DiPetta, Anthony
Navy Aviation ordnanceman 1st class
Anthony DiPetta, age 24, from Nutley, New Jersey, Essex county.
Parents: Sisto DiPetta
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, September 10, 1944
Death details: On January 3, 2023, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Aviation Ordnanceman First Class Anthony Di Petta, missing from World War II. Aviation Ordnanceman First Class Di Petta entered the U.S. Navy from New Jersey and served in Torpedo Squadron 20. On September 10, 1944, he was one of three crew members on a TBM-1 Avenger (Bureau Number 17018) that took off from the USS Enterprise for a strike mission against Japanese forces in the Palau Islands. The plane was last seen spinning violently before crashing into the water near Malakal Island. Starting in 2003, the BentProp Project, an independent third-party organization, investigated the loss of this aircraft. A total of four BentProp Project investigations and two Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) investigations resulted in the location of a site about 200 meters from the shore of Malakal Island. The site was excavated in 2019 and 2021, yielding possible human remains and material evidence. The materials recovered were accessioned into the DPAA Central Identification Laboratory for further study. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established an association between the remains recovered from the site and AOM1c Di Petta.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency