Derosa O'Boyle Triangle

This triangle honors William Anthony DeRosa and Andrew O’Boyle, two Throgs Neck natives who gave their lives for their country during World War II (1939-1945).

With the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on the United States naval facilities at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, America entered World War II against Japan, Italy, and Germany. Relying on the country’s reserve of machines, vehicles, natural resources, and trained men to stem the Japanese advance in the Pacific, the U.S. was able to assist in the liberation of Africa and Europe from the Axis powers by late 1942. By August 1945, the Axis powers had been defeated, but more than 407,316 Americans, including servicemen Peter DeRosa and Andrew O’Boyle, died to win the war.

Throgs Neck is a peninsula that extends out from the Bronx to where the East River meets the Long Island Sound. The name is derived from John Throckmorton (1601-1684), who first settled the area with his family around 1642. Throckmorton had come to John Winthrop’s (1588-1649) Massachusetts colony with Roger Williams (ca.1603-ca.1683), and moved to Rhode Island with Williams to avoid religious persecution. Fearing an attack from Winthrop, Throckmorton moved with 35 families to the southeastern Bronx in 1642, but his new colony lasted only a year. The neighborhood bore his name when it was resettled, called Throggs Neck; in the 1950s, they dropped the second “g.”

The City of New York acquired this land by condemnation in 1938. Today, the site holds a stone monument with an inscription reading, “Dedicated to the Veterans of Throggs Neck who served in defense of our country.” Underneath it lists the major wars in American history: American Revolution (1776-1783), War of 1812 (1812-1814), Civil War (1861-1865), Spanish-American War (1898-1899), World War I (1914-1918), World War II, the Korean War (1950-1953), and the Vietnam War (1964-1975). The monument is also engraved with the seals of the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. In 1999 Council Member Madeline Provenzano provided $50,000 for general site improvements.