From the May 24, 2009 Newsday.
Army 1st Lt. Bernard J. Ray, of Baldwin, New York, received his nation's highest honor during World War II, the Medal of Honor and died in the war's last year, over 60 years ago. At Long Island National Cemetery, Louis DiLeo had just finished playing the bugle at two military funerals when he saw two strangers standing over by the grave of a distant cousin of wife's, so he went over to see what they were doing.
The two men handed him one of Bernard Ray's dog tags that had been buried in a German forest since 1944. John Chiarella and Charlie Jamison had a month-long quest to find Ray's relatives to return it after a German collector had unearthed it in February.
Back in November 1944, Ray's unit was pinned down in Hurtgen Forest, Germany, a month before the Battle of the Bulge. There was concertina wire in front of them and the 23-year-old Ray, platoon leader with Co. F, 8th Infantry grabbed several Bangalore torpedoes and crawled forward to blast a hole in it.
He was connecting the explosives when he was hit by mortar fire. He finished the wiring and fell on the plunger, destroying the barrier and killing himself.
Not Finished Yet. DaCoot
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