26 July 2013 - "REMAINS OF WWII AIRMAN FROM NY IDENTIFIED IN SOUTH PACIFIC"
The remains of a World War II airman have been identified and will be flown back to his hometown in New York nearly 70 years after his plane and two others failed to return to their base in the South Pacific.
Sgt. Dominick Licari was 31 when his A-20 Havoc bomber crashed into a mountain in Papua-New Guinea on March 13, 1944. After two years of searches, the military presumed Licari to be dead, the Utica Observer Dispatch reported.
DNA samples provided by relatives matched those of Licari, whose remains were discovered in 2012 amid overgrown jungles, according to the report.
Augustus "Mort" Licari said Thursday he and his only other surviving sibling, Katherine Frank, of Darien, Conn., were notified last week their brother's bone fragments and dog tags were recovered last year at the crash site by a team from the U.S. Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command.
"Without that DNA bank, I doubt very much that they would have identified my brother's remains," Licari told the Utica Observer Dispatch.
Mort Licari said he was driving from New Jersey to his home in Summerfield, Fla., when he got the call informing him his brother's remains had been identified.
"I pulled over and kind of got myself together," Licari told The Associated Press Thursday.
The pilot of the doomed plane, 2nd Lt. Valorie Pollard, of California, also was killed and listed as missing in action.
Mort Licari said he and several nieces and nephews plan to be at the Albany airport when a plane with a casket bearing his brother's remains arrives Aug. 2. A military honor guard will carry the casket to a hearse, which will take the remains 70 miles west to Dominick Licari's hometown of Frankfort, where a funeral and burial will be held Aug. 6.
Officials at the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office in Washington confirmed Sgt. Licari's remains had been identified through DNA testing. Lt. Col. Melinda Morgan said none of the other bone fragments found at the crash site has been identified as Pollard's. They are included in a separate set of group remains believed to be those of Pollard and Licari that will be buried later, likely at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dominick Licari, the third oldest of nine children born to Italian immigrants, was a handsome, baseball- and trumpet-playing carpenter who took Mort to games so he could serve as catcher while his strong-armed big brother warmed up.
"The palm of my left hand would be throbbing," recalled Mort, an 85-year-old retired New Jersey court administrator.
Drafted in 1942, Dominick was the gunner on the two-man A-20 when it crashed in bad weather after returning from a bombing run against a Japanese airfield. Two other A-20s in the group hit the same mountain, killing six airmen in all. Of the four men in the other two planes, only the remains of one was recovered, according to the Pacificwrecks.com website, a database of World War II plane crash sites and MIA cases.
News of Dominick's death devastated his family, Mort Licari said.
"We prayed and held out hope he would be found, maybe injured," he said. "As the years went on, all we could hope for was he hadn't suffered."
After the military declared Dominick dead in early 1946, the family kept a grave marker with his name on it at the family plot in Frankfort, where he'll be buried alongside his parents and other siblings.
"Now that will be complete," Mort said. "There won't be any hollow spots in that ground."
See Find A Grave Memorial# 114347654 (August 2013 Internment at Mount Olivet Cemetery)
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6 February 1946 – "MISSING FRANKFORT MAN LISTED OFFICIALLY DEAD"
Frankfort – Sgt. Dominick Licari, 33, a gunner on an A-20 attach bomber, who had been reported missing since March 13, 1944, is now listed officially dead as of Jan. 27, his father, Samuel Licari, 110 E. Main St., learned in a War Department letter.
Licari was reported missing over Saidor in the South Pacific while returning to Alexishafen, New Guinea, following a combat mission, which was believed to be his second aboard the attack bomber.
Previous to his transfer to the attack bomber squad, he served aboard a Mitchell bomber and was believed to have completed several missions with that group. He had been based in various places in the South Pacific since leaving for overseas duty on Nov, 19, 1943.
He was inducted on April 22, 1942 and was given training at Camp Wheeler, Ga., Fredericksburg, Va., and For Mead, Md.
