Eugene J. Corsale Interview
Eugene J. “Gene” Corsale (1928-2014) grew up in an Italian-American “railroad family” rooted on the West Side of Saratoga Springs. Like other family members, Gene spent his early years working on upstate New York railroads, except for the period he served in the US Navy during the Korean War. Gene’s stories reveal the grandeur and admiration of locomotive technology, along with dangers that resulted in deadly crashes and scarred communities. Gene recounts the heyday and decline of the railroads, railroad work as a teenager on the home front during World War II, and the importance of the railroad for transporting military troops, tourists, and horses. His account touches on changing aspects of West Side life, including neighborhood closeness, conversations from porches, walks to the former high school, and alley shortcuts. Gene also describes his family’s connections to the railroad-crossing shanty that serves as a memorial to railroad workers of Saratoga Springs.
Gene worked on the roadroad along with his father and brothers. His first job was on the Delaware & Hudson Railroad as a fireman during his high school vacations (1944-1945). After he served in the U.S. Navy (1950-1954), he worked as a foreman out of the North Creek, NY on the Adirondack Branch. Gene wrote of his railroad memories accompanied with photographs for the Magazine of the Bridge Line Historical Society, of which he was on the board of directors.
Gene served for the U.S. Navy from October 1950 to August 1954 aboard the battleship U.S.S. Wisconsin as a metalsmith 2nd class during the Korean War. He enlisted with other men from the West Side. In 2005, Gene participated in the Military Oral History Project Collection sharing his experience, to which is linked below.
Link to YouTube video of NYS military oral history published by the NYS Military Museum: Eugene J. Corsale, Metalsmith 2nd Class, US Navy, Korean War - YouTube
Gene Corsale was a veteran, community leader, and civil volunteer. He was deeply involved in and proud of the West Side Community, of which he was a special part.