Two Events, Four Days Apart: Lake Garda, Italy POW/MIA Recognition Day
For more than 80 years, Lake Garda has been connected with the stories of American servicemen who never returned home.
For Associazione Benàch, these are not simply stories from the Second World War. They are men whose lives, military service and final missions still deserve to be remembered. Researching what happened to them, finding photographs and information about their families, and making sure their names are not forgotten has become an important part of our work.
Two of these stories are separated by just four days.
On April 26, 1945, 1st Lt. Truman L. Allen disappeared over Lake Garda while flying a P-47D Thunderbolt.
Four days later, on April 30, 1945, 25 soldiers of the U.S. 10th Mountain Division disappeared when the DUKW carrying them sank in the lake.
Both stories remain connected to Lake Garda. Both involve American servicemen who never came home. And in both cases, important questions remained unanswered long after the war ended.
The Lost Mountaineers
The story of the 25 men aboard the DUKW has been an important part of Associazione Benàch's research for many years.
The men came from B/605th Field Artillery Battalion, C/605th Field Artillery Battalion and the 52nd Quartermaster Battalion of the 10th Mountain Division.
On April 30, 1945, the DUKW disappeared while crossing Lake Garda. None of the 25 men returned, and their bodies were never recovered.
For decades, very little was known about exactly what had happened.
Then, in 2012, the Gruppo Volontari del Garda located the sunken DUKW in the deep waters of Lake Garda. The discovery provided an important breakthrough in understanding what happened to the 25 men and brought new attention to a story that had remained unresolved for nearly seven decades.
Associazione Benàch later produced The Lost Mountaineers, a documentary telling the story of the 25 soldiers, the loss of the DUKW and the search that eventually located the wreck. The documentary has since reached audiences in Italy, the United States and elsewhere.
But finding the DUKW was not the end of the story.
It gave the men a known place in the history of Lake Garda and allowed their story to be told more fully. It also gave Associazione Benàch the opportunity to continue researching the individual men, their military service and their families.
Remembering the 25 of the DUKW
Every year, Associazione Benàch returns to the monument in Torbole dedicated to the 25 men.
A moment of reflection is held at the site, and a Missing Man Table is placed in their honour. Local people, researchers, veterans, military representatives and visitors come together to remember the men who disappeared here in April 1945.
The Roll of Honor
B/605th Field Artillery Battalion, 10th Mountain Division
Cpl. William R. Armstrong — Terre Haute, Indiana
Pvt. Merle Britton — Ohio
Pfc. Willard E. Chapman — Washington, Ohio
Pfc. Jerry T. Dillard — Plainview, Texas
Cpl. Emory E. Hamilton — Kentucky
Pvt. Howard Harper — Ohio
Cpl. James Harwell — Georgia
Pfc. Edward E. Koskela — Minnesota
Pfc. Stanley R. Lade — Illinois
Cpl. William E. Madara — Pottsville, Pennsylvania
Pfc. Frank J. Miller — Wisconsin
Pvt. William C. Morrison, Jr. — Terre Haute, Indiana
Pvt. Roger L. Murray — Missouri
Pfc. Elmer C. Paulson — Frederic, Wisconsin
Pfc. Xwell Y. Reynolds — Ohio
Cpl. Gayle W. Russell, Jr. — Ellis, Kansas
Pvt. Frank Tame — Greenville, Tennessee
Pfc. Charles E. Tannehill — Gilboa, Ohio
C/605th Field Artillery Battalion, 10th Mountain Division
Pfc. Walter J. Armstrong — California
Cpl. Max L. Champion — California
1st Sgt. James S. Hilley — South Carolina
Pfc. Leroy A. King — Indiana
Pfc. Norman B. Russel — Arkansas
Cpl. Richard Wright — Nevada
52nd Quartermaster Battalion, 10th Mountain Division
Pfc. Nicholas DelGrosso* — District of Columbia
There is a reason for the asterisk beside Nicholas DelGrosso's name on the monument in Torbole.