Licari was born Oct. 18, 1912 in this village, a son of Samuel and the late Rosalie Licari, and was graduated from the Frankfort high school. Before entering service he was engaged in the carpenter business, working in the valley.
Besides his father, he leave three brothers, Samuel, Mohawk; John, Morrisville, and August, this village, and four sisters Mrs. Dominick Dee, and Miss Mary Licari this village; Mrs. Frank Frank, Binghamton, and Mrs. Rocco Capirci, Utica.
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March 22, 1944 – "SECOND FLIER AT FRANKFORT REPORTED LOST"
Frankfort – Sgt. Dominick Licari gunner on a fighter-bomber plane in New Guinea has been missing in action since March 13 according to a War Department telegram received last night by his father Sam Licari, 119 E. Main St., adding that a letter with details would follow.
Licari is the second Frankfort flier to be reported lost this week. Mrs. Margaret Green mother of five sons in the armed forces received word Sunday that one of them Sgt. Dominick J. Green, 20 had been missing in action over Germany since Feb. 20.
Sgt. Licari who had been overseas since November was inducted into the Army on Apr. 22, 1942, and was transferred to the Air Corps in 1943.
He first trained in the Field Artillery at Fredericksburg, Va., Fort Meade, Md., and Fort Jackson, S.C. serving also as bugler. He received his wings after transferring to the air base at Columbia, S.C, and then was shipped to an embarkation port.
He was assigned to fighter planes after several missions in Mitchell bombers. V-mail letters were received from him yesterday by several relatives, all dated before he was reported missing.
Licari a graduate of Frankfort High School and a member of the St. Mary's Church played a trumpet in the Kiwanis Band while living here. His mother died some years ago.
He has three brothers John, Morrisville; August, Frankfort, and Samuel, Mohawk, and four sisters Mrs. Dominick Dee, Mrs. Frank Frank, and Miss Mary Licari, all from Frankfort , and Miss Josephine Licari, a nurse, Jamaica, L.I.
The remains of a World War II airman have been identified and will be flown back to his hometown in New York nearly 70 years after his plane and two others failed to return to their base in the South Pacific.
Sgt. Dominick Licari was 31 when his A-20 Havoc bomber crashed into a mountain in Papua-New Guinea on March 13, 1944. After two years of searches, the military presumed Licari to be dead, the Utica Observer Dispatch reported.
DNA samples provided by relatives matched those of Licari, whose remains were discovered in 2012 amid overgrown jungles, according to the report.
Augustus "Mort" Licari said Thursday he and his only other surviving sibling, Katherine Frank, of Darien, Conn., were notified last week their brother's bone fragments and dog tags were recovered last year at the crash site by a team from the U.S. Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command.
"Without that DNA bank, I doubt very much that they would have identified my brother's remains," Licari told the Utica Observer Dispatch.
Mort Licari said he was driving from New Jersey to his home in Summerfield, Fla., when he got the call informing him his brother's remains had been identified.
"I pulled over and kind of got myself together," Licari told The Associated Press Thursday.
The pilot of the doomed plane, 2nd Lt. Valorie Pollard, of California, also was killed and listed as missing in action.
Mort Licari said he and several nieces and nephews plan to be at the Albany airport when a plane with a casket bearing his brother's remains arrives Aug. 2. A military honor guard will carry the casket to a hearse, which will take the remains 70 miles west to Dominick Licari's hometown of Frankfort, where a funeral and burial will be held Aug. 6.
Officials at the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office in Washington confirmed Sgt. Licari's remains had been identified through DNA testing. Lt. Col. Melinda Morgan said none of the other bone fragments found at the crash site has been identified as Pollard's. They are included in a separate set of group remains believed to be those of Pollard and Licari that will be buried later, likely at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dominick Licari, the third oldest of nine children born to Italian immigrants, was a handsome, baseball- and trumpet-playing carpenter who took Mort to games so he could serve as catcher while his strong-armed big brother warmed up.
