Ohioan’s GI dog tag from World War II found outside Rome

Associated Press

CUYAHOGA FALLS

Two Italian gardeners were working in their backyard this spring when something caught their eye.

The shiny item coming up through dirt near Rome turned out to be the dog tag for an American soldier from World War II. It belonged to Army Sgt. Mike Baranek, an Akron South High School graduate who died at age 64 in 1980, when he was living in Cuyahoga Falls.

Baranek, an Ohio Edison retiree, took part in several battles in Europe with the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He fought in Italy and was wounded twice.

The dog tag is back in Cuyahoga Falls with his widow, Nellie Baranek, 95, sent to her by the Italian gardeners Olga Romagnolo and her friend, known only as Simone.

Its next journey will take it to another battlefield of sorts.

The dog tag will be sent to Canada, where the veteran’s granddaughter, Tammy Mahoney, 41, will clasp it as she receives chemotherapy and radiation treatment for breast cancer in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

“I was very close to him,” said Mahoney, a Stow-Munroe Falls High School graduate and mother of three children. “By having this near me, hopefully it will get me through this.”

The Baranek family learned the dog tag had been found a few days before Mahoney officially was diagnosed with cancer, she said.

Barbara Lane of Munroe Falls, Baranek’s daughter, said her own daughter believes that finding the dog tag is a divine sign.

“Here I am. I am watching over you,” is Mahoney’s interpretation of the discovery of the dog tag, Lane said.

Baranek’s son, also named Mike and himself an Army veteran, said his father rarely spoke of his military experiences. Records show his father received a Purple Heart, Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze Stars and other medals for his service from about 1942 to 1944 with the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion.

Posted on the website of the 509th Parachute Infantry Association, www.509thgeronimo.org, is an example of Baranek’s heroism.

“Sgt. Baranek, a communications sergeant, volunteered to accompany an officer and another enlisted man in the perilous task of clearing enemy land mines and booby traps from the route of advance,” the description reads.

Coming upon heavy machine-gun fire on Mount Croce, they assaulted an enemy crew, then made a second attack. After the officer had “become a casualty,” the report said, Baranek and the other enlisted man captured and killed a gun crew and riflemen.