First Lieutenant Di Palermo was the pilot of a F-80C Shooting Star fighter interceptor with the 36th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 8th Fighter-Bomber Group. On January 26, 1952, while on a combat mission, his aircraft received a direct hit by anti-aircraft fire, crashed into a mountain, exploded and burst into flames. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.