"The palm of my left hand would be throbbing," recalled Mort, an 85-year-old retired New Jersey court administrator.
Drafted in 1942, Dominick was the gunner on the two-man A-20 when it crashed in bad weather after returning from a bombing run against a Japanese airfield. Two other A-20s in the group hit the same mountain, killing six airmen in all. Of the four men in the other two planes, only the remains of one was recovered, according to the Pacificwrecks.com website, a database of World War II plane crash sites and MIA cases.
News of Dominick's death devastated his family, Mort Licari said.
"We prayed and held out hope he would be found, maybe injured," he said. "As the years went on, all we could hope for was he hadn't suffered."
After the military declared Dominick dead in early 1946, the family kept a grave marker with his name on it at the family plot in Frankfort, where he'll be buried alongside his parents and other siblings.
"Now that will be complete," Mort said. "There won't be any hollow spots in that ground."
See Find A Grave Memorial# 114347654 (August 2013 Internment at Mount Olivet Cemetery)
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6 February 1946 – "MISSING FRANKFORT MAN LISTED OFFICIALLY DEAD"
Frankfort – Sgt. Dominick Licari, 33, a gunner on an A-20 attach bomber, who had been reported missing since March 13, 1944, is now listed officially dead as of Jan. 27, his father, Samuel Licari, 110 E. Main St., learned in a War Department letter.
Licari was reported missing over Saidor in the South Pacific while returning to Alexishafen, New Guinea, following a combat mission, which was believed to be his second aboard the attack bomber.
Previous to his transfer to the attack bomber squad, he served aboard a Mitchell bomber and was believed to have completed several missions with that group. He had been based in various places in the South Pacific since leaving for overseas duty on Nov, 19, 1943.
He was inducted on April 22, 1942 and was given training at Camp Wheeler, Ga., Fredericksburg, Va., and For Mead, Md.
Licari was born Oct. 18, 1912 in this village, a son of Samuel and the late Rosalie Licari, and was graduated from the Frankfort high school. Before entering service he was engaged in the carpenter business, working in the valley.
Besides his father, he leave three brothers, Samuel, Mohawk; John, Morrisville, and August, this village, and four sisters Mrs. Dominick Dee, and Miss Mary Licari this village; Mrs. Frank Frank, Binghamton, and Mrs. Rocco Capirci, Utica.
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March 22, 1944 – "SECOND FLIER AT FRANKFORT REPORTED LOST"
Frankfort – Sgt. Dominick Licari gunner on a fighter-bomber plane in New Guinea has been missing in action since March 13 according to a War Department telegram received last night by his father Sam Licari, 119 E. Main St., adding that a letter with details would follow.
Licari is the second Frankfort flier to be reported lost this week. Mrs. Margaret Green mother of five sons in the armed forces received word Sunday that one of them Sgt. Dominick J. Green, 20 had been missing in action over Germany since Feb. 20.
Sgt. Licari who had been overseas since November was inducted into the Army on Apr. 22, 1942, and was transferred to the Air Corps in 1943.
He first trained in the Field Artillery at Fredericksburg, Va., Fort Meade, Md., and Fort Jackson, S.C. serving also as bugler. He received his wings after transferring to the air base at Columbia, S.C, and then was shipped to an embarkation port.
He was assigned to fighter planes after several missions in Mitchell bombers. V-mail letters were received from him yesterday by several relatives, all dated before he was reported missing.
Licari a graduate of Frankfort High School and a member of the St. Mary's Church played a trumpet in the Kiwanis Band while living here. His mother died some years ago.
He has three brothers John, Morrisville; August, Frankfort, and Samuel, Mohawk, and four sisters Mrs. Dominick Dee, Mrs. Frank Frank, and Miss Mary Licari, all from Frankfort , and Miss Josephine Licari, a nurse, Jamaica, L.I.
