Our D-Day Fallen: Captain Ettore V. Zappacosta

As we come into the beginning of the holiday season, we are reminded of the sacrifices made by our service men and women every day.  For soldiers of today and yesterday, the holidays were a reminder of their loved ones back home and the traditions they have here on the Homefront.  It is also during this season that we remember all the men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect our country.  On December 11, 2015 at 6pm we will open the gates of the National D-Day Memorial for free admission to begin our weekend luminary event.  Like every year, we are lighting 4,413 luminaries – one to represent each of the soldiers who were killed in action on June 6, 1944.

Captain Ettore V. Zappacosta

These luminaries will be lit in honor of servicemen, like Captain Ettore V. Zappacosta. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915. Although there is not much about his early years, it seems as if he moved to Washington D.C. to live with the Rabil family in 1940, just before the U.S. became involved in the war.

He was the Captain of Company B of the 116^th Regiment of the 29^th Division of the U.S. Army during World War II. His company loaded from Weymouth-Portland to head towards Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944 on his transport, the Empire Javelin.

“When we left the Empire Javelin and boarded the landing craft, Captain Zappacosta was the first man at the front. I was behind him, being his radio operator. He was very quiet going in. He was not a talkative man anyways, but he was very, very quiet on the trip in…. “ – Pvt. Bob Sales, Zappacosta’s Radio Operator, in an interview in 1999

“When the ramp dropped, Zappacosta was first off. He was immediately hit. Medic Thomas Kenser saw him bleeding from the hip and shoulder. Kenser, still on the ramp, shouted, "Try to make it in! I'm coming." But the captain was already dead. Before Kenser could jump off the boat he was shot dead. Every man on the boat save one (Pvt. Robert Sales) was either killed or wounded before reaching the beach.” -Stephen Ambrose, in his book, D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climatic Battle of World War II

Not only did Zappacosta valiantly lead his men into battle in the wake of the devastation on Omaha Beach with Company A, his ultimate sacrifice led to freedom for France, Europe, and the rest of the world. Zappacosta is buried in Yeadon, Pennsylvania at Holy Cross Cemetery. 

Our D-Day Fallen: Sergeant Earl L. Parker

As we move toward the holiday season, we take time to remember all our servicemen and women around the world.  At the National D-Day Memorial, we have a special holiday time season program to honor all those who never made it home. We remember all the sacrifices our servicemen and women make everyday, and the sacrifices made by their families. Join us for our special nighttime presentation from December 12-14, 2014 entitled Flames of Memory, where4,413 luminaries around the site are lit in memory of the Allied forces who were killed in action on June 6, 1944 - men like that of Bedford Boy Sergeant Earl Parker.

Growing up on a 300-acre beef farm, Earl Parker began working at the Piedmont Label Company, which printed labels for canned foods, after graduating from Bedford High School. He was one of three brothers – all of whom would experience combat during the war.  Younger brother Billy recalled that Earl enjoyed playing baseball and hunting.

In 1939, twenty-six-year-old Parker was a private first class in Company A.  Parker was a lighthearted young man who was madly in love with nineteen-year-old Viola Shrader, one of the prettiest and most popular girls in all of Bedford. The two were married in 1940 and shortly after Earl left their daughter, Danny, was born.

Like other wives, Viola did what she could to remain positive while her husband was away.  To his end, Parker did everything he could to get back home to visit his bride.  Anytime he would have leave, he would try to carpool with anyone headed home. Viola wrote to her husband all the time.  She tried to stress the positives, even though life without Earl was getting tougher every day.

Like many women, Viola moved back to her parents’ home with her baby. By day, she worked on her family farm and at night, she slept in her childhood room and fell asleep listening to the nightly radio news shows.

At the beginning of the invasion, the Javelin moved out in to the Channel and Roy and Ray Stevens stood at the rail with Earl Parker. Parker took the photo of his daughter Danny out of his pocket and said, “If I could see her just once, I wouldn't mind dying.”

In mid-July, Viola received one of the first Western Union telegrams to be delivered of the Company A fatalities from June 6, 1944. It confirmed her worst fears, Earl was missing in action. She recalled, “You’re so hit that you don’t cry, you don’t do anything. I thought, ‘Well I better dust.’…I dusted the whole house.”  Afterwards, Viola took Danny in her arms, left the house, and walked towards the Peaks of Otter—the same place where she and Earl had courted.  There she wondered what she was going to do now that her love was gone, but she also told Danny “we’re going to make it.”

After the war and the men returned home, Viola went on search for answers.  Eventually, she visited Ray Nance telling him to tell her what happened because she did not believe he was dead.  Nance told her that Parker had been hit by a mortar shell and his body had been washed out to the English Channel, never to be recovered. She was comforted in knowing that Earl had died instantly without pain. The one thing that Viola had was her daughter, the greatest of parting gifts. Viola said, “She was an inspiration to go out and do something instead of sitting around crying all day.”

