I am trying to locate the service records or some information
concerning the career and death of Basil Antonelli who was killed in
Monte Cassino in February 1944 and was a member of a Tank Destroyer
Batallion.  It is believed that he was a member of one of the
following Independent Batallions 679, 757, 776, 791, 804, 805, 894 all
of which were engaged somewhat in Monte Cassino.  Mr. Antonelli was
born in Monte Cassino or near there, immigrated to the US during the
reign of Mussolini and enlisted in the Army and was then returned to
Itali to liberate it.  He was killed near the house in which he was
born.  I would appreciate any information you can get on him.  I
believe he lived in New York while he was in the united states.  His
sister married and her married name became Caruso.  Thank you for your
help.  Robert Wilson robby@wilson-assoc.com

Dear robbywilsonjr,

Although the military personnel records are, alas, incomplete due to a
huge fire that destroyed much of the archives in the 1970s, I am
certain that I have managed to find the Basil Antonelli you are
searching. He is the only U.S. World War II soldier of that name I
could locate in all sources I consulted, so there is little to no
doubt that he is the right one.

The first relevant source is the WWII Registry of the  National WWII
Memorial in Washington DC [1], listing the names of American
casualties. The database contains only one Basil Antonelli:

1 Lt Basil Antonelli
ID: 01170270 
Branch of Service: U.S. Army 
Hometown: Atlantic County, NJ 
Status: KIA


The second source mentioning Basil Antonelli is the Army Serial Number
Merged File containing the records of WWII Army personnel. Again, the
entire data collection lists only one Basil Antonelli who is, without
any doubt, the one also mentioned in the National WWII Memorial
database. I edited the record for easier reading:

Army Serial Number: 20037067
Name: Antonelli, Basil
State of Residence: New Jersey
County of Residence: Atlantic
Place of Enlistment: Vineland, New Jersey
Date of Enlistment: 16 September 1940
Grade: Private First Class
Branch: Field Artillery
Term of Enlistment: One Year Enlistment
Source of Army Personnel: National Guard
Nativity: Italy [see note below]
Year of Birth: 1920
Race and Citizenship: White, Citizen
Education: 3 Years of High School
Civilian Occupation: Foreman, Laundry or Bookkeeping Machine Operator
Martial Status: Single, without Dependents
Component of the Army: National Guard (Officers, Warrant Officers, and
Enlisted Men)
Box Number: 0328
Film Reel Number: 3.50

Note concerning Nativity: The code for the country of birth in the
record is "00", which is called "Undefined Code" there because 00 does
not exist in the list of nativity codes. However, I have no doubt that
this is a typo and the actual code is "O0", the code for Italy.

More information on Basil Antonelli is, unfortunately, not available
online. However, with the data from his original New Jersey National
Guard enlistment and his later U.S. Army enlistment, you should be
able to request the records and information still existing in the
National Archives and at the New Jersey National Guard. This contact
information might prove helpful:

National Personnel Records Center
Military Personnel Records
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5100
--
Phone: 314-801-0800
Fax: 314-801-9195
E-Mail: MPR.center@nara.gov
Website: http://www.archives.gov/facilities/mo/st_louis/military_personnel_records.html


New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
P.O. Box 340
Trenton, NJ 08625-0340
--
Website (with contact form): http://www.state.nj.us/military/


I hope that this will be useful for you!
Very best regards,
Scriptor


Sources:

[1] National WWII Memorial: WWII Registry Database
http://www.wwiimemorial.com/default.asp?page=registry.asp&subpage=search

[2] U.S. National Archives: World War II Army Enlistment Records
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/series_description.jsp?series_id=3360&coll_id=null

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Request for Answer Clarification by robbywilsonjr-ga on 15 Feb 2005 06:36 PST

You show Mr. Antonelli as a 1 Lt, can you tell me what unit he was in
at the time he was killed?

---

Clarification of Answer by scriptor-ga on 15 Feb 2005 09:08 PST

I tried to find out what unit Antonelli served in at the time he died,
but I had no luck. I believe that this information would be available
only from those National Archives records not available online yet,
provided those records still exist.

Best regards,
Scriptor

Fast and to the point.  scriptor-ga knows the ins and outs of military research