Connecticut Soldiers Collection, Gambino Family Papers

The Gambino family lived in the Mount Hope/Atwoodville area of Mansfield, CT, for many years, their children (John, Vincent, Jerome, Harry, Ernest, George and Richard, Theresa and Kathleen) attending local schools. Mr. Harry Gambino was immortalized by a campus photographer as he was carving "Wilbur Cross Library" prior to the opening of the structure in 1939.

Vincent Gambino was a 1941 graduate of Windham High School and briefly attended the University of Connecticut before enlisting in the Navy on 27 July 1942. An aviation radioman second class, who served in the Pacific theater and married an Australian ("Betty") while stationed there. Vincent was killed on 8 September 1944 after having been reported missing in action. He was buried in the United States Army Air Force Cemetery in Dutch New Guinea (now Indonesia).

John Gambino ("Jack") also served in the U. S. Navy as an aviation radioman, attached to Naval Air Station in Coco Solo, Canal Zone (Panama) before serving in the Ground School Command in Memphis, Tennessee, and then the Naval Gunnery School in Purcell, Oklahoma.

Jerome Gambino ("Jerry") served in the U. S. Navy, attending the Naval Hospital Corps in Portsmouth, Virginia before becoming a Marine in 1944, based at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. At the end of World War II, Jerry attended the University of Connecticut (B.A., 1950; M.S., 1952; Ph.D., 1957).

George Gambino served with the 3rd Division in Korea, 1951-1952.

Richard Gambino (B.A. 1957, UConn; M.A. 1976 Polytechnic Institute of NY), a research scientist for IBM at the T. J. Watson Research Center (1961-1993), received the National Medal of Technology for his work on the development of the erasable, rewritable compact disc in 1995.