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thedrifter
07-10-07, 05:41 AM
Posted on Tue, Jul. 10, 2007 <br />
Fallen Akron Marine finally coming home <br />
Military funeral will be Thursday for Pfc. Nick DiSalvo, 20, who was killed in Korean War during 1950 battle <br />
By Bill...

thedrifter
07-10-07, 05:53 AM
Local Marine identified 50 years after disappearing

Eric Mansfield
Created: 7/9/2007 8:30:40 PM
Updated:7/10/2007 5:00:54 AM


AKRON -- A local hero who went missing in action in 1950 has finally been identified.
Sally Pier said the military has confirmed that remains housed in a Tomb of the Unknown in Hawaii are those of her brother, Marine PFC Domenico "Nick" DiSalvo of Akron.

"A very happy time for all of us," Pier said. "We never thought we'd live long enough to know what happened to Domenic and we're very elated."

DiSalvo grew up in Akron with his five sisters and attended Garfield High School. He left school early, Pier said, to join the Army paratroopers at age 17. Later, he joined the Marine Reserves and was deployed to North Korea in November of 1950. He went missing in action just a few weeks later during the Chosir Reservoir Offense, one of the bloodiest battles in the war.

"We tried everything, red cross, everything to try to find him," Pier said. "We just couldn't. I had my two sisters who went to St. Paul's Catholic Church every morning at 6 o'clock mass praying for him."

Three years after DiSalvo dissapeared, the military declared him dead. Then, just a few months ago, government investigators compared DiSalvo's dental records with remains in Hawaii and made a match. Those remains are being flown back to Northeast Ohio and should arrive to full military honors on Wednesday morning.

DiSalvo's remains were originally found with the remains of other U.S. Marines who'd been buried on North Korean soil by American forces who were unable to remove them during heavy combat. After the conflict ended, North Korean leaders returned the remains to U.S. leaders, who shipped them to Hawaii for future testing.

"I'm very elated," Pier said. "When I looked over all the (new) records to find that he died instantly, he was not captured, and he did not suffer. That was something peaceful for me to know that after all these years."

Ellie

yanacek
07-10-07, 06:43 AM
Rest in peace Pfc DiSilvo.

My father served in the USMCR in Cleveland and got recalled to active duty for Korea with F/2/5. I am certain he would have known Pfc DiSilvo. He always aganoized over those who never returned home. Now, one more is finally returning home. Thanks so much for posting this.

thedrifter
07-13-07, 05:43 AM
Posted on Fri, Jul. 13, 2007
Killed in Korean War in 1950, Nick Di Salvo finally laid to rest
Family, friends from near, far honor Marine
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer

A Marine who died on a frozen hill in a historic battle in North Korea nearly 57 years ago was remembered Thursday by his family, his comrades in arms, younger Marines who never met him and the girl he left behind.

Marine Pfc. Domenico ``Nick'' S. Di Salvo, who would have turned 77 on Thursday, was buried instead at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Rittman.

The Akron Marine who was listed among the missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, during the battle of the Chosin Reservoir, was declared dead three years later.

His skeletal remains were not positively identified until earlier this year.

Pfc. Di Salvo waved goodbye to his fiancee, Carol Towsley, at the Akron train station one day in 1950 and never saw her again.

On Thursday, the 73-year-old mother of five, grandmother of 15 and great-grandmother of 15 sat in the Kucko-Anthony-Kertesz Funeral Home and remembered the young man she planned to marry.

``He was a super great guy,'' said Carol Towsley Holmes, a retired nurse's aide. ``He treated me like a little queen.''

When the news came that Nick was missing, ``it broke my heart,'' she said.

Her mother told her that time would heal the wounds, she said.

Her brother, Harry Towsley, had been killed in action in World War II, so the loss of her fiance was extremely difficult, she said.

She went on with her life, married, had a family and later divorced, but she never forgot Di Salvo.

``To have all these things taken away'' when he was killed in battle at such a young age, was hard to take, she said.

Sitting quietly in a chair at the funeral home, looking at the flag-draped casket that contained the remains of the boy she fell in love with so long ago, made her think, ``I wish he was here.''

Marine 1st Sgt. Richard A. Mathern of the inspector-instructor staff at Weapons Company, the Akron Marine Reserve unit, flew to Hawaii to bring Di Salvo's remains home.

In Honolulu, Mathern viewed and touched the remains of his fallen brother and on Wednesday, when Di Salvo's body arrived in Akron, he stood with members of Di Salvo's family at the funeral home on West Waterloo Road as the casket was opened.

