Ariana Pelosci, associate editor for CancerNetwork®, has been with the team since June 2021. She specializes both in web and print, and runs the social media for CancerNetwork®.
It’s rare when a North Jersey story flies in from the Kansas plains, but that’s exactly what happened in spring 2020 when I came across the story of Lt. Paul Capaccio, a Lyndhurst football star turned U.S. Army airman.
Capaccio, 25, was one of six airman who died in a B-17 crash near Hill City, Kansas, on Feb. 2, 1943. One of thousands of airmen who died in training or transit flights during the conflict, Capaccio had his story mostly forgotten, according to Ariana Pelosci, Capaccio’s great niece.
Mike Boss, a Kansas artist who has painted his interpretation of the crash, and others in the rural community knew the tragedy well, however, and sought to research and honor the airmen. The project reached its peak in June 2020, when the men teamed to place an oversize granite tombstone near the crash site.