The chatter in the yard

quieted as neighbors, townspeople, and other ranchers from the surrounding valley turned their attention to Elwyn Righetti, the oldest son of the host family. It was summer 1944, and Lt. Col. Righetti was a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF). Only five years earlier, he drove a dairy truck on the rural roads that threaded through the hills and valleys that made up this part of California’s central coastal region. “It was a farewell barbecue,” said Dennis Perozzi, who lived nearby. “Elwyn was headed overseas. He gave a nice talk and then said that he was either going to make a name for himself, or he was going to be killed. Turned out, he did both.”