During the research into the tragedy, including the search for photographs and information about the men and their families, Associazione Benàch discovered more about Pfc. Nicholas DelGrosso.
DelGrosso was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division and was the driver of the DUKW on its final journey. We also discovered that he was born in Roseto degli Abruzzi, Province of Teramo, Abruzzo, Italy, on August 22, 1922.
For Associazione Benàch, this was an especially interesting discovery. One of the American servicemen who lost his life here in Italy had himself been born in Italy.
It is a small but significant detail in the history of the 25 men, and one that would almost certainly have remained unknown without the continued research into their individual lives.
Another Lost American Beneath Lake Garda
Just four days before the DUKW disappeared, another American serviceman was lost over the same lake.
On April 26, 1945, 1st Lt. Truman L. Allen, aged 21, was flying a P-47D Thunderbolt of the 65th Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Group.
His aircraft was P-47D serial number 44-20987, known as Balls Out II.
According to wartime accounts, Allen was flying a low-level mission when the aircraft came under ground fire. Witnesses reported seeing the P-47 plunge into Lake Garda.
Allen never returned.
His remains were never recovered, and the aircraft has never been conclusively located.
Service records documented by Fold3 record that Allen received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters and the Purple Heart.
More than eight decades later, his final mission remains an open question.
The Search for 1st Lt. Truman L. Allen
The research carried out by Associazione Benàch has brought together information from the Missing Air Crew Report (MACR), accounts from other American airmen and testimony from local Italian witnesses.
Together, these sources have helped narrow the likely area where Allen's aircraft may have gone down.
The suspected area is difficult underwater terrain, with deep sections of the lake and steep formations. These conditions make conventional searches particularly challenging.
There may, however, be another opportunity.
Associazione Benàch is currently exploring the possibility of working with the Gruppo Volontari del Garda and the American organisation ProMare to see whether their experience and technology could be combined in a new search for Allen's P-47.
At this stage, this is an exploration of what may be possible, not a confirmed recovery operation. There is no guarantee that the aircraft will ever be found.
But the experience of the DUKW shows what can happen when research, local knowledge, technology and determination come together.
More Than Finding an Aircraft
Finding Truman Allen's P-47 would be significant, but for Associazione Benàch the reason for the search goes beyond the aircraft itself.
Allen was 21 years old when he disappeared.
His family never received the answers that so many families hoped for at the end of the war. If the aircraft could be located, it might help establish more clearly what happened during his final mission and, potentially, provide information about his final resting place.
That is why the search matters.
It is also why the work does not stop when a wreck is found. The research into the DUKW has shown how much more can emerge once there is a physical location to investigate: military records, photographs, family connections and details about the individual men can all become part of a clearer picture.
The same may be true for Truman Allen.
Four Days Apart
April 26, 1945.
1st Lt. Truman L. Allen disappeared over Lake Garda in his P-47 Thunderbolt.
April 30, 1945.
Twenty-five soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division disappeared when their DUKW sank in the lake.
Four days separate the two events.
More than 80 years later, both remain part of the history of Lake Garda.
The DUKW has been found.
Truman Allen's aircraft has not.
We Remember
National POW/MIA Recognition Day is observed annually on the third Friday of September. In 2026, it falls on September 18.
Here on Lake Garda, that remembrance has a particular meaning.
Associazione Benàch remembers 1st Lt. Truman L. Allen.
We remember the 25 men of the DUKW.
We remember their families and the years of uncertainty they faced.
And we remember the many other American servicemen who remain missing from the Second World War and from conflicts since then.
The Missing Man Table placed each year at the Torbole monument is a small gesture, but it is there for a reason.
Their names are still here.
Their stories are still being researched.
And they are not forgotten.
Join Us in Remembering
Associazione Benàch will continue to remember the 25 men of the DUKW each year at the monument in Torbole.
If you would like to join us at next year's remembrance, or be part of a future ceremony on Lake Garda, please contact:
Association Benàch email: associazionebenach@gmail.com
For more than 80 years, these men have remained part of the history of Lake Garda.
We believe they should remain part of its memory too.
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