Another cousin story for you

I believe I've shared what I have discovered so far about Marguerite (Innocencia) Coffarelli, your grandfather James' oldest sister.  She married Marco Disabto (or Disabato) and they lived for a time with her father John.  Her husband died around 1924 leaving her with 8 children (so far).  I continue to work on her story especially trying to determine when she died and where she is buried.  She may have died around 1950, but I don't have that confirmed yet. 

This afternoon I decided to take this task on just to see what came up, and--boy, did it pay off with a very interesting story.

This soldier is a cousin to your mother and her brother Uncle Johnny.  After he died and was awarded a Purple Heart and Silver Star, his mother waited FIVE long years before he was returned to native soil.

This article makes it seem as though this was kind of normal procedure although today it seems pretty appalling and cruel.  But I think that reflects the cultural attitude of the mid forties during wartime.  The papers are full of enthusiastic articles such as this one (which kind of breaks my 2011 heart)

These articles are full of tidbits of information I think I might be able to use to round out the story of this Disabto family.  The first thing I did after discovering this new surname was to check you mother's old address book, but I saw no one with this name so I'm wondering if this was truly a lost branch of the family.  You all would know better than I, but I figure if there's no one in her address book with that surname, then she plain did not know about them.  Anyhow, I have lots of juicy new clues to follow and you have new war hero cousin to read about. 

Happy Thanksgiving and safe travel to all!