WWII – Allied soldier Alfred T. Cabral was wounded while fighting in France’s Alsace-Lorraine region and lost his dog tag along the way. It was found by a beach walker on a Nettuno, Italy beach recently after 70 long years.
The highly decorated WWII veteran was only 17, a 1943 graduate from Hudson High School, when he started serving in the army and fought in the war that same year. After he got wounded in battle, his comrades started calling him “the junior Yankee from Boston”.
The American Battle Monuments Commission, the organization which is responsible for overseeing the various military cemeteries and memorials at battle sites globally, was initially the one to get hold about the beach walker’s find.
As the dog tag had contained information about the owner’s hometown and street address, the commission contacted Hudson Town Clerk Joan Wordell through e-mail telling her about the found WWII item.
Wordell then informed Cabral’s son and resident of Hudson, Paul, about it. He, along with his brother Joe who is from New Boston, relayed the surprising news to their father, a Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient for his heroic efforts during WWII.
When he served in WWII, Alfred T. Cabral took part in the grisly battle of Anzio in January 1944 and survived. However, he almost lost his foot a year later to a landmine buried in snow at the Voges Mountains, northeast of France on January 10, 1945. He then spent the rest of the war recuperating in various military medical facilities.
After WWII ended, Cabral returned to Hudson and joined the local police department. He rose in rank and became chief until his retirement in 1979.
A current resident of Autumn Village, Worcester, highly decorated WWII veteran Alfredo T. Cabral awaits for the return of his long missing dog tag.
“Isn’t that something? It’s absolutely unbelievable that it’s been found after 70 years,” he said when interviewed through phone.