Commemorating Nutley native on National New Jersey Day
In recognition of National New Jersey Day on July 27th, the American Battle Monuments Commission commemorates Nutley, New Jersey, native U.S. Navy Aviation Ordnanceman First Class Anthony Di Petta.
Initial efforts to recover Di Petta’s remains were unsuccessful, and after exhaustive searches to find the aircraft after the war ended, he was declared non-recoverable on July 16, 1949.
His name was recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines, along with more than 36,000 other service members who were unaccounted for.
Over the course of several decades, several additional recovery efforts have taken place through the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and their partners. In Sept. 2021, following an excavation, remains were recovered that DPAA forensically identified as those of Di Petta.