Hillsdale commemorated July 4th in a special way this year. To be sure, we marked the holiday as usual: by hanging flags, attending barbeques, and enjoying a long weekend. But when some local citizens found out that World War II veteran Ernest “Ernie” Santoro would turn 100 that weekend, they decided a different kind of celebration was in order.
The men and women who fought in World War II are in their 90s and older. Of the 16 million Americans who served in that global conflict, fewer than 200,000 are still alive in 2022, according to US Department of Veterans Affairs statistics.
Ernie is Hillsdale’s last surviving World War II veteran.
It all started with this Facebook post on June 11:
With 100 likes, 40 comments and 89 shares, Ernie was assured of many birthday cards. But when Phyllis Stekson of Stuyvesant Falls posted a comment that Ernie was a World War II veteran, things shifted into another gear.
In no time flat a parade was organized to pass by Ernie’s house at noon on July 1. With horns honking and sirens blaring, vehicles from the Hillsdale Fire Company, the Community Rescue Squad, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, the Columbia County Veterans Service Agency and the Hillsdale Highway Department rolled by. Dozens of residents joined the parade, their cars decked out with flags and birthday signs. Kids dressed their dogs in star-spangled bandanas. There was even a horse draped with an American flag, in honor of Ernie’s service in the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division.
During the festivities Ernie received a surprise visit from another veteran, 100-year-old Edwin Odegard of Chatham. The two WWII Army PFCs chatted on Ernie’s deck while Marty Smith, trumpeter with The Ghent Band, played patriotic tunes for the crowd.

Ernie, left, meets Chatham’s Ed Odegard, another WWII veteran.
Hillsdale Town Supervisor Chris Kersten presented a proclamation to Ernie naming July 5, 2022 (Ernie’s actual birthday) “Ernie Santoro Day: Celebrating a Remarkable Life.”
It was a heart-warming tribute honoring a modest man, organized by folks in a small community who know how to get things done. Everybody walked a little taller afterwards. The Hillsdale Historians were able to learn more about Ernie’s life in talks with him and his daughter Maggie.

L-R: Ernie’s daughters Barbara and Maggie, and Ernie
Ernest “Ernie” Santoro was born July 5, 1922, in Mamaroneck, NY, one of nine children. The family was very poor and when his father died, Ernie left school in the eighth grade to help support his mother and eight siblings. He worked at Kentucky Riding Stables, a Harrison, NY equestrian facility still in operation today. Ernie took care of the horses and gave riding lessons; he proved to be a gifted horseman from an early age.

Kentucky Riding Stables, c. 1928
At age 14 or 15, Ernie told his mother he wanted to go to Arizona and “be a cowboy.” He learned bull riding, a rodeo sport that requires riders to stay atop an animal for a full eight seconds. “Bucking bulls” are usually Brahman bulls and can weigh 2,000 pounds or more.

Ernie in Arizona

The Singing Cowboy
Ernie became a champion Brahman bull rider and began winning money, almost all of which he sent home to his mother. Astonished at the amounts, his mother was convinced he’d become a “bandit” and refused to accept it! Ernie solved this problem by mailing his winnings to his older brother and swearing him to secrecy about their origins.
The only bull Ernie couldn’t ride was Big Sid. “No one could ride Big Sid,” said Ernie. “He was very smart; he outsmarted all the cowboys. He’d pretend to go one way, and then whip his head the other way and in two seconds you’d be on the ground.” Ernie tried twice: once as a teenager in Arizona, and a second time after the war, in Madison Square Garden. Rodeo promoters offered Ernie $3000 and the opportunity to be featured as the Marlboro Man on billboards across the country if he was able to stay on Big Sid, but the wily bull tossed him again.
At 17 or 18, Ernie was back in Mamaroneck at Kentucky Riding Stables, training local riders to compete in horse shows against horses from well-funded stables in Connecticut. Ernie wouldn’t put a rider on a horse until she was ready. He insisted that rider and horse learn to trust each other. When he deemed a rider ready, he’d always say, “Bring me back a blue ribbon.” And they did. His reputation as an instructor grew, attracting competitors from all over the area to learn his secrets.
Ernie met his future wife Faye when she came to the stables for riding lessons. After one look at Faye, Ernie raced to Henry, the other riding instructor, and said “wrap up your arm and pretend it’s broken” so Ernie could give Faye the lesson. Ernie noticed right away that Faye had a way with horses, just like he did, and he astonished her by saying, “You don’t know me, but you’re going to marry me.” Faye was an orphan who had been raised as a foster child by caring families, but she had no money of her own. The night before Ernie left for Army combat training in 1942, he and Faye got married. If he were killed, she would receive a $10,000 widow’s benefit from the government.

Ernie & Faye in Mamaroneck
Ernie was sent to Fort Bliss, Texas for training and attached to the 1st Cavalry Division, 12 Regiment, Troop C as a scout and horse-mounted rifleman. The Army had a continuing interest in horse cavalry operations in 1942 because there was no fully developed strategy for fighting the war in the event of an invasion of the western hemisphere. If North America were invaded and challenged on less-than-ideal terrain, for example from western Mexico or the coast of Brazil, there was no guarantee of a network of good roads, amply fuel supplies, familiar terrain, or air superiority. Mounted soldiers using sturdy, sure-footed horses could prove invaluable.

