Updated: 6:57 PM EDT May 27, 2021
Ninety-six-year-old World War II Veteran Anthony Grasso is heading to South Carolina to deliver a final salute to Lieutenant Frank DuBose, who saved his life in 1944, losing his own life in the process. As Grasso began his journey to pay his respects at the Lieutenant's grave, he received a law enforcement escort to Logan Airport through the streets of Norwood on Thursday. Dozens of well-wishers joined veterans leaders, state and county officials and state and local police at the sendoff. Grasso says DuBose took the brunt of an explosion that would have killed them both on the German-Belgian border. According to the Patriot Ledger, Grasso was a radio operator on a reconnaissance mission with DuBose on Nov. 2 when the pair spotted the enemy. DuBose asked for the radio phone to call the position in, and at that moment, an artillery shell exploded between the men.Grasso said the large World War II-era radio and DuBose's body took the brunt of the shrapnel, sparing him. He woke up in a hospital bed two weeks later. DuBose didn't make it. The Patriot Ledger reports Grasso's trip down the coast was coordinated by several South Shore residents who were inspired by the story, chronicled in the book "All Souls Day" by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joseph Pereira, of Quincy, and John Wilson. The book, released late last year, helped spark the idea of Grasso taking a trip to thank his friend, and offer one final salute.