WWII pilot survived 17 hours in English Channel after attack

Alfred Anthony “Al” DiLembo was among the approximately 1,000 World War II veterans who died Saturday.

That’s the rate at which veterans from the Greatest Generation are vanishing, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

A father, grandfather and recently great-grandfather, Mr. DiLembo lived a humble and accomplished life, like so many other members of his generation.

The 93-year-old Brookline native died of pneumonia at his home in Wesley Chapel, Fla., where he’d moved with his family two years ago.

“I just wanted the whole family to be together and Dad loved Florida,” said his daughter Gina Atkins, 47, who bought a house there where she, her father and her daughter’s family could consolidate their far-flung lives.

Relocating after living 60 years in the same Brookline house wasn’t easy, but Mr. DiLembo looked at it as a challenge.

“He didn’t want to leave but he was up for it,” she said. “He never complained.”

That’s because Mr. DiLembo had faced far more harrowing situations in life.

He enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet immediately after his graduation from St. Justin High School in 1942.

Though pilot training was tough, Mr. DiLembo told a Post-Gazette reporter several years ago that he was overwhelmed with excitement at the prospect of learning to fly — until then, he’d only ever been in a plane once, as a 5-year-old.

He flew 39 missions during World War II, but his days as a pilot ended when was shot down over the English Channel. Only he and one other member of his 11-man crew survived. They clung to a rubber dinghy until a British destroyer rescued them.

“He was in the water for 17 hours,” his daughter said. “The Germans knew where they were so no one could send help.”

The other soldier had his legs amputated as a result of hypothermia, but Mr. DiLembo pretended for three days to have sensation in his lower limbs to avoid the same fate.

“He eventually got the feeling back in his legs,” Ms. Atkins said.

Even Hurricane Irma couldn’t faze her father last year when it threatened to level their town, Ms. Atkins said.

“Dad wouldn’t budge” when everyone else was evacuating, she said. “He said, ‘I’m not leaving. We’re just getting a little wind.’”

His biggest concern? Whether they could still watch a Steelers game on television, of course.

“I’m frantically preparing for the worst — putting money and IDs in the freezer — and he’s in his room sipping sweet tea and worried about the Steeler game,” she said.

After he returned home from the war in 1946, Mr. DiLembo earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and worked as an engineer at various companies for most of his life.

He met Eva Marie Puccinelli after seeing her wait for a bus every day on Pioneer Avenue.

“One day he stopped and asked her for directions — which he didn’t need. He just didn’t know how else to talk to her,” Ms. Atkins said

The couple were married in October 1964. She died in 2013.

Staying active as a veteran was a big part of Mr. DiLembo’s identity and it helped him get through the tough times after his wife’s death, Ms. Atkins said.

Her father was a life member of the Brentwood VFW Post 1810, where he served as commander and judge advocate. He also served as senior vice commander for American Legion Post 712 in Pleasant Hills, was a 32nddegree Mason, and a member of Baldwin Whitehall Lodge 684.

He often could be spotted at the Veterans Day Parade in Downtown Pittsburgh and made it a habit to show his respects at military funerals.

“That’s what kept him going after he retired and after Mom died,” Ms. Atkins said. “It kept his sanity and kept his mind sharp.”

Still, it was difficult for him to talk about the war and he found solace among his fellow soldiers.

“He could relate to them,” she said. “He knew those people weren’t going to ask him questions that he didn’t want to answer. They all understand each other.”

What kept her father going all these years — including surviving a bout of throat cancer — as so many of his comrades and friends fell away is difficult to pinpoint, Ms. Atkins said.

“I guess I would have to say when I looked at him, I saw this frail, frail person, then I realized there is this huge, strong person in there,” she said. “He was the strongest person I knew.”

Along with his daughter, he is survived by a granddaughter and a great-granddaughter. He was preceded in death by sisters Amelia Pizzuto and Cornelia Roda.

The funeral Mass is at 1 p.m. Friday at Nativity Church, 5811 Curry Road, South Park, followed by entombment at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Peters.