Thank Goodness for My Grandfather

"Italy! #4" by angelocesare is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

Reflection

Daniel Nardini ponders what his Italian émigré grandfather might have thought of the recent turn of events in his native land.

As I look over the family photo album, I see my grandfather Dominick Nardini in his U.S. Army uniform. He had volunteered for the U.S. military, and he so much wanted to serve his adopted country. He was in the armed forces for about two years before he was honorably discharged.

In 1920, he met my grandmother Maria and they were married. All of my grandfather's children were born and raised in Chicago, and eventually my grandfather retired from his dairy business in the 1950's. His children, in typical Italian fashion, took care of him until he passed away in 1973.

Despite all of the shortcomings of being a poor Italian immigrant in the United States, plus the dark times in America's history (the Great Depression and World War II), Dominick did amazingly well. His hard work and perseverance paid off, and he was able to afford a home and take care of both his wife and children. His children grew up, started their own families, and many of them started their own successful businesses.

Had my grandfather stayed in Italy, or gone back to Italy, it could have all gone very differently. He came to the United States in 1907. If he had stayed in Italy, he would have been drafted for the Royal Italian Army in 1915 during World War I.

The odds were very high he would have been killed within the first year, and he would never have started a family. This was very common for the average Italian soldier on the front line against both the Austrian-Hungarian and German forces.

Even though he had enlisted in the U.S. Army, he had enlisted late during the war and hence was never sent to Europe to fight. His odds of dying in Italy were therefore far greater than fighting for America.

My grandfather once told me he had considered going back to Italy after he got married. Fortunately, he did not. In 1922, Benito Mussolini and his Fascist Party had risen to power. If my grandfather was there, he probably would not have been allowed to leave. 

Worse, his sons might have been forced to fight for the Royal Italian armed forces during World War II, where the probability of them being killed was much higher than if they were in the U.S. armed forces. One of his sons, my uncle Dan (whom I am named after), was conscripted into the U.S. Army and fought in, of all places, Italy. He survived the war and returned a war hero.

I could not even imagine my grandfather and grandmother living under fascism, and they might not have survived it. If they had somehow survived it, they might not have survived the ravages of the war in Italy.

As it was, my grandfather had made the wise decision of staying in the United States during the whole time. Throughout the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's he never saw his family in Italy. He kept in touch with his family by mail, but that was all he could do. It was not until the 1950's that he was able to go back to Italy to see what had happened. By then my grandfather had become a U.S. citizen, and he was able to enjoy his golden years as a middle class American.

He heard of all the horrible things that had happened to his friends and family under fascism: People being investigated, two of his sister's sons being forced to fight in the Royal Italian Army (they also managed to survive the war), and worse — neighbors and old friends disappeared by the Fascist secret police. Italy had been a police state with no freedom and no civil rights.

My grandfather was happy he had stayed in the United States, and he had hoped that the Italian people had learned their lesson about the horrors of fascism. Today, I am happy my grandfather has long since departed from this world. I think he would have been horrified that a plurality of Italians voted for neo-fascists this past election. Terrifyingly, it seems the neo-fascists are coming back to power 100 years after Benito Mussolini seized control.

Might Italy become an authoritarian state like Hungary, or worse, Russia? I shudder to think. Of this I am sure: My grandfather would be spinning in his grave right now.

Fortunately, he is buried in America.

Daniel Nardini spent 22 years as a newspaper correspondent for Lawndale News and The Fulton Journal. You can read more of his family history in his book My Italian American Family, Rural Taiwan, and Lawndale News Memoirs.

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