Pfc. Joseph Frank Lentine was born in Pittson, Pennsylvania, on November 23, 1915, to Frank Lentini and Angela DeFazio-Lentini, and had one sister and five brothers. The family moved to Illinois in 1927, and made their home at 7438 West Franklin Street, Forest Park, Illinois. His name on his birth certificate was Giuseppe Lantini but at some point, the family’s last name was changed to Lantine. He also used Joseph as his first name. He graduated from the Field-Stevenson School, Forest Park, and attended Proviso Township High School, Maywood, but left before his class graduated. He worked for the American Vault Works as a driver’s helper.
When the Selective Service Act became law on October 16, 1940, Joseph registered for the draft and named his father as his contact person. Joseph was inducted into the US Army on March 24, 1941, and issued the serial number 36 012 063. It is not known where he did his basic training, but it is known that he was assigned to B Company, 160th Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry Division.
The 160th was activated on March 3, 1941, and trained for over a year at Camp San Luis Obispo, California, before moving to Fort Lewis, Washington, on April 22, 1942. It is believed Joseph joined the regiment at San Luis Obispo. On September 1, 1942, the 160th moved to San Francisco and then sailed for Hawaii arriving there on the 22nd. While in Hawaii they manned defensive emplacements long the island’s shores. In October they began amphibious landing training and jungle fighting training.
The first elements of the 40th Infantry Division left Hawaii on December 20, 1943, for Guadalcanal. By mid-January 1943, the entire division had arrived. The division left Guadalcanal for New Britain on April 24th and were involved in mopping up Japanese resistance on the island. They began to training on November 27, 1944, for the invasion of the Philippines.
The 160th landed on Luzon in the Lingayen Gulf on January 9, 1945, and captured the Lingayen Airfield. It was during the battle to retake the Philippine Islands that Pfc. Joseph F. Lantine was died, on after being hit by gunfire on the right side of his chest while taking part in a battle along the Salasa-Aguilar Road. The next day, he was buried in the United States Armed Forces Cemetery #1, Lingayen, Luzon, Philippine Islands, in Plot A, Row 2, Grave 17, in a shelter half. His grave was marked with a wooden cross. It is not known when his parents were informed that he had been killed in action.
Early in 1945, the American Graves Registration Service began to exhume the dead from various burial sites on Luzon and consolidating them into fewer cemeteries. Among those it exhumed were the American soldiers who fought on Bataan and Corregidor during the opening months of the Pacific War. Joseph’s remains were exhumed in February 1945, and reburied, in a shelter half, at the USAF Cemetery #1, Santa Barbara, Luzon, in Row 15, Grave 791. His remains were considered identified since his government issued identification tags were in the grave with his remains, and a burial bottle was also in his grave.
In a letter dated September 23, 1946, his mother was informed of where Joseph was buried and the location of his grave in the cemetery. She was also told that in the future she would receive another letter with information on her options for Joseph’s final burial. Another letter, dated October 3, 1947, arrived and provided his father with his options for Joseph’s final burial. He was asked to fill-out and return an enclosed form indicating where he wanted Joseph buried. The Office of the Quartermaster General, Washington DC, received the form on November 5, 1947. It indicated that his father wanted Joseph returned to Illinois.
Joseph’s remains were exhumed again and sent to the AGRS Remains Depot, Manila, on June 1, 1948, where they were casketed. On June 8th, his casket was placed on the USAT Sgt. Morris E. Crain which sailed the same day. The ship arrived at Ft. Mason in the San Francisco Port of Entry on the 28th. It appears his casket remained at Ft. Mason, until it was shipped by train to the Quartermaster Corps Distribution Center #8, Chicago, where it arrived on July 3, 1948. On August 17, 1948, his casket, in a military hearse with a military escort, was sent to the Glen F. Zimmerman Funeral Home in Forest Park. Pfc. Joseph F. Lentine was buried in Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois, on August 21, 1948, with full military honors
