Decades later, remains of 22-year-old WWII soldier from NJ identified
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has now accounted for U.S. Army Pvt. Roman Cherubini, a 22-year-old twin and World War II soldier from Bridgeton.
Cherubini was serving with the 475th Infantry Regiment in the China-India-Burma Theater when he was killed.
4 Roman Cherubini (left) and his twin brother, Raymond, both fought in WWII.
POW/MIA
His remains were said to have been buried in at least eight different locations, including the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In 2022, the DPAA had his remains exhumed and tested.
4 Cherubini's remains were interred in at least eight different locations.
POW/MIA
Late last year, an identification was made using dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis.
The DPAA said Cherubini 'fought in a series of running battles against numerically superior Japanese forces in the jungles of Burma in 1944. The light infantry formation, known as Merrill's Marauders, was equivalent to a regular regiment in size and was specialized for jungle fighting behind enemy lines.'
4 Cherubini died fighting in the jungles of Myanmar.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
Merrill's Marauders entered Burma in February 1944 and 'began assaulting the supply lines of the Japanese 18th Division in the Hukawng and Mogaung valleys.'
On May 17, the Marauders seized a strategic airfield near the village of Myitkyina with the help of two Chinese infantry regiments. Japanese forces in Myitkyina were finally routed on Aug. 3 after more than two months of grueling jungle combat.
4 Cherubini's death was covered in local papers.
POW/MIA
He died June 16, 1944, in the midst of the battle for Myitkyina, but the exact circumstances around his death are unknown.
The remains of servicemen killed in that battle were buried in temporary cemeteries as well as isolated burial locations.
'Their mission complete, Merrill's Marauders were disbanded. They had marched 750 miles through the jungle and fought in five major engagements. Over two hundred of the Marauders were killed by disease and enemy action, and many were lost in the back-and-forth battles in harsh jungle terrain,' according to the agency.
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Buzz Feed
34 minutes ago
- Buzz Feed
Real WW2 Stories: Families Share Hidden Histories
My Grandpa Russ was an Air Force pilot during World War II, but like many men of that generation, he rarely talked about what he saw. Recently, my dad and I went through his journal from that time period, and what really struck me were the personal anecdotes, like hanging out with his buddies and his efforts to learn French to flirt with European ladies (Nana wasn't in the picture yet). There were also horrifying details, like an account of watching his buddy die as their plane crash-landed in Switzerland. That's Gramps looking studious in a photo we found tucked into his journal. So when I came across this thread of people sharing their family stories from WWII, I was instantly hooked on these incredibly human stories that show the day-to-day reality of living through this turbulent historical period. Here are some of the most fascinating stories that made history come to life before my eyes: "My grandpa on my dad's side was in the Navy. Served in the Atlantic and Mediterranean as a steamfitter. Got himself a war bride from England, returned to Canada, and became a boilermaker at a paper mill. He died when I was a young teen, so I never heard any stories. His wife, the British war bride, was a WREN [Women's Royal Naval Service] and worked in Army intelligence. She actually worked on the world's first computer, part of Alan Turing's Enigma-cracking group, although she didn't realize it until well after the war, when the information was finally declassified." "All she knew was that she had to watch cylinders turn and then, when they stopped, take a reading, pass it on up, and reset a new cylinder. She had no idea what any of it meant."—KnoWanUKnow2 "My father quit high school and enlisted in the Navy before his 18th birthday late in the war. To quote him, he was afraid the war would end without him. He really wanted to fight Nazis (we are Jewish), but he ended up in the Philippines. I knew he drove a landing craft, but the worst story I ever heard was when the washing machine on his ship tore skin off his hand, and he needed a skin graft. When Saving Private Ryan came out, I mentioned the opening scene and asked how realistic it was." "My grandfather (born 1906) participated in WWII, as a German soldier, and yes, he was a Nazi. At to the early stages of war. He had some real 'are we the baddies' moments that made him change. And he did not talk to my father about what stuff he had done out of shame, but shortly before killing himself in his high 90s, he talked to me about what he did. And explained to me why he lived his whole life long in fear that either Americans, 'the Jews,' or the Russians would get him in revenge." "After the war, he went full SPD (left-social Democratic Party), supported my father being a full-blown antifascist, and the same for me. He was ashamed until his self-chosen death because of his stupidity. He explained to me what led to that, but also told me that this could never be an excuse to switch off one's brain and actively vote for a guy who told the world before in a book what he would do if he rose to power."—Llewellian "My dad was in the North Pacific in WWII. He never talked about it. We finally asked him why when we were old enough to realize how horrible it must have been. He answered direct questions but volunteered little. One story we all loved was him standing in line as weapons were being assigned when they got off the boat. The guy handing them out had a huge bazooka and was eying my 6'2" dad down the line. He did NOT want to lug that thing all over Asia. Another officer went by asking if anyone could type. Dad had been in business college, yay! He spent most of his time in a tent with a typewriter after that." "My mom (96 now) fled from bombs dropped in Tokyo in 1942. So yes, she 'participated' as a Japanese citizen." —CanAny1DoItRight "Both of my grandads pushed the Germans out of France. They didn't talk about it, but they did tell me about how important it was that they did the job for the sake of humanity. And they had very compelling arguments about how the armed conflicts the US took part in after WWII were not worthy in most ways (up to around 1998). Knowing their views and learning their thoughts, I'm sure both Grandpa and Popo are furious that the world isn't