By GARY BROWN Repository Living Section editor

WAYNESBURG — Heritage Days on Saturday will afford an opportunity for area veterans to honor the memory of a fallen hero.

Several area veterans associations have placed a bronze Ohio historical marker at the Sandy Valley Cemetery grave of a World War II Medal of Honor winner, Army Pfc. Joseph J. Cicchetti. That plaque will be unveiled at 4 p.m., after veterans march in the Heritage Days Parade.

Retired Maj. Gen. Robert Haas will speak at the public ceremony.

Cicchetti, the plaque explains, "was part of the assault on Luzon, Philippines, on Feb. 9, 1945. He died of wounds received while leading a volunteer litter-bearer team that rescued 14 wounded men, deliberately drawing machine gunfire to himself in the process."

President Harry Truman posthumously awarded Cicchetti with the Medal of Honor. Veterans, led by Tim Rhodes, curator of the Ohio Society of Military History in Massillon, recently began raising money for Medal of Honor winner markers through the Greater Stark County Veterans Memorial Fund. Members of American Legion Post 44 in Canton, American Legion Post 432 in Waynesburg and Disabled American Veterans Post 6 in Canton helped raise $2,700 to purchase two bronze Ohio historical markers.

The other will be placed at the Magnolia Cemetery burial site of World War II Medal of Honor recipient Pfc. Joe Hasting. A ceremony will be held on Veterans Day, said Albert Rugani of D.A.V. Post 6. Money also will be raised to place two more markers on the Massillon graves of Civil War Medal of Honor winners William Richardson and Robert Pinn, said Rugani. Cicchetti served both in Europe and in the Pacific Theater during World War II, Rugani said. A section in a book about America's Medal of Honor recipients recalls his heroism.

"As he approached the casualties, he was struck in the head by a shell fragment, but with complete disregard for his gaping wound, he continued to his comrades, lifted one and carried him on his shoulders 50 yards to safety. He then collapsed and died."

You can reach Repository Living editor Gary Brown at (330) 580-8303 or e-mail: gary.brown@cantonrep.com

This page was created September 6, 2000
Copyright ©2001 The Repository

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