Nov. 28 marks the 50th anniversary of an original Levittown homeowner killed in the line of duty while working for the Nassau County Police Department.

A 1941 graduate of Sewanhaka High School in Elmont, Louis Albert DeFrancesco enlisted in the Army immediately after Pearl Harbor and would become a decorated World War II soldier serving with the 179th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division, the Thunderbird Division in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.

The 45th was the first American division sent to Europe in World War II. Sailing out of Hampton Roads, VA on June 8, 1943, the fleet carrying the Thunderbirds traveled as far south as Brazil before crossing the Atlantic to evade German submarines.

Reaching the Rock of Gibraltar on June 21, 1943 the fleet anchored off the coast of Algeria where they were greeted by General Patton, the commander of their Army Corps.

On the morning of July 10, 1943, Louis' regiment became the first American military unit to invade Nazi-occupied Europe. Fighting their way north through Italy, his regiment played a prominent role in the four-month Battle of Anzio, before entering Rome, just hours before the D-Day invasion of Normandy began.

Among Louis' military decorations are the Combat Infantryman Badge, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars and a Campaign Medal with three Battle Stars.

Discharged from the Army in October 1945 and back home in Elmont, Louis was inducted to the Nassau County Police Department on May 16, 1949 and on Dec. 21, 1949 moved into his new home on Kingfisher Road in Levittown with his wife of four years, Susan.

In January 1955, Louis joined the department's motorcycle division and on the morning of Nov. 20, 1957, while traveling on Sunrise Highway in Valley Stream, was involved in a collision, which demolished his motorcycle. Suffering compound fractures of the right leg and severe internal injuries, he died eight days later at Meadowbook Hospital in East Meadow. He was 34 years old.

Although outliving her husband by 41 years, Susan never remarried and passed away in their Levittown home in 1998 from cancer. They are buried beside each other at the U.S. National Cemetery in Farmingdale and are survived by two sons.

(Editor's Note: This story was supplied by Louis DeFrancesco, Jr., son of Louis DeFrancesco.)