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 Natale Cancilla
May 08, 2002
Natale "Nat" Cancilla, 93, of Alexandria, Va., died May 8 at Mount Vernon Nursing Center in Alexandria.
Born Dec. 25, 1908, in Isnello, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, son of Mariano and Angela Mazzola Cancilla, he spent much of his childhood in Pittsfield, graduating from Pittsfield High School in 1927. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1934 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering. He was appointed cadet commandant of the ROTC unit at the university, and commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry in 1933.
Mr. Cancilla was a physics and mathematics instructor for the state Department of Education. From 1936 to 1941, he was a consulting and designing engineer for General Electric.
Mr. Cancilla was called to active duty on Feb. 10, 1941, to the First Armored Division in Fort Knox, Ky., and remained on active duty until August 1946. Finishing his military career in the reserves, he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1968. His military citations include the Army Commendation Ribbon with Oak Leaf Cluster. As an Army captain, he conceived and implemented a plan to increase tank production in 1942. For this work, he was inducted into the U.S. Army Ordnance Hall of Fame on May 20, 1977, in Aberdeen, Md.
After the war, Mr. Cancilla worked as a managing engineer for various companies, including E.W. Bliss Co. and the New Haven Clock and Watch Co. In 1960, he became chief of the weapons and fire control of the Army Materiel Command. At AMC, he was involved with many weapon systems including the production of the M-14 and M-16 rifles. He retired from federal service in January 1979.
He had lived in Alexandria since 1960. He lived in Arlington, Va., in the 1940s during World War II.
He leaves his wife, the former Helen Taylor, whom he married Feb. 10, 1947; three daughters, Judith Cancilla McCarthy of Alexandria, Susan Cancilla Cowles of Mineral Wells, Texas, and Ellen Cancilla Richardson of Huntsville, Ala.; two sisters, Angela Cancilla and Mayme Cancilla Carchedi, both of Pittsfield; four brothers, Joseph Cancilla, Vincent Cancilla and Dr. Michael Cancilla, all of Pittsfield, and Ernest Cancilla of Lancaster, S.C., and five grandchildren. He was predeceased by a son, Stanley Banks Cancilla. He was predeceased by three brothers, Jack Cancilla, Salvatore Cancilla and Anthony Cancilla.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday, June 27, 2002 at Fort Myer Old Post Chapel, Fort Myer, at 10:45 a.m. Burial, with full military honors, will follow at Arlington National Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home the night before from 7 to 9 p.m.
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