Austin-area WWII veteran finally gets grave marker

AUSTIN, Texas - The final resting place for a Central Texas soldier is finally complete.

Frank S. Alvarado grew up in the Bastrop area, and he died in battle in Italy on December 4, 1943. Now 81 years later, to the day, his family made sure he wouldn't be forgotten.

A small ceremony was held at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery for family and supporters to place Alvarado's headstone on his grave, which has been unmarked since 1949. For the family, it means everything.

"It's been a long process to prove who he was and what he did," said Alvarado's grand-nephew Richard Cannon Jr. "He stood up for all of us and we wanted this as a special day and that brought us here... And he's gonna rest better knowing his family knows where he is and we will appreciate that."

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In a sense, Alvarado was lost twice, first in combat, then here in Central Texas, his niece's husband explained.

"The first time we came over here three years ago there wasn't a marker, nothing," Jerry Coke said. "The cemetery had to tell us where the plot was because we couldn't find it."

His grave had been left unmarked due to confusion on the part of the military and destroyed records. So his niece Christina Coke labored, looking for personnel records that didn't exist anymore, tracking down others connected to his unit through Facebook, and then pushing through the government bureaucracy to ultimately bring an official headstone to Staff Sgt. Alvarado.

"We're happy that we accomplished this to honor him and he be recognized," Christina said.

Frank was part of the early special forces in the US Army, the first special service force. His odyssey, starting in Central Texas, to training in Montana, to falling in battle on a mountain in Italy, to his final resting place is now complete.

"So we can have a place to come and know he will be taken care of with the rest of the people here, not just walked over and no stone. Now he has a stone to mark he is there," said Cannon.

Also part of the remembrance was an honor flag line by the patriot guard riders, and a certificate of appreciation from the president.