Tuesday, November 11, 2025
Eleanor Rizzuto, a World War II veteran and the oldest resident at the Plattdeutsche Home Society in Franklin Square, celebrated her 104th birthday on Sept. 29, surrounded by fellow residents and staff, among others.
Dozens of guests gathered in the basement dining hall at noon to honor Rizzuto, who has been a resident of the home for seven years, and topped off their lunch with a large vanilla birthday cake decorated with chocolate frosting
The attendees included Angel Hinostroza, a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2718; John Spavins, a life member of the 42nd Infantry Division Rainbow Association; and Rizzuto’s niece Jane Rizzuto.
Rizzuto began preparing for a nursing career in 1939, at age 18, studying for three years at King’s County Hospital School of Nursing in Brooklyn. In 1942, she enlisted in the Army, and was deployed to serve as a bedside nurse at battle sites that same year. She served in North Africa and Italy during her deployment.
“I always wanted to be a nurse, ever since I was a little girl,” Rizzuto said, recalling her enlistment with a group of new colleagues. “We were young, we were happy and we were going to do this big job.”
During her three years of service, she tended to wounded soldiers on the battlefield — and many times she was the last comforting face they saw before they died of severe injuries.
Rizzuto said she still struggles with her memories of the war. “When I think of them, it’s hard,” she said of those soldiers. “I feel sorry for those I lost and those that I never saw again.”
Hinostroza noted the sacrifices that nurses like Rizzuto made to provide comfort and hope despite the horrors they witnessed on the battlefield. He spoke to residents during the birthday celebration, honoring Rizzuto on behalf of Charles Evans Center Health Care, a nonprofit healthcare organization, and the U.S. armed forces.
The emotional and physical toll on nurses during the war was nothing short of traumatic, Hinostroza said. But because of the supportive role they played, he added, they were viewed as “angels of the battlefield.”
“Her bravery, selflessness and the sacrifices made not just to heal, but to provide comfort and hope in the face of extreme adversity,” Hinostroza said of Rizzuto, “embody a powerful sense of humanity and duty in a chaotic environment.”
At her birthday celebration last year, Hinostroza gave her a small bronze statue of an angel holding a wounded soldier.
Spavins, who met Rizzuto in February 2024, at the annual George Washington Birthday Celebration and Dinner Dance at the Plattdeutsche restaurant next door, expressed his deep respect for her, and noted how traumatic the war experience was for all who served in medical positions, many of whom were drafted alongside soldiers.
Nurses like Rizzuto were tasked not only with treating soldiers, but also supporting the doctors who performed battlefield surgery, emotionally as well as medically. His own childhood doctor served in the war, Spavins said tearfully, and was never the same after he returned.
“The fact that we have someone like Eleanor with us is extremely special,” Spavins said. “All the guys in the association feel very much the same way.”
According to Plattdeutsche staff, Rizzuto is resilient. “She’s a tough cookie,” Maria Drauch, the facility’s program coordinator, said. Drauch added that Rizzuto often refers to other residents as “the young fellows.”
Teasha Wells, director of nursing at the senior home, said that Rizzuto needs help with almost nothing. At times, said Wells, who’s worked at the Plattdeutsche for 13 years, Rizzuto even asks if she needs help tending to other residents. Ultimately, though, Wells said, laughing, Rizzuto acknowledges that she must “pass down the baton” to Wells and relinquish her former nursing duties.
While Rizzuto’s eyesight and hearing are poor, Wells said, Rizzuto always recognizes her. “She always has her wits about her,” Wells said. “She’s just a gift to this place.”
While Rizzuto said she is happy to have made it this far in life, she feels at peace now, near the end of her journey. She said she has been well taken care of at the Plattdeutsche, and has no complaints about her day-to-day life.
The only thing she hopes for, she said, is for the world to never see war again. “I just pray that we don’t ever have any more wars,” Rizzuto said. “It doesn’t do a thing. It only kills young people. I hope nobody ever has to see it again.”
