MONTEVALLO – More than 82 years after he was lost in combat over the Adriatic region during World War II, Staff Sgt. Nick Gavalas has finally returned to his home state.
Gavalas, a Birmingham native and member of the United States Army Air Forces, was laid to rest with full military honors at the Alabama National Cemetery on Oct. 23, following a lengthy effort to recover and identify his remains.
He was just 20 years old when the B-24 Liberator bomber he was aboard went down near the Italian coast on Jan. 30, 1944. Of the 10 crew members aboard the aircraft, only one survived…