Rocco Louis Vitelli

Seaman First Class Rocco Louis Vitelli was born on March 28, 1926 to Joseph and Ida Vitelli. His father was a blacksmith. Rocco Vitelli was named after his paternal grandfather. The 1930 Census shows the family living in Chester, Pennsylvania; they later moved within Delaware County. Rocco Vitelli was survived by his sister, Mrs. Anna DeFillippo, of 929 Fern Street in Camden NJ; his father; and several other siblings.

Seaman Vitelli was one of the original crew of USS Shea (DM-30), having completed training at Norfolk, Virginia. Shea was laid down on December 23, 1943 by Bethlehem Steel Company at Staten Island, New York, as DD-750, an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer. She was launched on May 20, 1944, modified to a destroyer minelayer and redesignated DM-30 in late 1944, and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on September 30, 1944.

After shakedown training at Bermuda and further exercises at Norfolk, Shea transited the Panama Canal in late December 1944 and arrived at Pearl Harbor for additional training. She departed for Eniwetok Atoll, arriving March 2, 1945, and then sailed for Ulithi Atoll before heading into combat at Okinawa.

During the period March 24 to May 4, 1945, Shea was constantly fending off Japanese air attacks and guarding against enemy submarines off Okinawa. On April 16, in the space of ten minutes, she downed seven planes.

On the morning of May 4, 1945, Shea was en route to radar picket duty 20 miles northeast of Zampa Misaki, Okinawa. At 08:59, a lookout spotted a Japanese Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka — a purpose-built, rocket-powered, human-guided anti-shipping kamikaze aircraft — closing at better than 450 knots. The Ohka crashed into Shea on the starboard side of her bridge structure, entering the sonar room, traversing the chart house, passageway, and hatch, and exploding on the port side at the waterline. Fires broke out in multiple compartments. One officer and 34 men were killed, and 91 others were wounded. Shea, listing 5 degrees to port, made for Haeushi and medical assistance.

Seaman First Class Vitelli was transferred to the USS Crescent City (APA-21) and then to the hospital ship USS Solace (AH-5). He died aboard Solace on May 6, 1945 as a result of multiple burns. His remains were first buried on Tinian, then moved to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was interred on November 9, 1949.