According to protocol, the remains were wrapped in plastic, placed in a blanket, and covered with a Marine Dress Blues uniform.

Mathern pulled the uniform back a bit in the casket, put his hand on the blanket inside the funeral home and encouraged family members to touch Pfc. Di Salvo one more time.

``This is your brother,'' he said to the Marine's sisters on Wednesday.

Saying goodbye

Sally Pier, 72, of Copley Township, one of Di Salvo's sisters, put her hand on his remains for the first time Wednesday.

``It was overwhelming,'' she said. ``I touched him and a feeling went through me.''

After that, she said, she knew her brother was finally home.

``He is with us,'' she said.

Before the funeral, she said she looked forward to visiting her brother's grave in Rittman in the coming years.

``I will go to the cemetery to sit and talk to him,'' she said.

One of those attending the service, Tim DeWolf of Mentor, a Marine Vietnam War veteran and the president of the Gold Star Chapter of the Leathernecks -- a group of Marine motorcyclists -- shared something in common with Di Salvo.

Thursday was DeWolf's 60th birthday.

``I consider him a big brother,'' he said.

Several members of the Akron Chapter 138 of the Korean War Veterans Association came to pay their respects to Pfc. Di Salvo, including commander Ed Rose, 74, of Akron.

Many troops were lost in Korea and their bodies were never recovered, said Rose, an Air Force veteran.

``Many died in captivity,'' he said.

Motorcycle journeys

Also in attendance were Pam and Harold Murray of Atwater Township, members of the veteran support group Rolling Thunder who rode to Akron on a motorcycle inscribed with the name of their son, Marine Sgt. Jeremy Murray, who was killed in Iraq on Nov. 16, 2005.

``We came here to represent our son,'' Harold Murray said.

``It's been 57 years, and he is still a brother,'' he said of Di Salvo's link to his son.

One of those who made the most grueling trip to attend the funeral was 76-year-old Bill Pickle of Florida.

``I rode 1,000 miles to get here,'' said Pickle, formerly of Akron, who left for Korea with Di Salvo's Marine Reserve unit.

Pickle rode his Harley Davidson motorcycle to Akron this week and on Thursday recalled the last time he saw Di Salvo.

The two Marines were on a ship off the Korean coast, he said.

``They called his name and we shook hands,'' he said.

Di Salvo left the ship to head into Korea and Pickle, who also served more than a year in Korea, never saw his friend again.

``I felt I should come here,'' he said. ``I'm glad I did.''

1st Sgt. Mathern said it is important to remember that there are still many Americans who have fallen in battle who have not been found and to know that the American government is working hard to find and identify their remains.

In the case of Di Salvo, he said, while it is a sorrowful occasion, ``it is a joyful occasion. We are reuniting a family.''

Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.

Ellie

yanacek
07-13-07, 06:03 AM
Thanks for an update of this. Now Nick can finally rest in peace!

JinxJr
07-13-07, 07:59 AM
My Dad was a Cleveland Reservist that ended up in Korea with the 5th Marines at Chosin too. I'm over 50 years old and I've never heard him talk much about it aside from some of the characters he served with. I'll share this with him. It's good to see another one come home to rest in peace.

Semper Fi DiSalvo, you have not been forgotten.

yanacek
07-13-07, 08:15 AM
JinxJr: Your father served with B Company, 7th Infantry Battalion in Cleveland? So did mine. He too would never talk about Korea. Did your Dad ever mention Don and Paul Dowling? Please feel free to contact me via e-mail at: yanacek.rj@vmb-613.com

JinxJr
07-13-07, 08:39 AM
I just put a call in to my Dad, who still lives in Cleveland. He hasn't gotten used to the idea he's really retired so...the clown is AT WORK!!! The article above ran in the Cleveland papers too and Mom said he mentioned that he knew Nick DiSalvo. I should be getting a call back in about an hour or so and I'll drop you an e-mail.

yanacek
07-13-07, 08:47 AM
Look forward to hearing from you JinxJr.

JinxJr
07-13-07, 08:47 AM
Hey Top...look for a PM

JinxJr
07-13-07, 10:38 AM
JinxJr: Your father served with B Company, 7th Infantry Battalion in Cleveland? So did mine. He too would never talk about Korea. Did your Dad ever mention Don and Paul Dowling? Please feel free to contact me via e-mail at: yanacek.rj@vmb-613.com

As a matter of fact, he did...with his half-brother Jack Moore.