26 July 2013 - "REMAINS OF WWII AIRMAN FROM NY IDENTIFIED IN SOUTH PACIFIC"
The remains of a World War II airman have been identified and will be flown back to his hometown in New York nearly 70 years after his plane and two others failed to return to their base in the South Pacific.
Sgt. Dominick Licari was 31 when his A-20 Havoc bomber crashed into a mountain in Papua-New Guinea on March 13, 1944. After two years of searches, the military presumed Licari to be dead, the Utica Observer Dispatch reported.
DNA samples provided by relatives matched those of Licari, whose remains were discovered in 2012 amid overgrown jungles, according to the report.
Augustus "Mort" Licari said Thursday he and his only other surviving sibling, Katherine Frank, of Darien, Conn., were notified last week their brother's bone fragments and dog tags were recovered last year at the crash site by a team from the U.S. Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command.
"Without that DNA bank, I doubt very much that they would have identified my brother's remains," Licari told the Utica Observer Dispatch.
Mort Licari said he was driving from New Jersey to his home in Summerfield, Fla., when he got the call informing him his brother's remains had been identified.
"I pulled over and kind of got myself together," Licari told The Associated Press Thursday.
The pilot of the doomed plane, 2nd Lt. Valorie Pollard, of California, also was killed and listed as missing in action.
Mort Licari said he and several nieces and nephews plan to be at the Albany airport when a plane with a casket bearing his brother's remains arrives Aug. 2. A military honor guard will carry the casket to a hearse, which will take the remains 70 miles west to Dominick Licari's hometown of Frankfort, where a funeral and burial will be held Aug. 6.
Officials at the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office in Washington confirmed Sgt. Licari's remains had been identified through DNA testing. Lt. Col. Melinda Morgan said none of the other bone fragments found at the crash site has been identified as Pollard's. They are included in a separate set of group remains believed to be those of Pollard and Licari that will be buried later, likely at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dominick Licari, the third oldest of nine children born to Italian immigrants, was a handsome, baseball- and trumpet-playing carpenter who took Mort to games so he could serve as catcher while his strong-armed big brother warmed up.
"The palm of my left hand would be throbbing," recalled Mort, an 85-year-old retired New Jersey court administrator.
Drafted in 1942, Dominick was the gunner on the two-man A-20 when it crashed in bad weather after returning from a bombing run against a Japanese airfield. Two other A-20s in the group hit the same mountain, killing six airmen in all. Of the four men in the other two planes, only the remains of one was recovered, according to the Pacificwrecks.com website, a database of World War II plane crash sites and MIA cases.
News of Dominick's death devastated his family, Mort Licari said.
"We prayed and held out hope he would be found, maybe injured," he said. "As the years went on, all we could hope for was he hadn't suffered."
After the military declared Dominick dead in early 1946, the family kept a grave marker with his name on it at the family plot in Frankfort, where he'll be buried alongside his parents and other siblings.
"Now that will be complete," Mort said. "There won't be any hollow spots in that ground."
See Find A Grave Memorial# 114347654 (August 2013 Internment at Mount Olivet Cemetery)
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6 February 1946 – "MISSING FRANKFORT MAN LISTED OFFICIALLY DEAD"
Frankfort – Sgt. Dominick Licari, 33, a gunner on an A-20 attach bomber, who had been reported missing since March 13, 1944, is now listed officially dead as of Jan. 27, his father, Samuel Licari, 110 E. Main St., learned in a War Department letter.
Licari was reported missing over Saidor in the South Pacific while returning to Alexishafen, New Guinea, following a combat mission, which was believed to be his second aboard the attack bomber.
Previous to his transfer to the attack bomber squad, he served aboard a Mitchell bomber and was believed to have completed several missions with that group. He had been based in various places in the South Pacific since leaving for overseas duty on Nov, 19, 1943.
He was inducted on April 22, 1942 and was given training at Camp Wheeler, Ga., Fredericksburg, Va., and For Mead, Md.
