Coast Guard Veteran honored for saving lives of the men on the USS Dorchester

Veteran who pulled soliders from sea honored 69 years later

By Richard Robbins, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, February 4, 2012

Tom Vitale received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal during a ceremony on Friday in the American Legion post in North Belle Vernon.
Brian F. Henry | Tribune-Review

For 69 years, Tom Vitale never told his family the story.

It was a tale that unfolded in the dark, frigid waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. On Feb. 3, 1943, at one of the lowest points of World War II, Vitale, a 21-year-old seaman with the Coast Guard, helped rescue 92 soldiers from certain death after a German submarine attack on the troop ship USS Dorchester.

Nearly 700 men were lost, and the Dorchester's sinking became the stuff of legend when four military chaplains gave up their life jackets so that others could live.

For the next seven decades, Vitale, a hearty 90-year-old who lives in Fellsburg, Rostraver Township, said not a word about his actions during those rescue operations by the Coast Guard cutter Comanche -- not to Lois, his wife of 62 years, to his sons or daughter, to grandchildren or great-grandchildren.

On Friday, Vitale received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal during a ceremony at the American Legion post in North Belle Vernon -- the same medal for bravery awarded to John F. Kennedy for his role in rescuing the PT-109 crew in August 1943.

"I never spoke about the war to anyone," said Vitale, a retired school teacher and steelworker.

"I never thought it was important."

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