LONG-LOST BROTHERS IN ARMS WWII VETERANS ARE REUNITED 61 YEARS LATER.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

BURBANK- World War II veteran Marion Naples sat with a photo from his Army days tucked into his shirt pocket, looking at the friend who had given it to him as they talked about their time fighting in the same company.

It was a conversation 61 years in the making.

Although Naples had lived just miles from Joe Roberts for years, the two never realized they lived so close until their chance meeting at a hospital. It was a sharp nursing assistant at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center who finally helped bring them together Wednesday.

``We were in a 20-mile radius, we were living right here (but) we didn't know we were here,'' said Roberts of Burbank.

In World War II, Roberts and Naples, a Los Feliz resident, fought against the Japanese on Attu in the Aleutian Islands, then in the Marshall Islands and in an assault on Leyte in the Philippines.

The two were reunited at the hospital, where Naples has been a patient since June 5 for an operation on his spine. Roberts' wife, Louise, is also a patient.

Nursing assistant Cristina Hilliker had been talking with both patients, and through several conversations realized there might be a connection between the men. She brought them together.

``They almost embraced and then they shed tears,'' Hilliker said. ``I was really touched.''

On Wednesday, the two shared pictures of their war years. Roberts, 85, brought a photo album with pictures of soldiers relaxing during training in the California desert or during downtime in the Pacific.

In one picture, soldiers hold a captured Japanese flag; in another photo Roberts poses with a cigar next to a man he said was later killed in Okinawa.

Naples, 88, had heard that Roberts' leg had been amputated during the war, but he had not seen him since. And he had lost track of other soldiers.

``He kept in contact with all these guys, so I would never know what happened to these guys if he didn't tell me,'' Naples said.

The two men joined the Army the same day in San Pedro, on Jan. 30, 1941. They trained in the desert and expected to be shipped to Africa, but instead both were sent to the freezing battle of Attu.

``On Attu it was really rough. I mean we were in the snow in 100-mile winds and the fog; we couldn't see 10 feet in front of us,'' Roberts said.

After World War II, Naples rejoined the Army and fought in Korea, then went on to work for The Walt Disney Co. making props and other materials. Roberts became an optician, an occupation he still works at with help from his son.

The two veterans, who were in the 7th Division, 32nd Infantry, remembered playing pingpong against each other.

``I used to hang around YMCA when I was a kid, so I was really good indoors,'' Naples said. ``But (Roberts) was an outdoor man.''

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2) Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center nursing assistant Cristina Hilliker helped reunite World War II veterans Marion Naples, left, and Joe Roberts, who fought together 61 years ago. At right, old pictures show Roberts training in Hawaii, left, and Naples on duty in the Philippines.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer