Service recordIndividual Deceased Personnel File
Entered active Army service
Anthony’s Army Report of Death gives 10 June 1941 as the date he entered his current period of active service. It also records that he was on parachute pay.
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World War II · United States Army
Anthony Rocco
Technician Fifth Grade
Company A, 2671st Special Reconnaissance Battalion, Separate (Provisional)
Killed on a partisan supply mission near Livigno · 13 April 1945
★Family photographReserved for the archive
His story
A life remembered beyond the service record.
Anthony Rocco served with Company A, 2671st Special Reconnaissance Battalion, Separate (Provisional), an Office of Strategic Services formation operating from APO 512. His complete Individual Deceased Personnel File documents that he was killed in an aircraft crash near Livigno on 13 April 1945 while delivering supplies to Italian partisans. It also preserves how his remains were identified, his local burial and later reinterments, the effects returned to his mother, and the family decision to place him beside Peter. The exact identification of the aircraft as Queenie or Smokey remains under research.
Explore the archive
Related collections
Long-form sources are kept in separate reading rooms so Anthony Rocco’s profile can remain a clear guide to his life, service, and surviving records.
At a glance
The known record.
Every statement is phrased according to the strength of the evidence currently held or identified.
- 01Served as a Technician Fifth Grade in the U.S. Army under service number 33070725.
- 02Entered his current period of active service on 10 June 1941 and was receiving parachute pay at the time of his death.
- 03Assigned to Company A, 2671st Special Reconnaissance Battalion, Separate (Provisional), APO 512, as directly recorded on his casualty and personal-effects documents.
- 04Killed near Livigno, Italy, on 13 April 1945 when an aircraft delivering supplies to Italian partisans crashed after three men had parachuted from it.
- 05Lt. William F. Viviani, who had left the aircraft shortly before the crash, identified the dead through identification tags, letters, and personal recognition. Local civilians, aided by Americans, buried them at Livigno.
- 06Anthony’s effects included paratrooper wings and patches, hundreds of photographs, postcards and negatives, Italian-language books, religious items, jewelry, souvenir coins, and small American flags.
- 07Permanently interred on 17 November 1948 at the Sicily–Rome American Cemetery, Plot E, Row 1, Grave 12, beside Peter in Grave 11.
- 08His Army Report of Death preserves 21 March as his birth date but leaves the year incomplete, so his birth year remains under research.
Operational timeline
What we can place so far.
Service recordDirectly documented
Served with a provisional special-reconnaissance battalion
A casualty card and the inventory of Anthony’s effects identify Company A, 2671st Special Reconnaissance Battalion, Separate (Provisional), APO 512. The documents also record his paratrooper wings and patches and connect the unit to his work delivering supplies to partisans.
Personal eventIndividual Deceased Personnel File
Killed on a supply mission to Italian partisans
A report in the IDPF states that Anthony was aboard an aircraft parachuting supplies to partisans near Livigno. Three men parachuted out ten to fifteen minutes before the crash. Lt. William F. Viviani, one of those men, later viewed the remains and identified the dead through tags, letters, and personal recognition.
Life beyond serviceIndividual Deceased Personnel File
A remarkably personal effects inventory
The Army recorded paratrooper insignia, 371 photographs and snapshots, 27 picture postcards, 12 negatives, Italian-language books, religious items, jewelry, souvenir coins, and small American flags among Anthony’s belongings. The effects were later sent to his mother, Mary.
Burial recordIndividual Deceased Personnel File
Buried at Livigno and moved to Mirandola
Civilians aided by Americans buried the crash dead in an isolated plot they called the ‘American Military Cemetery.’ Graves Registration personnel disinterred Anthony on 21 July and reburied him at 1615 hours on 23 July in the U.S. Military Cemetery at Mirandola, Plot F, Row 17, Grave 777.
Family correspondenceIndividual Deceased Personnel File
The family chooses side-by-side burial
Mary asked that Anthony be moved from Mirandola to Nettuno so he and Peter could remain overseas but rest together. Joseph Rocco later waived his legal disposition rights, allowing Mary’s request to govern the final burial.
Burial recordIndividual Deceased Personnel File
Final interment beside Peter
Anthony was disinterred from Mirandola on 11 August, prepared for shipment on 18 August, and permanently interred on 17 November 1948 at the Sicily–Rome American Cemetery, Plot E, Row 1, Grave 12. The Army’s final letter to Mary confirms Peter in Grave 11 and Anthony in Grave 12.
Research statusAircraft identity not established
Queenie / Smokey
The IDPF proves the supply flight, crash area, date, and mission purpose, but it does not name or number the aircraft. Aircraft and mission records must still establish whether the plane was the B-24H remembered as Queenie or Smokey.
Beyond the uniform
The person the family knew.
A military file can record a rank, unit, wound, or death—but not a laugh, a favorite story, an occupation, or the way a person was known at home. This section is reserved for photographs, letters, memories, and the details of Anthony Rocco’s life outside his service.
Family & homeWork & interestsLetters & photographs
Documents & evidence
Building the paper trail.
What is known, what comes from family memory, and what the archive is still seeking.
Further records
Research status
DOC 01
Known recordComplete Individual Deceased Personnel File
A fifty-two-page primary-source file documenting Anthony’s unit, final mission, death, identification, original burial, reinterments, family correspondence, and personal effects.
DOC 02
Known recordCompany A casualty card and effects inventory
Directly identify the 2671st Special Reconnaissance Battalion, Separate (Provisional), APO 512, and preserve Anthony’s paratrooper insignia and personal belongings.
DOC 03
Known recordLivigno disinterment report and Allied Military Government list
Document the partisan supply mission, crash, identification by Lt. William F. Viviani, local civilian burial, and the accepted 13 April 1945 death date.
DOC 04
Known recordInternal IDPF discrepancies
A temporary reburial form estimated 1 May 1945 and used the rank Corporal; the dated Livigno list and Army Report of Death establish 13 April 1945 and Technician Fifth Grade. A 1 December 1948 memo also reversed the brothers’ grave numbers, while the disinterment directives and final notice establish Peter in E-1-11 and Anthony in E-1-12.
DOC 05
Research leadQueenie / Smokey aircraft identification
The IDPF documents the mission but does not identify the aircraft. A complete documentary chain is still needed before naming the plane.
DOC 06
Research leadOSS mission and aircraft records
May clarify Anthony’s exact operational role, aircraft, aircrew, jump team, departure field, and the wider mission plan.