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Dear Readers,

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, was traditionally celebrated may 30th as a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nations services.
The day is usually observed by memorial ceremonies, principally the decoration of graves, for military personnel killed in U.S. wars: Civil War, Spanish American War, World Wars I and II, Korean War, Vietnam and sadly now Iraq.

In 1968, to ensure a three day weekend for federal workers, Congress passed a law, setting aside the last Monday in May as Memorial day.

During World War II, because Italy was not on the Allied side, a disproportionate number of Italian-Americans, anxious to prove their loyalty, enlisted in the U.S. Armed Services, thereby resulting in a disproportionate number of Italian-Americans in eternal rest at military cemeteries throughout the United States.

And as the exhibition “Storia Segreta” (the secret history of the Italian internment) which opened at the Museo Italo Americano in San Francisco in 1994 and shone the light on the dark days of 1942 when thousands of Italian Americans in California had to evacuate homes deemed too close to the ocean, military installations or shipyards while their sons and nephews were headed overseas and “enemy alien” mothers and aunts were informed by the navy that their sons had gone down with the “Arizona” at Pearl Harbor, a disproportionate number of Italian-Americans families and their kin have been decorating graves on Memorial Day for over half a century.

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In Washington, D.C., the Italian American Gazette of the greater Washington D.C. area. Voce Italiana, (published ten times a year by Holy Rosary Church - Casa Italiana, 595 Third Street NW, Washington D.C. 20001, Tel 202-638-0165, subscription $15 per year) I read a “Meglio tardi che mai” story about a World War I veteran, private Francis Lupo, who after 90 years finally found a resting place in Arlington National Cemetery, after posthumously being awarded several medals, including one from the French government because in World war I Francis Lupo's unit fought as part of a combined French-American attack on German forces near Soissons, known as the Second Battle of the Marne.

Some called that battle a turning point in the war, halting German advances toward Paris. (Lupo was only one of more than 300,000 Italian Americans, including 87,000 Italian nationals, who served in the U.S. military during World War I, among them was Lt. Fiorello La Guardia, N.Y. Mayor 1934-1945 one of the first soldiers in the new U.S. Army Air Service, the forerunner of the Air Force).

The story, “Home at Last: Private Lupo Finds a Resting Place” by Gemma Puglisi, an Assistant Professor at the School of Communication, American University, read in part “The Italian American community welcomed one of its own at Washington, D.C. this past fall. The homecoming was long overdue-nearly 90 years, in fact.

But this heroic Sicilian American soldier now has a permanent and honorable resting place at Arlington National Cemetery.
Private Francis Lupo, with the E Company, 2nd Battalion of the U.S. Army was only 23 when he died, reportedly on the very first day of heavy fighting in France.

One of eight children raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was a former newspaper supply man and the son of Sicilian immigrants.

Lupo is considered to be the longest missing U.S. soldier ever recovered and identified from World War I.

Lupo's remains were unearthed in 2003 by archaeologists who were surveying a construction site.
Lupo's battalion, somewhere in northern France in fields under heavy German firing, was obviously killed.

During that period many of the soldiers were buried temporarily, but in time, many of these graves became permanent resting places.

What archaeologists discovered was a shallow grave with bones and remnants of two uniforms. In the dirt were also pieces of a wallet, inscribed with the name Francis Lupo. The second soldier was never identified and still remains a mystery.
Once the identification was made by the Army, the search began to locate Lupo's family. Ninety-years later, that family consisted of Lupo's niece, and his great niece, who both live in Kentucky.

The Army informed them of the discovery. After conducting lab work, they strongly believed that they had found their great uncle.
The Army official stated that it was important to “bring our boys back to the States.”

On September 26, 2006, Rachel, Rose, her husband, and their 24 year-old son were the only family members left to bury their loved one, with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

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In Findlay, Ohio, my friend Marilyn Patterson, recently received word that her DNA sample had been used to identify the remains of her brother, PFC Rex E. “Jack” Wagner, a Korean War Veteran.

DNA samples from surviving family members have become the key component to identifying the remains of American soldiers believed to be killed in action.
The type of DNA the Army uses to identify individuals is inherited only from the mother. This means that each person's mother, as well as brothers, sisters, sister's children and many other relatives, share the same kind of mtDNA.

The remains of Signora Patterson's younger brother, who was killed while fighting in the Korean War have finally been identified, 56 years later, and will be buried this summer at Arlington National Cemetery.

Marilyn's brother enlisted in the U.S. Army in May 1950.
Five months later, PFC Rex E. “Jack” Wagner was declared Missing in Action after his company, which was part of the 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, was pummeled by the Chinese People's Volunteer Force (then allied with North Korea) near Unsan in what has been characterized as some of the most vicious fighting of the Korean War.

A military review board eventually altered Wagner's status to presumed Killed in Action, posthumously promoted him to corporal, and awarded a Purple Heart.
According to the Army's brief, Wagner was listed as MIA on Nov. 2, 1950, one day after troops were attacked from the north by the Chinese.

Wagner's battalion had been ordered to hold the combat line in order to provide protection to two retreating battalions, but the enemy blocked the last remaining escape road.

Military officials collected samples of Patterson's DNA in 2004 and sent it to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) Central Identification Laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, which coordinates search and recovery missions throughout the world for remains of those who died in various wars, conflicts and operations.

In 2002, a team had worked to recover bones near the nose of the Kuryong River's “Camel's Head” bend, the area where Wagner was last seen.
Patterson heard no more, so assumed none of DNA matched.

But on March 8, 2007, more than 56 years after her brother was declared missing, she received a phone call from U.S. Army officials who told her his repatriated remains had been positively identified using her DNA sample.

Marilyn and other family members will be coordinating with Army personnel to have her brother's remains buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

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The U.S. Military says that there are usually more than 1,000 case files under investigation at any given time, using 18 teams from all service branches that are dispatched from Hawaii and three permanent overseas detachments in Bangkok, Thailand; Hanoi, Vietnam; and Vientiane, Laos.

Missions involving specialists like anthropologists and linguists can take up to 60 days to complete, and can involve transporting up to 10,000 pound of survival and excavation equipment.

Finding the remains of U.S. servicemen and women who fought in the Korean War has been no easy task.

In fact, of the 33,000 troops who were killed in the war, more than 8,100 are still listed as missing, primarily due to the fact that North Korea's political climate hasn't' been conducive to outsiders entering its borders.

To All…Gone But Not Forgotten
Rest in Peace

 

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