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ON AMERICAN SOIL: ITALIANS
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On September 3, 1943, Italy surrendered. Because Italy remained occupied by German troops, Italian soldiers in America were still technically prisoners, but were allowed to swear allegiance to the Allies and join Italian Service Units. ISUs were organized like American military companies; Italians remained under guard but were paid for non-combat duties. Increasingly, they were allowed to mingle with the civilian population, including local girls, much to the consternation of several vocal white Americans.
On May 21, 1944, a company of Italian prisoners of war arrived in Seattle after a sixty-four hour train transport from a sprawling POW compound at Camp Florence, Arizona. The Italians were to be members of the twenty-eighth Italian Service Unit, assigned to quartermaster duties in and around Fort Lawton, in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood.
The ISU was housed in four barracks in a segregated area of the Fort, adjacent to the so-called "Colored Area," reserved for African-American soldiers.
Seven American soldiers were assigned to supervise the 28th ISU; their offices were in building 713, the Italian Orderly Room. An Italian captain had titular command of the approximately two hundred men in his company.
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AMERICAN SOLDIERS ASSIGNED TO THE 28TH ITALIAN SERVICE UNIT, FORT LAWTON
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Staff Sergeant FRED J. PERATA
28th Italian Service Unit | Interpreter
born August 25, 1916 San Francisco, California
inducted September 1941, San Francisco, California
“I think they were trying to kill me. Here I am, down on the floor—when I was hit in the head, I just, I was out. They came into that orderly door, and they just—I mean, I’m surprised I’m alive because down here, it just missed. Broke the second or third rib. And then they stabbed me in the back.”
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Sergeant EDWARD STANFORD HASKELL
28th Italian Service Unit | Supply Sergeant
born October 26, 1919, San Francisco, California
inducted 1942, San Francisco, California
died December 15, 2006, San Francisco, California
“Our intention was to keep [the Italians] away from the American troops, except for where they were working; they worked together, and wherever they worked, they got along fine. But, socially, it didn’t work out, and we knew that.”
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Sergeant GRANT NOEL FARR
28th Italian Service Unit | Company Clerk
born December 25, 1919, Utah
died May 1985, State College, Pennsylvania
“The faces of the men I saw in the doorways and in the room were faces that were distorted, bloodshot eyes, lips drawn back over their teeth, and a general appearance of frenzy and hate … the nostrils were dilated.”
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Private First Class HAROLD MASON GOULD
28th Italian Service Unit | Interpreter
born September 14, 1919, Woodhaven, New York
inducted 1943, Fort Dix, New Jersey
“I was confronted with a large Negro who was standing in the middle of the road and who threw a rock at me, hitting me. I knew it wasn’t on the head. I told him I was an American. I was helpless at the time with a busted arm and he said, ‘Well, get the hell out of here.’”
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Captain FRANCIS W. BECKMAN
28th Italian Service Unit | Company Commander
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First Sergeant CHARLES R. CRAIG
28th Italian Service Unit | First Sergeant
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Private First Class ALBERT A. DiGIACOMO
28th Italian Service Unit | Interpreter
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PARTIAL LIST OF THE 28TH ITALIAN SERVICE UNIT, FORT LAWTON |
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Private GUGLIELMO OLIVOTTO
28th Italian Service Unit | Barracks 709
born September 23, 1911, Nervesa, Italy
died August 14, 1944, Seattle, Washington
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