Memorial Day Profiles: WWII Veteran Alex DiPace

Scotch Plains-Fanwood’s annual Memorial Day Parade on Monday will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II. Four residents who served in the war will serve as Grand Marshals, including 89-year-old Alex DiPace, who served in Italy for four years.

In the barber shop on Park Avenue that has been in his DiPace’s for more than 80 years, pictures of World War II-era airplanes hang framed on the wall. One, a color photograph of three green planes in flight, holds a signature: “To my flying buddy,” signed by Al Rifino of the P-47 Thunderbolts Pilots Association.

“I went on 25 missions,” DiPace said. Stationed at the 15th Air Force Base in Italy, he served as a flight engineer for B-24 bombers, repairing the planes and working closely with the pilots who flew them in attack missions over Germany and Austria.

When the war ended, DiPace left Italy and returned home to Scotch Plains with a number of accolades and decorations from the army: four Bronze Stars, two Oak Leaf Clusters and one Air Medal. But DiPace soon returned to Italy.

“I had to go back to Italy,” he said with a smile. “I married an Italian war bride.”

DiPace and his wife, Louisa, married in 1953 and returned to Scotch Plains, where they raised four children and, later, became grandparents to six grandchildren.

“I been here my whole life,” DiPace said.

Of the men he served with in Italy, “I’m the only one left from my crew,” he said.

For the past four years, DiPace has served as the commander of the American Legion Community Post 209 in Scotch Plains.

Walt Blaes, a member of the American Legion, said he has known DiPace for almost 50 years.

“He’s the boss,” Blaes said. “He keeps things running properly.”

When asked about serving as Grand Marshal, DiPace was modest. “Yeah, sure, I’m honored,” says DiPace. “I’m commander of our American Legion, so that’s what it is.”

He and Blaes estimated that about seven Legion members will be honored at the Memorial Day Parade Monday. As Grand Marshal, DiPace will be joined by World War II veterans Frank Russo, George Reider and Robert “Red” Taylor. Veterans of the Gulf War and the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will also be recognized.

The day will begin with an 8 a.m. ceremony at the , followed by a wreath-laying ceremony outside the at 9 a.m. and a wreath presentation at the veterans monument at Park Avenue and Front Street in Scotch Plains. The parade begins at 10:45 a.m. at Park Ave and Front Street in Scotch Plains, proceeds south along Park Avenue, and ends at in Fanwood.