**Ettore Vincent Zappacosta **was born 13 February 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Camillo and Emesta (Amoroso) Zappacosta. He had one older sister. His parents were from Italy and his father was a tailor.

Prior to his registering for the draft in 1940, Ettore was in the service and is seen leaving Schofield Section, Hawaii in June of 1937 arriving in Fort McDowell, California. He had been attached to the Geographic Survey at the time of Pearl Harbor. He was also part of the Gimlet Cheers for inter-regimental sports of the 21st Infantry in 1936 and was promoted to corporal during his stay in Hawaii. He served three years in the Pacific before being placed on Reserves. He returned to active duty as a lieutenant. He was 25 when he registered for the draft on 16 October 1940 in Washington, D.C. standing 5’6” tall, weighing 145 pounds with brown eyes and hair.

Capt. Zappacosta was attached to Company “B” of the 29th Infantry Division, 116th Infantry Regiment when it landed on Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944. He had been in command of this unit for two years. Capt. Zappacosta’s boat came under mortar fire about 300 yards out being hit several times but the men were unhurt. About 75 yards from the beach, the ramp was dropped and enemy automatic fire commenced. Capt. Zappacosta jumped from the boat and got 10 yards through the water before he was hit. He went down but was not seen again. All leaving the boat were either killed or wounded.

Capt. Zappacosta is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Delaware, Pennsylvania. He gave his all for our freedom – may we always remember.

*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. If you notice anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author. Click on the author’s name located at the bottom of the story page next to the words “added by”.

SOURCES:

Find-a-Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106468707/ettore-v-zappacosta

HonorStates.org: https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=429104

American D-Day.org

Ancestry

Ettore Zappacosta, V