Private First Class Ernest Santoro

Ernie with his mother (on his right), Faye (on his left) and sisters Ginger, Carmela, and Margaret
Cavalry units were unpopular with commanders because the horses and equipment required shipping space and logistical support far beyond that of other units. But the dire need for troops in the Pacific led General Douglas McArthur to accept the 1st Cavalry Division, on the condition that they be dismounted.
The war in the Pacific was not going well in 1942. The Allies had agreed that Europe took precedence over the Pacific and, after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese gained control of the air and sea lanes that enabled their armies to advance with surprisingly little opposition in Malaya, Burma and the Philippines. With naval and air superiority, the Japanese controlled Southeast Asia by the end of April in 1942 and had landed on the north side of New Guinea, a prime objective for conquest that would have allowed them to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas. McArthur had arrived in Australia in March to take command just four weeks before the worst defeat in U.S. military history, the Battle of Bataan in the Philippines.
By July 1943, Ernie’s unit had been shipped to Australia for intensive training in infantry assault, jungle combat and amphibious landings in preparation to recapture the Philippines, a key strategic step in defeating Japan. After more training on New Guinea, the 1st Cavalry received orders to make immediate preparations to move into combat. From February 1944 to February 1945, Ernie and the 1st Cavalry leapfrogged across the Asiatic-Archipelago in campaigns to take the Admiralty Islands, recapture the islands of the Southern Philippines, and rescue Manila, on the island of Luzon.
The Battle of Luzon was one of the most lethal battles of the Pacific War. Casualties for the Japanese were stunningly high: 217,000 dead, with 9,050 taken prisoners. U.S. losses were far lower, with 8,310 killed and 29,560 wounded. Civilian casualties are estimated at 120,000 – 140,000 dead.
Ernie’s division fought its way in a “flying column” to Manila, arriving Feb. 3, 1945. He recalled the battle:
“We invaded Manila and we were going right into the city … and the thing I remember was General MacArthur … I could see this big car driving up the highway, no roof on it, it was just an open touring car. And there he was standing up thanking us — this was actual combat now — that man was so brave, he stood right up and nothing was going to kill him – he told us not to be afraid, we were doing a wonderful job for him, and to carry on. I can still hear him saying it. We kept taking the city, the city was burning, God – I forget how many days and nights – they [the Japanese troops] were just destroying it, burning it all down, as they were evacuating backwards.”
Badly wounded on Feb. 23, 1945, Ernie was transported to the Walled City field hospital for surgery. Told his leg may be amputated, Ernie begged the doctors to save it. “I told the surgeon I was a horseman and that if my leg was amputated, I would never be able to ride again.” The surgeon leaned over Ernie’s stretcher and said, “I’m a horseman too,” and was able to save the leg, giving Ernie a piece of shrapnel as a souvenir. Ernie spent several months in the Walled City hospital before being shipped stateside to recover. All in all, he spent six months in military hospitals.
While Ernie was recovering in California, he remembers Joan Crawford visiting his hospital ward. Strolling past the beds of wounded soldiers, she picked out Ernie and said, “You’re going to be my date tonight.” Crawford took him to the Hollywood Canteen, where movie stars were serving food and entertaining servicemen.
For his valorous service in World War II, Ernie Santoro received the Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, the Good Conduct medal, the Philippines Liberation Medal, the Combat Infantry Badge, and the Purple Heart.
After the war Ernie returned to Mamaroneck and used the G.I. Bill to study architectural drawing, blueprint reading, and estimating at the Alfred Leonard School in New Rochelle. Ernie said the G.I. Bill allowed him to gain what would today be the equivalent of a four-year college degree in architectural drawing and estimating. “I was actually working as an apprentice carpenter during the day and going to school four nights a week to get my education in,” he explained. “I was getting both field training and the education part.” He marveled at the program’s quality: “The schoolteachers were great. You were either going to learn or please get out: that was their attitude.” Ernie pursued a lifelong career as a custom builder in Westchester County and raised five children with Faye.
In 1973 Ernie and Faye retired in Hillsdale to the house they had built. He became a member of Our Lady of Hope Church, where he would later construct the bell tower. Faye passed away in 2001 but Ernie still talks about her, and still calls her his “Faye-Faye.”

Ernie and his Faye-Faye
A local woman boarding her horses at Ernie’s barn opened the Horse Haven Riding School in the 1970-80s, and Ernie went back to teaching kids the joys of horsemanship. Ernie’s last ride, against his doctor’s wishes, was at age 80 in the Hudson Flag Day parade, accompanied by some of the children he’d taught at Horse Haven .
The Town of Hillsdale Proclamation puts it best: “Members of the Greatest Generation came of age during the Depression and fought in World War II … persevered through difficult times and ultimately made the U.S. a better place in which to live … Those tumultuous times bred in the men and women of that generation extraordinary character which helped them defeat the Axis Powers of Germany, Japan, and Italy … A generation of Americans has grown to maturity largely unaware of the political, social, and military implications of a war that, more than any other, unified us as a people with a common purpose … Ernest “Ernie” Santoro is an exemplar of the Greatest Generation … the town of Hillsdale and its citizens wish to recognize Ernie Santoro for his extraordinary service to the nation and to the town…”
Thank you for your service, and happy birthday, Ernie.
Interested in World War II History? Don’t miss the terrific exhibit “From the Home Front to the Front Lines: The Roeliff Jansen Historical Society Remembers World War II” open through September 2022, Saturdays and Sundays 2-4.
Sources:
Personal interviews with Ernest Santoro and Maggie Santoro.
Suzanne Mettler, Soldiers to Citizens: The GI Bill and the Making of the Greatest Generation, (Oxford University Press, 2005)
William L. O’Neill, A Democracy at War: America’s Fight at Home and Abroad in World War II (New York: Free Press, 1993), 292-94.
1sr Cavalry Division History/WWIIl Pacific 1941-1945, http://www.first-team.us/tableaux/chapt_02/
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© 2022 Chris Atkins and Lauren Letellier