Ruggiero P. Ginnetti was born on November 7, 1918, probably in Connecticut. His parents Peter and Angelina were probably both immigrants. Unfortunately, I was not able to find any census or other records of his family. After completed two years of high school, Ruggiero worked in a textile mill.

He enlisted in the army on October 15 1940. His initial posting was to the Panama Canal Zone with a medical department assignment. He eventually became a Tec5 medic in Company A, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Infantry Division (nicknamed "Big Red One").

The 1st ID first saw combat in November 1942 when it landed at Oran, Algeria. It fought across Tunisia and took part in the invasion of Sicily. I don't know if Cpl. Ginnetti was part of these actions, but given the date he joined the army, he probably was. The next assignment was to take the lead role in the D-Day assault on Omaha Beach.

On D-Day June 6, 1944, Cpl. Ginnetti's landing craft was hit by enemy fire and was not able to land during the morning landing. He helped rescue and treat soldiers and sailors wounded on the landing craft which was able to make it back to the transports to unload the wounded. His company found another landing craft to bring them in. His unit did not get to Omaha Beach until 1700 hours. The beach was still under enemy bombardment. I don't know at what time Cpl Ginnetti was killed, but during this last day of his life his actions earned him the Silver Star. Unfortunately, I was not able to find the citation. More likely then not, some men survived the day due to the medical assistance rendered by Cpl. Ginnetti.

His grave is at St. Michaels Cemetery in Stratford, Connecticut.

Thank you Cpl. Ginnetti for your sacrifice.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Ruggiero P Ginnetti