SPC4 Elpidio Juan Ravelo-Toribio, Jr.
Elpidio Juan Ravelo-Toribio, Jr. -- Photo: www.findagrave.com
Elpidio, Jr. moved to South Florida from Cuba when he was 11, and attended Miami Springs Senior High and lived at 725 W. 36th Street in Hialeah.
Elpidio enlisted in the Army and served in the Recon Platoon of Echo Co., 1/6 Infantry, 198th Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry “Americal” Division, so-named because it was the only Division in World War II to be formed outside a U.S. territory, on the Island of New Caledonia in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean. Elpidio was mortally wounded by a land mine explosion on July 14, 1970 and medevac’d to Japan and the US, where despite treatment he succumbed to his injuries on October 5, 1970. He was 20. Elpidio was survived by his wife Rosa, his brother Jorge Luis, and his parents, Elpidio and Silvia Ravelo. Elpidio Jr. is interred at Vista Memorial Gardens, and honored on the National Vietnam Memorial, at Panel 7W, Line 114. If you have photos, memorabilia, or further information regarding Elpidio or his family and their time in South Florida, please let me know, you can email to [email protected]. |
Photograph courtesy of Robert Adlet, www.findagrave.com
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