Licari was born Oct. 18, 1912 in this village, a son of Samuel and the late Rosalie Licari, and was graduated from the Frankfort high school. Before entering service he was engaged in the carpenter business, working in the valley.
Besides his father, he leave three brothers, Samuel, Mohawk; John, Morrisville, and August, this village, and four sisters Mrs. Dominick Dee, and Miss Mary Licari this village; Mrs. Frank Frank, Binghamton, and Mrs. Rocco Capirci, Utica.
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March 22, 1944 – "SECOND FLIER AT FRANKFORT REPORTED LOST"
Frankfort – Sgt. Dominick Licari gunner on a fighter-bomber plane in New Guinea has been missing in action since March 13 according to a War Department telegram received last night by his father Sam Licari, 119 E. Main St., adding that a letter with details would follow.
Licari is the second Frankfort flier to be reported lost this week. Mrs. Margaret Green mother of five sons in the armed forces received word Sunday that one of them Sgt. Dominick J. Green, 20 had been missing in action over Germany since Feb. 20.
Sgt. Licari who had been overseas since November was inducted into the Army on Apr. 22, 1942, and was transferred to the Air Corps in 1943.
He first trained in the Field Artillery at Fredericksburg, Va., Fort Meade, Md., and Fort Jackson, S.C. serving also as bugler. He received his wings after transferring to the air base at Columbia, S.C, and then was shipped to an embarkation port.
He was assigned to fighter planes after several missions in Mitchell bombers. V-mail letters were received from him yesterday by several relatives, all dated before he was reported missing.
Licari a graduate of Frankfort High School and a member of the St. Mary's Church played a trumpet in the Kiwanis Band while living here. His mother died some years ago.
He has three brothers John, Morrisville; August, Frankfort, and Samuel, Mohawk, and four sisters Mrs. Dominick Dee, Mrs. Frank Frank, and Miss Mary Licari, all from Frankfort , and Miss Josephine Licari, a nurse, Jamaica, L.I.
The remains of a World War II airman have been identified and will be flown back to his hometown in New York nearly 70 years after his plane and two others failed to return to their base in the South Pacific.
Sgt. Dominick Licari was 31 when his A-20 Havoc bomber crashed into a mountain in Papua-New Guinea on March 13, 1944. After two years of searches, the military presumed Licari to be dead, the Utica Observer Dispatch reported.
DNA samples provided by relatives matched those of Licari, whose remains were discovered in 2012 amid overgrown jungles, according to the report.
Augustus "Mort" Licari said Thursday he and his only other surviving sibling, Katherine Frank, of Darien, Conn., were notified last week their brother's bone fragments and dog tags were recovered last year at the crash site by a team from the U.S. Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command.
"Without that DNA bank, I doubt very much that they would have identified my brother's remains," Licari told the Utica Observer Dispatch.
Mort Licari said he was driving from New Jersey to his home in Summerfield, Fla., when he got the call informing him his brother's remains had been identified.
"I pulled over and kind of got myself together," Licari told The Associated Press Thursday.
The pilot of the doomed plane, 2nd Lt. Valorie Pollard, of California, also was killed and listed as missing in action.
Mort Licari said he and several nieces and nephews plan to be at the Albany airport when a plane with a casket bearing his brother's remains arrives Aug. 2. A military honor guard will carry the casket to a hearse, which will take the remains 70 miles west to Dominick Licari's hometown of Frankfort, where a funeral and burial will be held Aug. 6.
Officials at the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office in Washington confirmed Sgt. Licari's remains had been identified through DNA testing. Lt. Col. Melinda Morgan said none of the other bone fragments found at the crash site has been identified as Pollard's. They are included in a separate set of group remains believed to be those of Pollard and Licari that will be buried later, likely at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dominick Licari, the third oldest of nine children born to Italian immigrants, was a handsome, baseball- and trumpet-playing carpenter who took Mort to games so he could serve as catcher while his strong-armed big brother warmed up.
