May 24, 2008 10:29 am
—
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.
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