Niche marker for Louis
Boitano in Columbarium 2, Court B, Niche 91-A, Sacramento Valley
National Cemetery, Dixon (Solano county), California.
Louis enlisted the Army
at Seattle, WA ca. 1943-44. He served in Hq 1st, 508th PIR and was
awarded the Silver Star HQ, 82d Airborne Division, G.O. No. 36 (1944)
but which campaign it was earned in is not known.
Louis married while stationed in Italy
and on 7 September 1948 his 20-year old wife, Italia Caterina (nee Bosaz), was listed on the manifest of
the USAT General R E Callan, arriving in New York, NY from Trieste,
Italy. She traveled unaccompanied.
Nearly a year later, on 8 July 1949,
Italia was listed as an outward bound USAT General M M Patrick, departing
Seattle for Yokohama, Japan. Presumably Louis was already in Japan as
she was again traveling unaccompanied.
The Korean war broke out on June 25,
1950. MSgt Boitano was undoubtedly among the first to be deployed
when the 25th Infantry Division moved from its base in Japan to Korea
between 5–18 July 1950.
Louie was seriously
wounded in action in South Korea while serving as a Light Weapons Infantry Leader. He was evacuated to a
field hospital and was released to duty on 15 May 1951.
On
9 July 1951, MSgt Boitano, accompanied by his wife Halia [sic] and
daughter, Anna Marie, age 1, were listed on the manifest for a MATS
charter flight flown by United Airlines between Hickham AFB, HI and
Travis AFB, CA as they returned to the U.S.
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