SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A World War II combat veteran from upstate New York is returning to the scene of a bloody Pacific island battle as an army of one.
The Post-Standard of Syracuse reports that Don Fida (FEE’-duh) of Syracuse departed Monday morning for the Marshall Islands, where U.S. forces landed on the Japanese-held atoll of Kwajalein (KWAH’-jah-lihn) on Jan. 31, 1944.
Fida was a member of the U.S. Army’s 7th Division that helped capture the island after a four-day battle.
The handful of 7th Division vets still living were invited back to the island for a ceremony marking the battle’s 71st anniversary. But Fida, who turns 91 Wednesday, is the only survivor who can still walk.
Accompanied by his daughter, he’ll be the only 7th Division veteran attending the ceremony.
