Photo from May 1942 showing the officers from VMSB-241. DeLalio is the fifth man standing from the left.
During the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942, Captain DeLalio attacked the Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryū with his Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless dive bomber. He dove as low as 400 feet despite heavy enemy fire which damaged his plane before he released his bomb. His squadron leader, Lofton R. Henderson, was killed during this action.[3] DeLalio was able to return to his base despite inclement weather. Early the next day, DeLalio participated in a dive bombing attack on a Japanese heavy cruiser. For his actions during the battle, DeLalio was awarded the Navy Cross in November.[1][4]
On 8 August 1946, DeLalio became the first Marine to be certified as a helicopter pilot.[5] He was the 16th Naval aviator to become a certified helicopter pilot.[7]
On 5 January 1952, DeLalio test flew a Sikorsky HRS fitted with a rocket-assisted takeoff pod at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. The pod malfunctioned and the helicopter caught fire before it crashed from an altitude of 75 feet (23 m). Both DeLalio and a Navy pilot, Lieutenant Commander Edward A. Arnold, were killed.[5] DeLalio was survived by his wife and three children and was buried in Long Island National Cemetery.[2]
Posthumous honors
A road at Patuxent River was named for DeLalio.[8] In 1965, an elementary school at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, was named in his honor.[5] In 2018, a new elementary school was constructed and named for DeLalio, and the old school was subsequently demolished.[1]
