7 On Your Side solves a Memorial Day mystery

STATEN ISLAND, NY (WABC) -- When a Staten Island homeowner found the World War II veteran's tombstone in their backyard, it was up to 7 On Your Side to solve a Memorial Day mystery.

Imagine raking near your backyard patio and unearthing what you think is a grave. But then, one family's fear turned into tears of joy for another after we found them through Facebook in an effort to return the stone to its rightful place.

Yvonne Portalatin and her brother had recently moved into their Staten Island home. But while they were cleaning out the backyard, they found something under a piece of sod that gave them the shock of their lives.

Nina Pineda: "Were you scared?"

Portalatin: "Hell, yeah."

It was a tombstone for a World War II sergeant who died 30 years ago.

"I don't know why it's here, why they left it abandoned," Portalatin said. "This is something important, he's a sergeant."

We found the man whose name is on the tombstone, Thomas A. Raffa, originally came from Brooklyn. But in his later years, he lived on the South Shore of Staten Island in Heugenot. But how did his grave marker wind up in a north shore backyard?

We tracked down Camille Raffa, the sergeant's youngest daughter. She says her dad was a decorated veteran of the Air Corp and father of five.

"He was in Germany," daughter RoseAnn Raffa Foley said. "He was in the Battle of the Bulge."

Thomas Raffa is buried at the Cemetery of the Resurrection in Tottenville, about 15 miles south from where his tombstone was found. We found the VA actually made what's called a flush marker, but Raffa's wife had it replaced with an upright monument for both parents 30 years ago.

"We had no idea what happened to it," daughter Anna Oliva said. "I mean, it's a 150-pound stone. Who would move it?"

"When we had it replaced, I never gave it a second thought," Camille Raffa added.

The Raffas say they don't know anyone who used to live at the address where the graver marker was found.

But after we alerted the cemetery where Mr. Raffa was buried, the superintendent traveled up to Mariner's Harbor, removed it from the yard, cleaned it up and put it back in its rightful place to surprise the family.

"We are so grateful to 7 On Your Side," Camille said.

The Raffa daughters believe their late dad is behind the mystery.

"After 30 years, I think he was sending us the message," Camille said.

"That's the miracle of the whole thing," RoseAnn said. "The timing, Memorial Day, his birthday, Father's Day. It's just overwhelming."

Now all who pass his grave will know of his service. One more salute to one of the Greatest Generation.

This Father's Day, their dad would've turned 98. So how did the stone get to where it wound up? The cemetery's records reveal a monument company removed it in the 80s, but they've since gone out of business. So we may never know.