.
With a sad touch of irony, only four days
after his capture, on May 10, brother Michael received a letter from Louis dated
March 13, 1942 stating that "all is well and will be glad to get
home."
In December of 1942, Arcuri again wrote
a letter home to his brother, this time from a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
The letter arrived in July, 1943. The following article was reprinted in the
Pittsburgh Press on July 21, 1943.
Brookline Man Held
In Japan Writes Parents
One of the first communications
received in the district directly from a prisoner of war in Japan was
received yesterday by a Brookline family.
The postcard, handled through
the International Red Cross at Geneva, Switzerland, was from Petty Officer
Louis Arcuri to his brother, Michael Arcuri, 1431 Bellaire
Place.
"I am well and safe in Japan,"
the card read. "My health is usual. I have had no news of the family
since November 1941. How are you and the family, especially father.
Remember me to father. Love. Louis."
The printed card was dated
December 22, 1942. It bore a Japanese censor stamp and was forwarded
from Prisoners Information Bureau, of the Office of the Provost General
in Washington.
Petty Officer Arcuri, 33, was
reported missing after the fall of Corregidor. He was reported a prisoner
last January 4. A veteran of six years previous service, he returned to
active duty in 1939, and served as a radio man. He was stationed in
Manila.
Allied Command Center located
in the Malinta Tunnel - Corregidor - May 1942
After the war, Petty Officer Louis
Arcuri was repatriated and returned to the United States after nearly 3
1/2 years in captivity. He had spent time in POW camps in the Phillipines,
Formosa, and Japan. The last camp where he was held was Tokyo POW Camp
Branch #2 (Kawasaki) Tokyo Bay Area 35-139.
After being liberated and a period
of convalescence, Louis returned to the United States on October 1945. At
the time his mother had passed and his father had moved to Erie. Brother
Michael was still living in their Brookline home, where Louis settled in
upon his return.
Petty Officer Louis Arcuri was
discharged from the service on February 3, 1946, at the Naval Personnel
Separation Center in Long Island, New York.
Louis returned to Pittsburgh and went
to work with the National Casket Company. As a former P.O.W., Arcuri was a
member of the "Barbed Wire Club," an exclusive fraternity of soldiers who
belonged to the Western Pennsylvania Prisoners of War Club. The newspaper
clipping above appeared in the August 7, 1946 Pittsburgh
Sun-Telegraph.
On February 11, 1947, he married Rose
Thoma, and the couple settled in Perry South at 624 Chautauqua Street, where
they raised one son, Louis E. Arcuri.
Rose Arcuri passed away on July 19, 1976.
Louis Arcuri, age 84, then living in Cranberry, joined her on December 17, 1994.
Louis and Rose are interred at Christ Our Redeemer Catholic Cemetery on the
Northside.
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