In 1954, Danny, eleven-years-old, unveiled a tribute to the Bedford Boys that sits at the old Bedford High School, today’s middle school. She knew the story of her local National Guard Company and knew that her daddy was a part of the largest amphibious invasion to take place in history, the invasion that allowed the Allies to start moving across Europe to end the war in May 1945. 

**If you would like to learn more about Flames of Memory or make a donation to honor/remember a serviceman or woman, please click here. Help us ensure everyone is remembered this holiday season. 

Until next time, 

Felicia

Our D-Day Fallen: George Albert Kelly

As we come into the beginning of the holiday season, we are reminded of the sacrifices made by our service men and women every day.  For soldiers of today and yesterday, holidays were a reminder of their loved ones back home and the traditions they have here on the homefront.  It is also during this season that we remember all the men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect our country.  On December 13, 2014 at 6pm we will be opening the gates for free admission to begin our weekend luminary event.  This year we will be lighting 4,413 luminaries – one to represent each of the soldiers who were killed in action on June 6, 1944.

1930s Postcard of Madisonville High School

Service men like George Albert Kelly.  Kelly was born in Madisonville, Kentucky on October 18, 1920 to Dan and Bessie Kelly.  He had three siblings: Christine, Charles, and Mary.  According to the 1930 census, Dan Kelly worked as a Ford Dealer before opening his own garage (seen on the 1940 census).  Kelly grew up working in his father’s garage and this is where his love of mechanics grew. 

In addition to working in the garage, Kelly also played sports, attended church and played the trumpet for his high school.  He was also one of the few teenagers who during the Great Depression owned his own car, something which made him extremely popular.  After graduating from high school, Kelly started working in his father’s garage.  When the 1940 census was taken, Kelly had worked 68 hours the prior week. 

LCI(L) 237; this is similar to the ship Kelly would have been stationed on

In July 1942, Kelly joined the Navy.  Shortly after his enlistment, Kelly reported to Chicago for training on diesel engines.  After graduation, he continued his education by taking a class in Class A Group 3 diesel engines.  By November 1942, he had finished his training and was transferred to the amphibious forces at Norfolk, Virginia.  Here he was assigned to his one and only ship, USS Landing Craft Infantry Large (LCI(L)) 232.  He steadily rose in rank from fireman first class to Chief Motor Machinist Mate on June 1, 1944. 

Plan for attack on Utah Beach

Prior to D-Day, Kelly was involved in the landings during Operation Torch and Operation Husky.  He also participated in landings at Salerno and Anzio.  In March 1944, LCI(L) 232 was moved to England to prepare for Operation Overlord.  As part of Operation Neptune, Kelly and LCI(L) 232 offloaded a compliment of soldiers on Utah Beach in the early hours of D-Day.  On their way back out to retrieve more soldiers, LCI(L) 232 was struck by an enemy shell and hit an undersea mine about a mile and a half off of the beach.  Kelly, as the Chief Motor Machinist Mate, would have been in the engine room with no chance of survival.  Reports noted that LCI(L) 232 sank quickly. 

His parents received the following letter from the USS LCI(L) 232 Commanding Officer after the death of their son:

"I fully realize the inadequacy of anything I can say to you to
lighten the burden of grief and anxiety which must be yours at this time. I hope you may receive some comfort and courage in the knowledge of yours son’s brave devotion and splendid service.

Your son was a fine sailor who was respected for his professional abilities, his conscientious performance of duty according to the highest standards of our naval traditions and his qualities of fellowship and leadership which made him a fine ship-mate. He was well liked by all the officers and men aboard the ship.  I profoundly hope that you may find solace in the thought that he lies buried with honor in the sea he served so well. The memory of your son will remain a constant inspiration to all who knew him and who must now carry on the struggles to preserve the ideals for which he so devotedly gave his life. He was a credit to his home and country and you may justly be very proud.”

Kelly listed on the Tablet of Missing

(National Archives and Records Administration, Military Personnel Records, St. Louis, MO)

Kelly was listed as missing-in-action until March 30, 1945 when the Navy officially declared him killed-in-action.  Kelly was posthumously awarded the WWII Victory Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Area Service Ribbon with five stars, the American Area Campaign Medal, and the Purple Heart.  His name is listed on the Tablet of Missing in the American Cemetery in Normandy. 

We invite you to join us December 13-15 for our luminary event.  Click here if you would like to help us keep their memories and sacrifices alive.    

Until next time, 

Felicia 

**Special thanks goes to Albert Small, a student who participated in the Normandy Institute with National History Day.  It was through his website dedicated to George Kelly that I discovered Kelly's story and could bring it to you.  His work, in addition to census records, description of USS LCI 232 movements, and research into the town of Madisonville, Kentucky has culmanated in the post you just read.  

**Information on LCI 232 can be found here: http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/15/150232.htm