Georgia
WWII veteran's long-lost bracelet reunited with Georgia family
Georgia family reunited with WW2 bracelet
A DeKalb County family was reunited with a heartfelt memento from a loved one and a piece of history that was lost in Italy nearly 80 years ago.
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. – A DeKalb County family is reunited with a heartfelt memento from a loved one and a piece of history lost nearly 80 years ago and nearly 5,000 miles apart.
The silver bracelet tells the story of a love that crossed the ocean, a hero who fought in a terrible war, and two communities tied together nearly 80 years later. It started last September when Gina Burke got a phone call from Italian historian Paolo Pavoloni.
“He found the bracelet because he is an archaeologist. With the metal detector, he found the bracelet. He wanted to find the family,” Burke said.
The bracelet had her father’s name engraved, Fred C. Street. His army serial number was on the back, along with two simple words that said so much.
“It says ‘Yours Dot,’ which is my mother. It’s very dirty. When it was found, Paolo Parolari held it with gloves and hands. He said he would never take the dirt off it and recommended I do the same,” she said.
Her father served in the 10th Mountain Division in World War Two. Burke had letters her father sent to her mother all those years ago. One of the letters was dated May 1, days before the war finally came to an end.
“He says, ‘Honey, I lost the bracelet you gave me. I hate it bad. I lost it yesterday afternoon. I don’t know where I put it. I guess the chain broke,’” she recalled.
Fred Street (Courtesy of the family)
It was lost on an Italian mountainside, a reminder of the many Americans who gave their all in the war.
“My brother told me, ‘You know, Dad was on skis in the 10th Mountain Division, which is a very important part of the war in Italy. He doesn’t talk about it.’ And he did not. He would never talk about it,” Burke said.
Italian historian Paolo Pavoloni (Courtesy of the family)
Those efforts are still honored and revered by the Italian village where her father once served. Burke witnessed that appreciation firsthand when she traveled more than 4,800 miles across the ocean to pick up the bracelet and meet its finder in person.
“I was overwhelmed when I got there. They put on this wonderful ceremony where they gave me the bracelet and all these gifts. In Italy, they are so grateful. They have a day called Liberation Day,” she said.
Burke also returned to the same spot where Pavoloni found the bracelet, the spot where her father stood his ground.
“I just sat down and looked at this spot, and you can see where he dug to find the bracelet. That’s where it was – That’s where it fell off my dad’s arms – probably while he was firing back. It was the most beautiful scenery. Just gorgeous, as my dad writes about in the letters. He says, ‘This is so beautiful,’” she recalled.
Now, that bracelet is back home, a reminder of a man who kept his love close an ocean away, who’s remembered as a hero in America and Italy, and as a reminder that what is lost, is waiting to be found.
“Hope is what it represents. They were fighting for that. They wanted freedom for these people and the world. I hope that generations to come can remember that. Not let that history go,” she said.
Gulfstream recently announced a $5 million investment in Georgia education, welcoming students and leaders to its Savannah headquarters.
ATHENS, Ga. – Designated hitter Daniel Jackson and centerfielder Rylan Lujo combined for nine RBI Sunday, leading fifth-ranked Georgia to a 12-1 win over LSU at Foley Field.
Georgia improved to 41-11 overall, 21-6 in the SEC, while LSU dropped to 29-24 overall and 9-18 in conference play.
The Tigers return to action at 6:30 p.m. CT Thursday when they play host to Florida in Game 1 of a three-game SEC series in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. Thursday’s game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and streamed on SEC Network +.
“Georgia won the moments in this series,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “They’re going to score, so you’ve got to capitalize against them when you have scoring opportunities on offense.”
Georgia starting pitcher Caden Aoki (8-0) was the winner, limiting LSU to one run on four hits in 5.0 innings with two walks and seven strikeouts.
LSU right-hander Casan Evans (2-3), making his first appearance since April 17 versus Texas A&M, started the game Sunday and was charged with the loss, working 1.2 innings and allowing four runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
“I thought Casan’s stuff looked great, and that’s good for him from a health standpoint,” Johnson said. “He’s a guy that the more he pitches, the better he is, so there might have been a little bit of rust, but I thought he competed fine.”
Georgia struck for four runs in the bottom of the second inning in an outburst highlighted by Jackson’s two-out, two-run single and an RBI single by second baseman Ryan Black.
The Tigers narrowed the gap to 4-1 in the third when designated hitter Omar Serna Jr. delivered an RBI single.
Georgia extended its lead to 7-1 in the fourth as Jackson launched a two-run homer and centerfielder Lujo lined a run-scoring single.
Lujo unloaded a grand slam in the fifth, giving the Bulldogs an 11-1 advantage.
The Georgia baseball team had long since poured out of the Foley Field home dugout and the water bottles that were thrown on the field in jubilation had been cleaned up.
The Bulldogs celebration that carried into center field after a 13-8 victory on Saturday night over LSU on May 9 had ended and players had doused coach Wes Johnson with blue sports drink.
Now, some 20 minutes later, it was postgame photo time for the freshly minted 2026 SEC regular season champions.
They gathered in front of the spot on the right field wall where the previous seven seasons of Georgia SEC championships were listed, the last in 2008. Above them on the video board was a graphic that recognized this year’s team as SEC champions.
“Watching the program grow in such a shot amount of time, it’s awesome,” said pitcher Paul Farley, who has been with the Bulldogs for all three seasons with Johnson and got the win in relief Saturday. “We’ve got four SEC games left and to be able to hang that up there the SEC champs already it’s amazing.”
Farley was speaking figuratively because the 2026 numbers weren’t on the outfield fence just yet.
Fifth-ranked Georgia (40-11, 20-6 SEC) still has a chance to put a College World Series trip up there in left field for the first time since 2008 and in a best case scenario add another national championship year in right field with the 1990 season.
“SEC champs is great, but obviously we want to do bigger and better things,” Farley said.
LSU, the team that won it all last season, was still around having a postgame talk on the artificial turf field long after the game ended.
Johnson was with LSU in 2023 as pitching coach when it won another College World Series.
“It’s massive,” Johnson said of this latest championship. “Anytime you can win this league, man, it’s so hard. Then win it outright. It’s something you want to check off on your list of things you’ve ever accomplished. It’s 10 weekends of just meat house grinding.”
Johnson said he didn’t know that the dominoes had fallen Saturday to set up Georgia being able to clinch except that he saw that Texas lost at Tennessee as the result flashed on the scoreboard.
Texas A&M also lost twice at Ole Miss to set up the clinch for Georgia.
“I’m calling pitches, I’m locked in,” Johnson said.
He said assistant coach Will Coggin told him when the game ended that ‘We’re champs.’”
Many of the players knew.
“We had a few inside operatives, I’d say, tell us,” Farley said.
Shortstop Kolby Branch said he didn’t know “until the water bottles started flying.”
Branch said another Georgia team loaded with transfers grew closer in the fall and built relationships that have turned into wins this season.
Johnson said winning the regular season title in his third season as coach in the age of the transfer portal and NIL “means a lot.”
Johnson mentioned Farley, Branch and Tre Phelps being at Georgia for all three of his seasons.
“Seeing where we were in the first fall, we forget this used to be dirt and grass,” Johnson said standing on on turf field. “And we didn’t have the cool building and we only had one batting cage, all the stuff we’ve been able to do since we’ve been here. The other side is just understanding true belief and understanding what guys can do.”
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