NO HOME FOR HEROES

NO HOME FOR HEROES


Episode 10 - A "Wee Vee" Sailor Reports Home

March 16, 2019

Episode 10 begins with the seldom heard speech by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt recorded live in its entirety when he addressed Congress the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  While you may have listened to the oft quoted 30 second snippet of President Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech, the entire address tells a much more complete story.


One of the casualties of that attack was a sailor on the USS West Virginia, a battleship affectionately nicknamed by its crew as the "Wee Vee.".  This sailor from New Jersey was listed a "Missing in Action" until he was determined to be a possible match to Unknown X-136 buried in the Punchbowl Cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Hear how his case was solved by a determined investigation after it had been closed for over 63 years...and how, Fireman First Class Angelo Michael Gabriele was identified as Unknown X-136 and finally returned home to his family in New Jersey in 2019.