Warbird Information Exchange

Italian man hopes to return watch of fallen American WWII soldier to relatives

One man is hoping time is on his side as he seeks to return a watch that belonged to a WWII pilot whose plane went down in the mountains of Italy nearly 70 years ago.

Retiree Glauco Mencaroni, who lives in the central Italian region of Umbria, had heard ever since he was a child about a U.S. Douglas C-47 transport plane with six crewmen aboard that had crashed over nearby Monte Tezio, and he had always dreamed of locating the wreckage. With scant information and motivated by an admiration for the American soldiers who died helping his countrymen, he searched the area where surviving witnesses and local lore had put the plane crash.

“The six Americans died while doing this. We must commemorate their lives.”

- Glauco Mencaroni

“I searched the site for two months to find the exact spot,” Mencaroni told FoxNews.com through a translator. “Because was on the side of a mountain, it is a difficult place to reach. I went twice a week for about four months to the spot."

During his trips to the site, Mencaroni used a metal detector to hunt for wreckage from the plane, which went down in 1944. Six months ago, the detector signaled an interesting find - the cover of a military-issued Longines wristwatch. It was a thrilling, yet somber, event, he said.

“It was a bittersweet feeling," Mencaroni recalled. "On one hand, I was overwhelmed with the excitement of finding something I knew about since I was a kid. But I never imagined that I would find something. On the other hand, I was sad. This was a place where people lost their lives doing something heroic.”

Mencaroni eventually found the rest of the watch, which he now he hopes to return to relatives of Col. Raymond Alvin Nowotny, the pilot to whom the watch likely belonged.

“Maybe the news of the watch will reach a family member and someone will have an interest in recovering the pieces," he said. "That is our hope.”

The watch and a flashlight were the only personal effects found at the wreckage site. Allied forces at the time had recovered the bodies of the servicemen killed in the crash, which left them and the plane severely burnt.

Mencaroni has committed much of his time and passion to discovering the wreckage and has even erected a cross at the site to mark the servicemen’s ultimate sacrifice.

“The six Americans died while doing this," he said. "We must commemorate their lives.”

Mencaroni, along with others visited the site on Saturday to commemorate the 69th anniversary of the crash, which came after the American crew had air-dropped British troops near Lake Trasimeno, where they were sent to sabotage German war planes.

After making the drop, the plane was heading back to an air base in southern Italy when it encountered bad weather and went down.

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One of those feel good stories. Thanks for posting it.

_________________
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Pilot Nowotny was a LtCol (not full Col) and was CO of 8th TCS of 62nd TCG. His squadron was tasked with supporting "special ops" in Italy.

The aircraft is incorrectly published as a C-47 with s/n 42-118681. (Osprey's C-47/R4D of the Med book)
Curiously the right engine was serialed: 42-108981

Correctly the plane's s/n should be 41-18681 (Tail would have been 118681)
Date: 12JAN44
MACR 1906

Initially reported by the Germans (KU report) as a B-25 and that THEY shot it down...ground or air not referenced.

Germans recovered deceased crew: Nowotny; Singer; Holmes

Crew was:

Lt Col Nowotny, Raymond A (pilot) buried at Buried at: Florence American Cemetery
Location: Via Cassia, Italy
Plot: E Row: 13 Grave: 35
Hometown of record: Sacramento, CA (Wife, Helen, in Tuscon, AZ)

Capt McNeill, J J (cp) (Name incorrectly published with two L's) Officially recorded as:
Capt J.J. McNeil Jr.
Hometown of record: Liberty County, TX (Mother, Minnie, in Liberty, TX)
Status: FOD
(Nowotny is listed KIA...McNeil is listed FOD which is Finding of Death. This means he was initially listed MIA and then declared dead a year-and-a-day after the initial status report by virtue of a courts martial proceeding which established his date of death. Since Nowotny was "found" and declared KIA we might presume that McNeil is still missing/not recovered.)

Lt Piatak, J (n)

Correctly Capt John Piatak Jr. buried at Florence American Cemetery
Location: Via Cassia, Italy
Plot: E Row: 6 Grave: 34
Officially listed in NARA as FOD (The legal resolution to MIA status to KIA)--but buried under his own headstone at Florence. This indicates that the resolution of his identity was made AFTER the publication of the NARA books of war dead. (Mrs John Piatak--mother--Kenmore, NY)

TSgt Holmes, R A (cc)
TSgt Ross A Holmes
Hometown of record: Seminole County, OK (Sallie Westphal--mother--Okmulgee, OK)
Status: KIA
Burial location undetermined--not in a National or Overseas Cemetery so likely in private cemetery in USA.

Sgt Singer, S (r/o)
SGT Saul Singer
Hometown of record: Kings County, NY (Joe Singer--Father--Brooklyn, NY)
BURIED AT: SECTION H SITE 9818
LONG ISLAND NATIONAL CEMETERY
FARMINGDALE, NY

Capt Nocentini, J L (Flight Surgeon)
Capt Joseph L Nocentini
Hometown: Philadelphia County, PA (Emelia Nocentini--mother--Philadelphia, PA)
Status: FOD
burial location undetermined--not in a National or Overseas Cemetery so likely in private cemetery in USA.
One of five pages cross-referenced to MACR 1906 (but not part of #1906) (at Fold3) (dated 1947) requests test to determine if remains recovered from vicinity of crash are of this officer. No additional pages are included. Question not resolved in MACR or additional pages.

This mission was to drop members of British 2 SAS Rgt as part of Operation Pomegranate--a direct attack on a German airfield that was being used to sortie aircraft against the Allied landings at Anzio. The drop was a success, but upon return it appears that Nowotny encountered severe icing conditions as reported by RAF Wellingtons which were flying a diversionary mission in support of his drop. German KU Report suggests a shoot down.

The Italian gentleman should request IDPFs on all crew to fully understand the nature and extent of recovery and identification and final disposition.