Photo by Nick Parrino
Retrieved from the Library of Congress
An estimated 1.5 million Italian Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II, even as their ancestral homeland was at war with the United States.
On December 8, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt invoked the Alien Enemies Act, placing 600,000 Italian Americans under restriction nationwide, including those with sons serving overseas and Gold Star parents. On the West Coast, families endured curfews, surveillance, and home searches. More than 1,880 men were arrested, and hundreds were interned in camps for years.
In February 1942, about 10,000 Italian Americans in California alone were ordered to evacuate their homes for living too close to coastal or government-protected areas. In San Francisco, "alien enemies" were barred from entering a 14-block zone near Fisherman's Wharf, including the father of a serviceman killed at Pearl Harbor.
In Santa Cruz, Navy sailor Steve Ghio returned home on leave to find his neighborhood boarded up and his family gone. Still in uniform, he rushed to the police station, where he learned his parents and relatives had been forced to relocate miles away.
While their families faced stigma and displacement, more than 39,000 U.S. residents born in Italy, including 8,913 non-naturalized men, served in the U.S. Army alone during the conflict. Nearly all American men aged 21 and older, and later 18 and older, were required to register for the draft regardless of citizenship status.
The service did not guarantee citizenship, although it could fast-track the process. The Immigration and Naturalization Service oversaw the process, which required filing a petition for naturalization and taking an oath of allegiance.
"Italians, of course, always treated me well because I spoke the language, and I could sympathize with them," said Cpl. Alfredo J. Bernacchi, automatic rifle gunner in the 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th ID, who was captured as a prisoner of war in May 1944. Photo from Alfredo J. Bernacchi Collection, retrieved from the Library of Congress.
In total, Italian Americans, both citizens and non-citizens, comprised 10% of the total number of individuals who served during World War II. In Beneath the Sicilian Stars, I portray a Sicilian American family with a son in the U.S. Navy. Through Mario's story, we see the sacrifices Italian-born American residents made alongside the hardships their patriotic parents suffered as "enemies within" in a nation they proudly called home.
Today, we recognize all Americans, regardless of citizenship, for their service and honor what their families also endured.
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