“I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom."
- Abraham Lincoln in a letter to Lydia Parker Bixby, 1864

When Aviation Ordnanceman Mate 1st Class Anthony Di Petta of the U.S. Navy was finally welcomed home after his remains were recovered from the Pacific 79 years after his death, one cannot help but reflect on the poignancy of that quote. Five months after his funeral procession made its way through his hometown of Nutley, NJ, a member of the Sons of the American Legion (SAL) from Squadron 105 in Belleville places a wreath at his grave on Wreaths Across America Day on December 16. He was very much like those five sons of Lydia Bixby who were killed during the Civil War. AOM1c Di Petta was a son. A brother. A patriot. A hero.

He was killed when his TBM Avenger was shot down in the Palau Islands in the Pacific during World War II, along with his two other crewmates on September 10, 1944. His remains were recovered in 2021, and after being identified by DNA testing, were returned home for a military funeral. On the way to his internment at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Cemetery in Wrightstown, NJ, his funeral procession passed through Belleville’s neighboring town on Nutley, where Belleville Post 105 provided an honor guard. The procession stopped briefly for a ceremony, then onto a funeral mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, then on to Doyle for a funeral with full military honors.

Every year, Belleville 105 purchases and places wreaths on the graves of veterans at Doyle Cemetery. Of the eleven wreaths specifically placed on the relatives and friends of members of the Post that day, one wreath was reserved for Di Petta’s grave, to be placed by SAL William Chivil.

Chivil is an author, who wrote an article for “The Nutley Journal” about AOM1c Di Petta’s story and journey home. It seemed only fitting he place that wreath. "Anthony Di Petta was 24 years old when he lost his life while serving his country in World War II,” Chivil noted afterward. “Standing before his grave nearly 80 years later, I was mindful of his service and the gift of freedom that he and all of our veterans provide."

“I feel like this brings the story full circle,” writes SAL 105 Adjutant Rusty Myers, who coordinated Belleville’s participation in the event.