Fallen Akron Marine finally coming home

[thedrifter]

Posted on Tue, Jul. 10, 2007
Fallen Akron Marine finally coming home
Military funeral will be Thursday for Pfc. Nick DiSalvo, 20, who was killed in Korean War during 1950 battle
By Bill Lilley
Beacon Journal staff writer

COPLEY TWP. - Sally Pier is a woman of faith, but even that couldn't prevent her a decade ago from giving up hope of ever finding her brother.

It had been nearly 57 years of agony and hope, and more agony and hope in a search that had been fruitless since Marine Pfc. Nick DiSalvo was reported missing in action during the brutal Chosin Reservoir offensive in the early stages of the bloody Korean War.

``After so long, I simply gave up hope that he would ever come home,'' she said. ``And I had to let it go after nearly 50 years for the sake of my own sanity. It was so bad that I couldn't even watch Saving Private Ryan without focusing on where Nick was and what had happened to Nick. It was a nightmare.''

Pier's worst nightmare faded away when Hattie Johnson, a liaison for POW/MIA affairs with the Marines, called in mid-April to tell her that her brother's remains had been positively identified in Honolulu.

Those remains, accompanied by Staff Sgt. David Nathern and a Marine honor guard, will be flown to Cleveland on Wednesday. DiSalvo will be given a full military funeral at 12:15 p.m. Thursday -- which would have been his 77th birthday -- at the Kucko-Anthony-Kertesz Funeral Home on Waterloo Road in Akron. He will be buried at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Rittman.

``I couldn't believe it when I got the call from Hattie,'' Pier said. ``I took a deep breath and said to myself, `They finally found out what happened. Our prayers have been answered.'

``Then I called my two sisters and they couldn't believe it.

``I had always hoped that I would find out in my lifetime what happened to Nick. I knew he was dead, but I never thought they would find his remains. This is an incredible moment for our entire family.''

Pier, 72, said her brother was a likable young man whom friends never forgot.

Popular young man

``Everybody loved Nick,'' Pier said. ``I've gotten a lot of calls from old friends, even one from a woman who said she was engaged to Nick. He was really great with people and he was a great big brother for my four sisters and I. We were very close and I never would have squealed on him for anything.''

DiSalvo left Garfield High School before graduating and enlisted in the Army at 17 -- a common practice in the 1940s. He served two years as a paratrooper and received an honorable discharge.

``He came back from the Army and was working in a laundromat,'' Pier said. ``Some of his buddies from Garfield talked him into joining the Marine Reserves early in 1950.''

Pier said DiSalvo worked a lot and missed a lot of the Marine Reserve meetings, but his buddies from Garfield -- who also were in the reserves -- forged his attendance to keep him from getting kicked out of the unit.

``They thought they were doing him a favor,'' Pier said.

That all changed June 25, 1950, when North Korean troops invaded South Korea.

DiSalvo's reserve unit was called to action on Labor Day and landed in Korea in November.

DiSalvo hadn't been in Korea very long when his Company F, 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment was sent into battle in the Koto-ri area on Nov. 27, 1950.

Company F was part of the 1st Marine Division that embarked on a daring assault attempting to cut the road and rail communications of Chinese forces attacking the U.S. Eighth Army.

The 1st Marine Division began an epic battle over twisting, icy roads in the mountains. DiSalvo's unit ultimately was cut off by Chinese forces and trapped in the Chosin Reservoir on Dec. 2, 1950. DiSalvo was 20.

``We later found out that because it was winter and horrible conditions, he and 11 others in the unit who died were buried in the Chosin Reservoir by the other members of their unit,'' Pier said.

The North Koreans, Pier said, reclaimed the area and robbed the graves, stripping the dead soldiers of any identification, medals and teeth and other body parts that contained precious metals.

Unidentified remains

Following the 1953 cease-fire, DiSalvo's remains were among the nearly 10,000 unidentified returned by the North Koreans to the United States. Pier later discovered her brother's body went to Japan and then Hawaii, where it was placed with 11 other unknown soldiers in an area of a military cemetery called the Punch Bowl.

DiSalvo officially was declared killed in action by the U.S. Marine Corps on Dec. 2, 1953, three years from the date he disappeared.

``My mother prayed and prayed and prayed that he would come home and my sisters prayed at St. Paul's every day for years,'' Pier said.

Pier's parents wanted some sort of closure before they died.

But it wasn't to be.

Rose DiSalvo died at 70 in 1974, never knowing what happened to her only son.

Salvatore DiSalvo died nine years later at 83, knowing only that his son never came home from Korea.

Dorothy Elliott and Josephine DiSalvo, two of Nick DiSalvo's sisters, also have died since.

``We thought we might find something out about 10 years ago when the Marines asked us for blood to compare,'' Pier said. ``But the bones had been through too many preserving processes in Japan to get a good read.

``The big breakthrough came through a tooth that had a bizarre filling -- it was a one in a million -- and the fact that Nick had two fractures in his right arm from an accident he had as a kid.

``That put the Marines on the right track. They contacted me in August about getting a picture of Nick. I made a copy of the one that I had and sent it to them.

``Honestly, I had no idea it was for identification purposes. I thought they were going to do a memorial to him.''

Instead, they used the picture to re-create his head shape and make a clay model. It matched the skull that had the tooth with the odd filling. The Marines were positive it was Nick DiSalvo.

Dream comes true

``The Marines have been wonderful throughout the entire process,'' said Pier, who has lived in Copley Township with her husband, Ernie, for 46 years. ``Hattie and Staff Sgt. Chicnee Brown came to our home Sunday, May 6, and spent four wonderful hours with my family.

``Everything they've done has been with love and care. And I know they work so hard to make sure as many as possible of the unidentified bodies get identified.

``I know what my feeling was that day in April when Hattie called and said, `We have found your brother.'

``For me, it was the dream of my life come true. I had found out what happened to my brother -- he was hit by a barrage of enemy fire and he was killed instantly...

``We'll have full closure Thursday with the funeral and burial. I had prayed for this in my lifetime and my prayers were answered.''

DiSalvo's casket will have a Marine uniform adorned with his various medals, including the Purple Heart, Gold Star Lapel Buttons, United Nations Service Award and Korean Service Award. His remains will be enclosed at the bottom of the casket at the foot of the uniform.

Bill Lilley can be reached at 330-996-3811 or blilley@thebeaconjournal.com.

Welcome Home
RIP

Ellie

[thedrifter]

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]

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]

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]

Thanks for an update of this. Now Nick can finally rest in peace!

[JinxJr]

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]

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]

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]

Look forward to hearing from you JinxJr.

[JinxJr]

Hey Top...look for a PM

[JinxJr]

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.