NY Army Guard Soldier produces documentary on Utica WWII vet

New York Army National Guard Spc. Nakiya Hall is a fuel handler in the 369th Division Sustainment Brigade, and a graduate of New York University.

And now she’s a documentary film producer.

Hall, a Manhattan resident who is also on state active duty on the Department of Corrections and Community Services mission, showed her first 20-minute-long film at Utica’s Stanley Theater on April 13, 2026.

Her subject was Utica resident and 99-year-old World War II Navy veteran Robert Dellecese, who died in October of 2025.

Her film was shown on the 100th anniversary of his birth to an audience of 50. It’s now available on Youtube.

Dellecese joined the Navy in 1944, went on to fight in the Battle of Okinawa, and after returning home in 1946 served in the Army Reserve for three years as well.

Dellecese went on to become a contractor and then a real estate broker and was heavily involved in Utica’s civic life, serving on many boards and in government roles.

He also served as an adjunct professor at Utica College teaching real estate law and appraisal courses, according to the Utica Observer Dispatch

She met Dellecese while she was working at Mohawk Correctional Facility in 2025, Hall said.

Tonya Bailey, a nurse at the prison, talked about her friend Robert and how he would be a great subject for a book or film, Hall said. She had breakfast with Dellecese and was hooked.

“He had a story that mattered to the community of Utica,” she said.

She was also intrigued because he had served in the Navy, then joined the Army. And he also kept a copy of a letter Albert Einstein sent to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939 warning that Nazi Germany might develop an atomic bomb.

As a film student at NYU, she had some video experience, but none at all in making a documentary, Hall recalled. Besides, her real interest is in writing, she said.

She reached out to people she knew for advice on documentary making. They gave her lists of films to watch and ideas. In the end, she said, she decided to ignore all of it and just do it her way.

“I just wanted to go in with a camera and a vision,” she said. “ I hoped I was able to do this.”

In the end she decided to just interview Dellecese and people who knew him.

He talked to her about why he joined the Navy in 1944, and his experiences in the Pacific. He spoke about what he thought was important in life. She asked questions and let her camera run.

She also interviewed Bailey, who was serving as his nurse and called him “real to the core.”

“Mr. Dellecese enjoys the very simple things in life. He loves the small stuff,” she told Hall.

She also interviewed Joan Longo, a friend and business partner of Dellecese, and Elaine Altamuro, a woman who grew up with Dellecese in her life who was once a babysitter for his children.

She started filming in September of 2025 and finished the last interview in December, following his death in October.

Then she sat down with her material to tell her story, working around her state active duty work schedule.

She edited in World War II footage to help move the story along. But the focus remained on Dellecese’s reminisces, and the women talking about their friend.

Editing was hard, she said, but by the end of March she was done.

Showing it to 50 people who had known Dellecese, in the theater whose board he had been part of , was memorable, Hall added.

The project was a great learning tool, Hall said. Doing this video taught her to be more confident and assertive.

“When I was in school, I compared myself to others and I would second guess. I thought about what people would want,” she said.

“Since I tackled this project alone, going forward into my next project I’m more confident, since I know what to do,” Hall added.