A local World War I veteran billed as an “Italian-American hero” will be honored with a new memorial after a vandalization over the summer. City Councilman David Salvatore used those words in describing Carlo Lafazia, a Providence native who served as private 1st class in the 16th Infantry Regiment.

Landing on French soil in 1917, Lafazia and his battalion fought the Germans occupying the Forest of Argonne on the Western Front. Just a month before the armistice, Lafazia was killed in battle on Oct. 11, 1918. The Lafazia Square Monument, a stone block chiseled in the fallen soldier’s honor, was placed on Admiral Street in 2017. Earlier this year, it was vandalized and knocked off its foundation.