Research source · Stories Behind the Stars
A carefully attributed summary of the volunteer biography preserved by TogetherWeServed, with conflicts and unanswered questions retained for further research.
Reported service details
Biographical summary
The profile reports that Peter was born in Dormont to Joseph Rocco and Maria De Sensi, both Italian immigrants. Census-based research describes Joseph working first as a mill laborer and later in a steel mill, while Maria kept the household. Peter reportedly had four brothers and four sisters, graduated from Dormont High School, and was unmarried.
According to the biography, Peter worked for an employer transcribed as “Bootli and Flyn” when he registered for the draft in 1942. The author cautions that this may have been an insurance company. Immediately before entering the Army, Peter reportedly worked for Mesta Machine Company.
The profile records Peter’s draft registration on 30 June 1942, enlistment on 12 March 1943, and deployment to Italy in October 1943. It places him with the 168th Infantry Regiment and the 34th Infantry Division, whose recent combat history included Monte Cassino and the Anzio beachhead.
Peter’s IDPF now confirms that he was killed by enemy shelling near Cisterna di Littoria on 6 April 1944 and buried at Nettuno the next morning. His mother later asked that Anthony be moved from Mirandola so the brothers could remain overseas together. Peter was permanently interred in Plot E, Row 1, Grave 11 at the Sicily–Rome American Cemetery, with Anthony in Grave 12. The secondary profile also reports Peter’s Purple Heart.
Evidence notes
The Company L morning report ending 11 April 1944 identifies Peter by name and service number, directly confirming his assignment to Company L, 168th Infantry Regiment. TogetherWeServed’s listing of the 1st Battalion conflicts with this primary record and is therefore not used as Peter’s confirmed battalion assignment.
The TogetherWeServed narrative gives Anthony Rocco’s death as 13 March 1945. Anthony’s IDPF establishes 13 April 1945 through his Army Report of Death and a dated list of the Livigno dead. The March date is therefore rejected as a secondary-source error.
Peter’s battlefield burial report gives the vicinity of Cisterna di Littoria and records enemy shelling and a direct hit. The hospital-admission index separately records artillery-fragment wounds to the leg and forearm. These primary records now substantiate the shelling account.
Two general administrative forms in the IDPF use “North African Area,” while Peter’s specific battlefield burial report places his death near Cisterna di Littoria and the Company L records place the unit in Italy. The archive therefore treats the broad label as theater-level administration or a filing error.
Original online profile
Created by COL Gary Smith as part of the volunteer Stories Behind the Stars project and hosted by TogetherWeServed. TogetherWeServed identifies itself as a non-government website.