Remains Of Fallen Nutley Veteran Recovered Decades After WWII

NUTLEY, NJ — A nonprofit that works to recover the remains of United States military service members says a Nutley native has finally been found after he died in combat during World War II.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) recently announced that U.S. Navy Aviation Ordnanceman First Class Anthony Di Petta is officially accounted for.

According to Project Recover – a nonprofit that helped find the Nutley native’s remains – Di Petta was killed in combat in the Pacific theater during a bombing mission in 1944 while targeting antiaircraft positions and transport ships near Malakal Harbor.

The nonprofit said:

“The Avenger containing Di Petta and two other crew members took off from the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier on September 10, 1944. The crew was a part of Torpedo Squadron 20 (VT-20). The Squadron was on a bombing mission targeting antiaircraft positions and transport ships near Malakal Harbor. The Avenger was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed into water near Malakal Island.”

Di Petta’s remains were located and recovered by the Project Recover team in partnership with the DPAA off Malakal Island in the Republic of Palau, about 800 miles southwest of Guam.

The nonprofit offered more details about the recovery operation:

“Project Recover and partners at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California and the University of Delaware use advanced technology and historic records to locate crash sites, carefully explore and document them, and when possible, repatriate the remains of the fallen. Di Petta’s crash site was located in 2015 after several years of Project Recover search missions. Multiple underwater water recovery missions with contributions by Legion Undersea Services were executed following the location of the crash site.”

Di Petta’s remains will be repatriated to surviving family members in the area.

“Project Recover is proud of the incredible efforts that went into locating and repatriating Anthony Di Petta,” said Derek Abbey, the group’s president and CEO.

“We remain committed to our nation’s lost service members and the millions of Gold Star MIA family members across the country who are still anxiously waiting to learn what happened to their loved ones,” Abbey said.

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