2 KIA Brothers Purple Hearts

[NickCT]

Hey guys,
I recently obtained this great grouping. These are two KIA purple hearts posthumously awarded to two brothers - Santo J. Mocciaro and Rosario A. Mocciaro. The Mocciaro family had five sons, four of which were in uniform. Two of them were killed in action, and one was seriously wounded in a bayonet attack on Christmas Eve, 1942 and was awarded a Purple Heart. The fourth brother
in uniform was stationed in California.

-Santo Mocciaro was with the 722nd Engineer Depot Company. The Japanese were trying to get to our shipping and land troops behind our
lines and the 722nd Engineers were dug in Dulag west of Violet Beach in Leyte.They had come in D-Day Plus 3 and had been offloading Bailey
Bridges onto the beaches. On October 25,1944 at about 2000 hours, somebody yelled "LIGHTS OUT". It was too late as a Japanese plane dropped
his bomb in the 722nd Eng.Depot Co. area. Demolitions blew up, ammunition blew up, everything that would burn caught fire. Men were calling
for help and the men who were able helped to save those still alive. Santo died in this attack.

-Rosario Mocciaro was with the 1st Fighter Control Squadron. The SS Cape San Juan was a troop transport ship on its second voyage heading to
Townsville, Australia after leaving San Francisco, CA. The San Juan was carrying 1464 men on this trip. Among which it was carrying the following
military units:
855th "All Negro" Engineer(Avn) Batt. 811 Officers and Enlisted
1st Fighter Control Squadron(ground based radar) 367 Officers and Enlisted
253rd Ordnance(Avn)Company 162 Officers and Enlisted

The Imperial Japanese Submarine I-21 torpedoed the San Juan at 0530 on Thursday,Nov.11,1943 approximately 300 southeast of Fiji. Many men jumped
overboard, and one of the rescue boats was filled with too many people and capsized. There was a large rescue attempt to save the survivors of
the sinking ship. There were about one hundred casualties in this incident. Pfc. Mocciaro was
one of those who did not survive.

I was given multiple newspaper articles documenting this family's double tragedy, as well as two very nice Batavia, NY veterans medals with lots
of detail on them.

Overall a fantastic grouping of two brothers who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

[NickCT]

[NickCT]

[milmuseum]

Did you get these from the family? I am wondering why there are two different engraving styles on these?

Thanks

Burt

[NickCT]

I did not get these from a family but I got them through a very reputable member on another forum. Both medals are officially engraved, and both styles are definitely within spec of typical official purple heart engravings. I've seen several where the name is all on one line, and others that are separated with first name and middle initial on one line, and last name on the second line. There are others out there that are very detailed with underscores and designs on them, and those are also official. The brothers were killed about a year apart, so that probably explains why the styles might be different as opposed to them being made around the same time.

I have several pictures of articles about the brothers in local newspapers that I'll attach also

[NickCT]

[NickCT]

[NickCT]

[SteveR]

It is a sad grouping but an important one in my opinion.

[milmuseum]

Thanks Nick, I have been concerned as I have seen a bunch of engraved Purple Hearts lately on this fourm. Almost too many to be true. I have a feeling that there is a counterfitter with really good copies making US Purple Hearts out there. I just don't want anyone to get burned. This lot has a great story behind it. Thanks for sharing.

Burt