World War II Honoree

Michael Aiello

Branch of Service

U.S. Army

Hometown

Peoria, Illinois

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Staff Sergeant. On March 24, 1942, he entered the United States Army with his induction at Peoria, Illinois, receiving his Boot Camp Training at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Later completed Paratrooper Combat Infantry Training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Deployed to Great Britain where he served in Company-A, First Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, a subordinate unit of the 82nd ‘All-American’ Airborne Division. His Division participated in the Invasion of the Netherlands against the German armed forces Code Named: Operation Market Garden, the liberation of Holland. Killed in Action Monday, September 18, 1944 on the second day of the invasion and buried in the Kiekberg Woods battlefield. After the cessation of hostilities in Europe, the 407th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company, Quartermaster Corps conducted recovery operations in the Netherlands, and his remains could not be positively identified and were interred as an unknown in the Ardennes American Cemetery in Neupre, Belgium. On May 31, 2016, his remains was disinterred and transferred to the Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska were he was identified. The remains of this Soldier were interred with Military Honors October 28, 2017 at Camp Butler National Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. He received the following awards posthumously: Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. The Bronze Star awarded for Bravery, Act of Merit and Meritorious Service in Combat, and the Purple Heart as he so gallantly gave his life for his country.