Three Uniforms, One Flag

Raffaele Spinelli was born on December 15th 1898 in Sant'Agata d'Esaro, a small town tucked between the mountains of Calabria, Southern Italy. His father Filiberto was a wealthy businessman, who had worked years in North America before returning home and start a series of successful ventures. Filiberto earned enough money to support the studies of both his sons - Raffaele and Vincenzo. They first attended college in the regional capital, then University in the national capital - Rome!

Census and education meant that both brothers would get a commission in the Italian Army when World War One broke out. Vincenzo served in the Arditi (Assault Troops), Raffaele in the Alpini (Mountain troops) (Picture 1). Both were appointed Second Lieutenant; both were deployed in 1917, and both lasted few months before being badly wounded - although not badly enough for missing the final Battle of 1918 in Vittorio Veneto.

Given that both winners and losers ended up bankrupt, the two brothers emigrated to South America in the early 20s, where Raffaele pursued his career as a diplomat, a journalist, a teacher and a poet - the two latter occupations being his greatest joys, together with his family (Picture 2).

The outbreak of World War Two found Raffaele in Lima, Peru. In 1942 he and his family (wife Gina and son Italo - my father) endeavored a long trip across the Atlantic to reach Italy. My father did not rejoice at passing from a blessed life in South America to years of hunger in Rome under the Allied air raids. My grandmother allegedly cried upon landing in a gloomy Genoa, badly scarred by allied bombing. I still wonder whether Raffaele had a choice - I always knew him as a passionate but very sensible man ".

Be that as it may, Raffaele did join the Army and was sent to Sicily in 1943 (Picture 3). His age was past the prime for that time, but he was a decorated veteran and the Army thought he may provide good service with weapons training - the more so since Italian weaponry had not changed much since World War One. Therefore, Raffaele found himself assigned to the Depot of the 76th Infantry Battalion, tasked with troop training and mail censorship, so that he would redact soldiers' letters in the lull between training camps", an ideal job for a literature teacher!

The Allied Landings of 9-10 July 1943 found him in Agrigento. He was immediately redeployed along the resistance line between the Gas Tower and the Slaughterhouse, right by the railway track. His C.O. was Capt. Calogero Borrello. Raffaele was manning an artillery O.P. to direct fire against the Allied beachhead and shipping. His unit resisted the whole week, under unceasing air raids and naval bombardment. Almost all positions were hit. My father reports that while Raffaele was directing fire from the second floor of a building in Agrigento, the position was hit by allied artillery and Raffaele found himself with the whole post on the ground floor, miraculously unscathed. On the evening of July 16th, after a week of fighting, command sent out the order of surrendered to the defenders of Agrigento, now encircled by US troops. The next morning, Raffaele marched his men to Camp Borrello, where they surrendered to the Americans. Knowing that valuables would be collected together with weapons, Raffaele tied his wristwatch to his ankle to escape confiscation. We still own that watch.

What followed was a long wandering across North Africa, from one POW camp to another: Bizerte, Ouled-Ramun, Chanzy, Saint Denis, Sainte Barbe du Tlelat and Oran. He was finally settled in Chanzy, not far from Rabat - French Morocco. That was a US-run camp, offering relatively good living conditions. Like many other POWs, Raffaele hoarded G.I. toilet paper to write a diary, which he bound in a camo cloth cover and handed down to his grandsons, together with a section of Chanzy's perimetral barbed wire (Pictures 4 and 5), collected as a souvenir upon leaving, because in 1944 Raffaele volunteered again and joined the co-belligerent Italian Army. After Italy switched sides in September 1943, Italian POWs were offered to join the co-belligerent forces, supporting the Allies in the Italian and NWE theatres. Raffaele joined, receiving first a British a uniform, then a US Army uniform (Picture 6). We still have a list with each single dressing and toiletry item (including shoelaces, comb etc.) delivered to him, together with prices (Pictures 7 and 8). On their new US uniforms the Italian volunteers proudly displayed the Italian Corps badge, a tin boot sewn on their shoulders (Picture 9). He diligently endeavoured to study English, which he learned in record time (Picture 10).

On December 17th 1944 Raffaele was assigned to the 7049th Motor Service Co., 2496th Technical Supervisory Rgt. He was posted in Livorno and tasked with fleet services and repair, with the 7299th Ordinance Auto Maintenance and Repair Co. He served with the unit until May 8th, 1945 - VE Day. He was then released from the US Army on June 30th, 1945 and returned to the Italian Army in July, after facing the ritual interrogations: one by the allied committee tasked with ascertaining individual responsibilities under the Fascist Government, the other by the Army Committee tasked with examining all POWs actions leading to their capture and afterwards (Picture 11). Both committees found his behaviour had been irreprehensible: he was accepted back into the Royal Army and assigned to the 545th Artillery Btg. However, age was catching up and he was released from the Army that same summer, returning home to his wife and son.

He went back to teaching, this time at the renowned Margherita di Savoia Teacher's College in Rome. He got his poems published and they were widely read and appreciated among the poetry clubs of the time (Picture 12). He lived to the age of 90, together with his wife - both free and self-sufficient to the last day. Since I can recall and until the age of 13, I spent all my afternoons and evenings with them in their house on Via Nomentana in Rome. If I became an A+ student, it was not through my merits, but by having two professional teachers following up on me and my homework every day. My grandfather never ever talked about his experience in the two wars. He never said anything unbecoming against the Americans, Austrians, British, Germans or any other nation he had fought against. In his house there was a permanent ban on weapons and on any knife with a blade longer than 6 inches.