fighting harder for Ukraine, financially and militarily." "My dad was in WWII. He was a dancer and comedian and was in a group with Melvyn Douglas, Peter Gennaro, and other entertainers. They traveled around entertaining the troops. When he wasn't doing that, he worked as a cook." —Bitter_Face8790 "My dad was in the Army. He fought the Japanese. He remembers every morning, the Japanese pilots would bomb their camp at 5 a.m. They'd get into a foxhole with trees covering them. They could hear the shrapnel hitting over their heads. One guy in his company completely lost it. He killed himself in his bed. They were all given a cyanide pill in case they got captured by the enemy." "My nonno (grandfather) fought on the Italian side. Before he met my nonna and had my dad and aunt, he had a wife and two young children — a boy and a girl — who were killed in an American carpet bombing raid. He came home and found his village leveled and his family dead. He just started over again." —baitbus666 "One grandfather was too old by a few months to be drafted. The other one went. The only time he ever spoke about it was when he was in the hospital, dying. His dementia made him think it was many years earlier. So occasionally, some military things slipped out." "Both of my grandfathers served in the military: My maternal grandfather was in the Infantry and fought in, among other things, the Battle of the Bulge. 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My American dad was an Army soldier who was in Europe from '43 'til '53. He went through D-Day all the way through to the camps." "My father's father wanted to fight, but he worked at a munitions factory, and they wouldn't let him go sign up. He was considered an essential home front worker. He was always a little bitter about it, but my grandmother once told me that she was so thankful that he was needed and that he couldn't go. My mother's father served, but he never saw active combat. He did ship repair in the Navy and was stationed out of the Port of San Francisco." —MaggieMae68 "My dad was stationed in Australia during WWII, where he got married and divorced within two months to an Australian woman. Meanwhile, my mom was doing her part from home by writing letters to several GIs in Europe. We found their letters to her after she passed away in November. They were quite flirty. She also went to dances and things here in the US with military guys before they shipped out. My parents met and married in the 1950s." "My mother, who was 13 at the time, and her parents were interned in Weihsien, a Japanese prisoner of war camp in north China. While it was fairly miserable, they were not treated as harshly as captured Allied soldiers. My mother would talk about life in camp occasionally." "My father was also a teenager, and he refused to be evacuated from London during the Blitz. He would also talk about surviving the bombing and rationing sometimes."—jlzania "My father served in the Coast Guard in WWII. When we asked him what he did, he said 'nothing.' About a year before he died, he started to tell us about driving landing craft to islands under attack, dodging bullets, and bringing back dead and wounded to the Navy ship he served on. He and his friend, who served under Patton, never talked about the war except with each other. 'No one else would understand.' They kept their trauma to themselves." "My maternal grandfather was killed in a live grenade training camp accident at Fort Benning just weeks after getting drafted into the US Army in July 1945. My mom was 4 years old. My paternal grandfather was a private in the US Army and was awarded a Purple Heart for injuries suffered during the Battle of Aachen in December 1944." —revo2022 "My grandpa was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. I had the luxury of returning with him many years ago. He was a bomber pilot and managed to escape in his plane despite still being slightly drunk from the party the night before." "My stepdad was in the British Army. He had polio as a kid, so he had short legs, so he got to be a tank driver. On his first day out, there was a huge bang, and the tank stopped. He got out of his seat and looked back, and there was no turret. He was the only survivor." "The next day, he was in another tank. That night, everyone slept under the tank for protection. There was no room for him as he was the new guy, so he had to sleep beside the tank. It rained that night. The next morning, the tank had sunk into the mud. Everyone was asphyxiated except Dad, since he wasn't under the tank. He was the only survivor.""No one wanted him after that. They joked about giving him a German uniform and sending him to the other side."—astcell "My Oma lived in Germany, my Opa was in the Army, and brought her home with him. I interviewed my Oma for a WWII report once in high school, and she didn't say much. Her parents died in the war. I don't know how her father passed, but I know her mother died in the attempted assassination of Hitler. A bombing in a restaurant, if I remember correctly. My Oma was 11 at the time. Hitler attended the funeral (it was a group funeral with all of the victims). I got a really great grade on my paper, my Oma's interview, and the photos of her with Hitler at my great-grandmother's funeral earned me extra credit." "My grandfather fought in the Pacific theater. He didn't talk about it often, but I know he was proud of his service. When he died (a bit over 20 years ago), there was a display with several medals. I can't recall exactly what was said, but it was something along the lines of, 'If I go to my grave without anyone knowing how I won these medals, I'll have done my duty.'" —SlightlyTwistedGames "My uncle was in the Air Force and flew on bombing raids over Europe. From what I have seen in movies, that must have been terrifying, but the only stories he told me were funny. He told me one story about a gunner on his plane and how he got a Purple Heart." And finally, "My late father served in the Pacific. Very proud Marine. He talked more about the people he met in China as part of the peacekeeping force after the war was over. But then, when Windtalkers came out, he said, 'I guess I can talk about it now.' He was sworn to secrecy. He guarded one of the Navajo code talkers!" —1rarebird55 Do you have a story to share about your family from World War II? Tell us about it in the comments or via the anonymous form below:
Business Insider
4 hours ago
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What it's like to spend the night aboard a combat-tested US Navy destroyer
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