ippolito of Easton, Maryland, Carol Ann Collins of Charles Town, West Virginia, and Robert llen Ippolito of Damascus; a stepson from his second marriage, Jeffrey Tucker of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania; a sister; 12 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

On February 28, 2008, LT. COL. CHARLES JOSEPH IPPOLITO, US Army (Ret.), age 87, of Germantown, MD, former IBM Executive. Beloved husband of Claudette Tucker Ippolito; father of Charles J. Ippolito, Jr. of Ellicott City, MD, John B. Ippolito of Easton, MD, Carol A. Collins of Charles Town, WV, Robert A. Ippolito of Damascus, MD and Jeffrey Tucker of Waynesboro, PA. Also survived by 12 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and three brothers.The funeral service will be at 11 a.m., Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at the Old Fort Myer Chapel adjoining Arlington National Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Washington Grove United Methodist Church, 303 Chestnut Rd., Washington Grove, MD 20880 or to your local Humane Society.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard