NUTLEYJOURNAL
ESSEXNEWSDAILY.COM
SEPTEMBER 2023
VOL. 36 NO. 44
Sailor returns home after 80 years Nutley Jr. Police Acad.
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Youth goes to Washington
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Raiders eye fine season
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A Nutley sailor returned home this summer, nearly 80 years after he died in the service of his country. People gathered at the World War II Memorial to pay their respects to the fallen Nutley resident, Ordnanceman First Class Anthony Di Petta, whose remains were recovered decades after he was killed in a World War II air strike. Following a private service on July 11, supporters accompanied Di Petta’s funeral procession, honoring the Di Petta family and the memory of the fallen sailor who sacrificed his life. “We welcomed home one of our Nutley sons who has been gone for over 79 years,” said Mayor Joseph Scarpelli. “The community was there to console his family and we thank Anthony Di Petta for his service and for making the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms.” “The whole town came together to welPhoto by Brianne Aumack come a hero home and send him to his Ordnanceman First Class Anthony Di Petta returns home to Nutley nearfinal resting place, the correct way,” said ly 80 years after he left to fight in World War II. Commissioner John V. Kelly, III. “I think of the quote from George S. Patton: ‘It is such men lived.’ I think that is true here. friends, family and his country. We are foolish and wrong to mourn the men who We are all honored that he called Nutley honored he was a part of Nutley. Even died. Rather we should thank God that home and that he laid down his life for though it’s almost 80 years later, we hope that his return home can bring some comfort to his family.” On Sept. 10, 1944, 24-year-old Di Petta, along with two other crew members, boarded their Avenger torpedo/bomber, taking off from the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier to conduct air strikes against enemy targets. Their aircraft was struck by enemy fire and crashed in the waters near Malakal Island, located in the Pacific Ocean about 800 miles southwest of Guam. Recovery efforts were halted in the summer of 1947, and on July 16, 1949, Di Petta and crew were declared non-recoverable. The crash site was located in 2015 after several years of Project Recover search missions. In partnership with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), Project Recover recovered MIAs from the Photo Courtesy of Nutley Twp. Avenger during their first MIA Recovery Nutley residents salute as the remains of Anthony Di Petta pass. See NUTLEY, Page 2