"The palm of my left hand would be throbbing," recalled Mort, an 85-year-old retired New Jersey court administrator.
Drafted in 1942, Dominick was the gunner on the two-man A-20 when it crashed in bad weather after returning from a bombing run against a Japanese airfield. Two other A-20s in the group hit the same mountain, killing six airmen in all. Of the four men in the other two planes, only the remains of one was recovered, according to the Pacificwrecks.com website, a database of World War II plane crash sites and MIA cases.
News of Dominick's death devastated his family, Mort Licari said.
"We prayed and held out hope he would be found, maybe injured," he said. "As the years went on, all we could hope for was he hadn't suffered."
After the military declared Dominick dead in early 1946, the family kept a grave marker with his name on it at the family plot in Frankfort, where he'll be buried alongside his parents and other siblings.
"Now that will be complete," Mort said. "There won't be any hollow spots in that ground."
See Find A Grave Memorial# 114347654 (August 2013 Internment at Mount Olivet Cemetery)
-------
6 February 1946 – "MISSING FRANKFORT MAN LISTED OFFICIALLY DEAD"
Frankfort – Sgt. Dominick Licari, 33, a gunner on an A-20 attach bomber, who had been reported missing since March 13, 1944, is now listed officially dead as of Jan. 27, his father, Samuel Licari, 110 E. Main St., learned in a War Department letter.
Licari was reported missing over Saidor in the South Pacific while returning to Alexishafen, New Guinea, following a combat mission, which was believed to be his second aboard the attack bomber.
Previous to his transfer to the attack bomber squad, he served aboard a Mitchell bomber and was believed to have completed several missions with that group. He had been based in various places in the South Pacific since leaving for overseas duty on Nov, 19, 1943.
He was inducted on April 22, 1942 and was given training at Camp Wheeler, Ga., Fredericksburg, Va., and For Mead, Md.
Licari was born Oct. 18, 1912 in this village, a son of Samuel and the late Rosalie Licari, and was graduated from the Frankfort high school. Before entering service he was engaged in the carpenter business, working in the valley.
Besides his father, he leave three brothers, Samuel, Mohawk; John, Morrisville, and August, this village, and four sisters Mrs. Dominick Dee, and Miss Mary Licari this village; Mrs. Frank Frank, Binghamton, and Mrs. Rocco Capirci, Utica.
-------
March 22, 1944 – "SECOND FLIER AT FRANKFORT REPORTED LOST"
Frankfort – Sgt. Dominick Licari gunner on a fighter-bomber plane in New Guinea has been missing in action since March 13 according to a War Department telegram received last night by his father Sam Licari, 119 E. Main St., adding that a letter with details would follow.
Licari is the second Frankfort flier to be reported lost this week. Mrs. Margaret Green mother of five sons in the armed forces received word Sunday that one of them Sgt. Dominick J. Green, 20 had been missing in action over Germany since Feb. 20.
Sgt. Licari who had been overseas since November was inducted into the Army on Apr. 22, 1942, and was transferred to the Air Corps in 1943.
He first trained in the Field Artillery at Fredericksburg, Va., Fort Meade, Md., and Fort Jackson, S.C. serving also as bugler. He received his wings after transferring to the air base at Columbia, S.C, and then was shipped to an embarkation port.
He was assigned to fighter planes after several missions in Mitchell bombers. V-mail letters were received from him yesterday by several relatives, all dated before he was reported missing.
Licari a graduate of Frankfort High School and a member of the St. Mary's Church played a trumpet in the Kiwanis Band while living here. His mother died some years ago.
He has three brothers John, Morrisville; August, Frankfort, and Samuel, Mohawk, and four sisters Mrs. Dominick Dee, Mrs. Frank Frank, and Miss Mary Licari, all from Frankfort , and Miss Josephine Licari, a nurse, Jamaica, L.I.
Inscription
Entered the Service from: New York
Medals: Purple Heart, Air Medal, World War II Victory Medal
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
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