L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D e a r R e a d e r s , as Valentine Day a p p r o a c h e s , I thought about the 1940s, when cupid's arrows easily bit their marks across the dining room tables and, f o r h u n d r e d s o f I t a l i a n American gals, "war grooms" became the "silver lining" to the clouds of war that hung over "homefront." I n h i s b o o k I t a l i a n P r i s o n e r s o f W a r i n A m e r i c a 1 9 4 2 - 1 9 4 6 , a u t h o r L o u i s E . K e e f e r records the history of the 15,000 Italian prisoners of w a r c a p t u r e d i n N o r t h America during the fighting in the desert and shipped to the United States as POWs. After Italy surrendered to the Allies and declared war on Germany the POWs worked with the Army as "coopera- tors" in Service Unites, ser- ving Army posts throughout the United States. The 15,000 cooperators remained until their release in 1946. The text itself is based on interviews w i t h f o r m e r P O W s , t h e i r families, and US military per- s o n n e l w h o w o r k e d w i t h them. *** Signor A. A.'s American fiancée, came to Italy in 1947 and for a honeymoon spent six weeks visiting relatives. Although he did not have to wait on a quota to return to the US, it was necessary for the couple to go to the US Embassy in Genoa about ten times to sign all the necessary papers. Signor E.F. recalled that when he returned to Italy in 1945 conditions were bad, food and clothing scarce and work impossible for him to find. The only bright spot in h i s l i f e w e r e t h e h a p p y memories of friends he had made in Providence, RI, and a very charming family who had been most hospitable to him and his buddies. He had fallen in love with one of their daughters and she with him, for in 1947, she went to Italy w h e r e t h e y m a r r i e d a n d seven months later returned to America. Signor M.C. 's future wife went to Italy in 1946, and thanks to the fact that he had grown up in San Giovanni Rotondo, at his request they were married by Padre Pio. Signor A.M. met his future wife in Seattle, when he was with an I.S.U. unit. He tried to get a visa at the American Consular Office in Naples, but was unsuccessful, so his future wife came to Italy. She was the first American girl ever to visit his hometown of Taurasi (near Naples) and the whole town was standing in front of the place where she was staying to welcome h e r . T h e y m a r r i e d i n S t . Marciano Church in 1946 and even the Mayor atten- ded. Signor A.M.'s wife-to-be left New York to join him on May 2, 1947 on the Marine Shark, unofficially as "La barca d'amore," for aboard t h e b o a t w e r e o v e r 1 0 0 American women, all headed for different towns in Italy to join their ex-prisoner fiancés. *** Sal, a former POW, beca- me a successful restaurateur. He was active in music circles and as a POW had a group t h a t e n t e r t a i n e d a t U S O shows. I met him in San Jose, CA when he was an active m e m b e r o f t h e I t a l i a n American Heritage founda- tion, and often sang at their annual festa. Sal died in 1989, but the happy memories of Sal singing Italian songs lin- gers on. Even before the Tunisian campaign started, there were at least 250,000 Italian priso- ners scattered throughout England, Scotland, Egypt, S o u t h A f r i c a , I n d i a a n d Australia. The British asked the US to take some of these POWs o f f i t s h a n d s a n d t h e t w o nations agreed that all Axis prisoners captured in North Africa after the November 1942 Allied landing would be c o n s i d e r e d " A m e r i c a n owned." The US Army kept many Italian POWs in the war zone. As of September 1942, it held about 82,000 in North Africa and Sicily, but only 48,000 in the United States. Many of Advancing our Legacy: Italian Community Services CASA FUGAZI If you know of any senior of Italian descent in San Francisco needing assistance, please contact: ItalianCS.org | (415) 362-6423 | info@italiancs.com Italian Community Services continues to assist Bay Area Italian-American seniors and their families navigate and manage the resources needed to live healthy, independent and productive lives. Since Shelter-in-Place began in San Francisco, Italian Community Services has delivered over 240 meals, over 900 care packages and made over 2000 phone wellness checks for our seniors. the POWs retained in North Africa were eventually ship- ped across the Mediterranean t o s u p p o r t t h e U S t r o o p s invading Southern France in October 1944. About 15,000 Italian POWs were transfer- red to French authorities to be used as laborers in North Africa. In the book we read about Sal Davide POW and restau- rateur in progress. Sal who had sailed from Casablanca o n t h e M a r i p o s a ( a n American liner turned troo- pship) and landed in Boston in mid-1943, went first to Fort Leonard Wood, and then t o C a m p C a r p , M i s s o u r i where he worked in the kit- chen and was responsible for ordering all food supplies. *** I n s o m e c a m p s , P O W s entertained themselves by organizing Ad Hoc theater groups. "La Scaletta" (the diminutive of La Scala) sta- ged plays at Camp Crook, Nebraska. After Pearl Harbor, 5000 POWs were sent from camps in Arizona and Utah, to Oahu, Hawaii, where they worked digging foundations for a small hospital and loading crates on ships full of young American soldiers on the way to Iwo Jima. Italian POWs stayed in Hawaii until 1946. ITALIAN TELEVISION KSCI CANALE 18. Presentano: Maria Cristina Heller e Franco Brescia Teleitalia in onda tutte le Domeniche alle ore 13 o 1:00pm Siamo collegati con i satelliti DISHNET e DIRECTV, SPECTRUM E TUTTI I CAVI DEL SUD CALIFORNIA Per Informazioni e Pubblicita` telefonate a (818) 260-9318 Cell: (818) 288-2518

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