Published: May 24, 2008 10:19 am         

WWII veteran hopes to find letters' author

Man received note in 1942 after coming through Oneonta

By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau

A World War II veteran who threw away a letter in 1942 is hoping to reconnect with a Hedy Lamarr look-alike who took the time to write the note to a soldier.

James Pizzi, 89, of Mount Vision, said he was in the Army 16th Infantry, 1st Division and was stationed in Fort Devens, in Ayer, Mass., when he was assigned to a mission involving a convoy of trucks traveling west to an unidentified location.

“They never told us where we were going,” Pizzi said. When the trucks reached Oneonta, the streets were lined with people wishing the soldiers well. “As we were passing through Oneonta, one of the fellows had an empty .30-06 shell,” Pizzi said Friday. “The guy wrote my name and address on a note, put it in the shell and threw it out of the back of the truck.”

Pizzi, who was 23 at the time, said that when he got back to Fort Devens, he received a letter from a 16-year-old Oneonta girl who said she looked like Hedy Lamarr.

“I threw the letter away. What a mistake,” Pizzi said. “But I wasn’t interested in writing to a woman right then.”

Pizzi said he has been writing his memoirs and remembered the incident, which made him wonder if the girl, who would now be about 82, is still in the area and remembers writing the note.

Pizzi, who is from Rochester, has lived in California and Nevada for most of his life but recently moved to Mount Vision, where he lives with his nephew, Ricky Osuna. “I’m only about 15 miles away from the place where that girl lived,” Pizzi said. “I got wondering is she is still around.” Sam Nader, of Oneonta, said he remembers an Army group coming through town in 1942 and stopping to bivouac near Goodyear Lake. “The streets were lined with people cheering for the soldiers,” Nader said. “And there were a lot of young girls there throwing notes at the trucks.”

Mike Russert, coordinator of the New York State Veteran’s Oral History Program, said thousands of oral histories have been compiled. Though he has never heard anyone talk about putting notes in shell casings, he said that there are many stories about one-of-a-kind incidents. “When the veterans begin telling their stories it’s almost like a movie projector turns on, and they remember the most vivid details,” Russert said. “During our time we have heard so many unique stories.”

If Pizzi’s long-lost pen pal is out there, she may call The Daily Star at 432- 1000 or (800) 721-1000.