Dear daughter3,
I am quite sure that I have found the soldier your father talks about.
There is no "Vallelunga", but I tried alternative spellings,
successfully. In the database of the West Virginia Veterans Memorial,
the names and biographical data (where available) of soldiers from
West Virginia who died in war are listed. Among them, there is this
entry:
Name: Vallelonga
First Name: Albert
Middle Name: Bernardino
County: Monongalia
Community: Morgantown
Branch of Service: Army
Rank: 1st Lt
Service Number: 01284433
Date of Death: 1944/08/19
Place of Death: Normandy
Cause of Death: KIA
Place of Burial: Normandy American Cemetery
Unit: 118 Inf Reg
Date of Birth: 1920/08/21
The record also includes the biographical background of Albert
Vallelonga, and the circumstances of his death. This part is
particularly sad, because it seems that the bomb he had tried to
disarm was not a German bomb at all, but a bomb accidentally dropped
by Allied planes on U.S. troops.
You may want to read this information, written down by Albert's mother
Mary Vallelonga, yourself. To do so, please follow this link and
simply type the name Vallelonga in the "Last Name" field, then hit the
"Submit Query" button. You will be taken direct to Albert Vallelonga's
record, since he is the only West Virginian war casualty of that name:
http://wvmemory.wvculture.org/bin/gate.exe?f=login&p_lang=english&p_d=vets
Though my research produced evidence that members of the Vallelonga
family are still resident in West Virginia, please understand that I
am bound to the Google Answers rules that strictly forbid Researchers
to provide any contact information for living private individuals.
However, there is something else I can do for you:
The biographical information on Albert Vallelonga was provided by his
family, which means that the family had contact with the Veterans
Memorial Archives who collected the information for the memorial and
the database. Therefore, they might be able to provide you contact
information for the Vallelongs family:
West Virginia Division of Culture and History
Archives and History Library
c/o Pat Pleska
1900 Kanawha Boulevard, E.
Charleston, WV 25305-0300
--
Phone: 304-558-0230
E-Mail: pat.pleska@wvculture.org
Finally, I would like to add that Albert B. Vallelonga can also be
found, although with a less extensive record, in the American Battle
Monuments Commision database of World War II casualties; again, he is
the only soldier of that name, and there is no Vallelunga listed in
the databases:
http://www.abmc.gov/searchww.htm
I really hope that this information will be useful for you!
Very best regards,
Scriptor |
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