Antonio “Anthony” De Resta Jr. was born in 1923 in Providence County, Rhode Island. He was the son of Antonio De Resta and Mary Schiano De Resta "Mary" Bafaro DeResta. He enlisted in the service on March 11, 1943. He served in Company F, 262nd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division, as a Sergeant during World War II. In December 1944, the 66th Infantry Division arrived in England and was quickly ordered to France as reinforcements during the Battle of the Bulge.

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1944, more than 2,000 soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 66th Infantry Division were crossing the English Channel aboard the Belgian troopship SS Leopoldville, traveling from Southampton to Cherbourg, France. Only a few miles from port, the ship was torpedoed by the German submarine U-486. The blast and swift flooding plunged the ship into chaos amid freezing darkness, while rescue efforts were hampered by poor communication, a shortage of lifeboats, and confusion within the harbor. As a result of the disaster, 763 American soldiers were killed, and 493 were never recovered. Some perished trapped below deck, others drowned in the icy waters of the Channel, and several courageous officers and enlisted men lost their lives while trying to save their fellow soldiers.

Sgt De Resta was among the soldiers lost at sea, listed as Missing in Action, officially declared dead on December 25, 1944, and his remains were never recovered. His name is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing in the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer, Département du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, weremember.abmc.gov, www.database-memoire.eu