A missing notice from the New Haven Evening Register October 20, 1944, about a month after Edmund's disappearance, can be found below. This is followed by two articles, one in English from the New Haven Register and one in Italian possibly from Il Corriere (translated by George below), reporting the presumptive death of Edmund. Lastly, a card of thanks printed in the New Haven Register for condolences sent to the family.
I have many documents pertaining to Edmund, some kept for years by Armand and some found on the internet by John & Bob, which I will share in the upcoming weeks. Click on "comments" above to add your thoughts and/or memories.
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Sean's been at it again!
He's done another wonderful map of Mindo's travels, using a the list of Italian cities Armand jotted down in his notebook. This time we follow him from North Africa to Italy. We see his route on the Duchess of Bedford, his landing in Paestum, and his journey from there all the way to Anzio. Click on the map to see a detailed list of his stops. As you can see from Armand's notes below, the last stop during his time in Italy was at a place called "Campo Morto". Death camp. Does anyone have memories of Armand speaking about this? Dad? John? Also, you'll see on the map and in his notes that he visited Piedimonte D'Alife. Does anyone remember if he connected with family there? Click on "comments" above to add your thoughts and/or memories! In one of Armand's small notebooks I found this little note. It lists the ship he boarded to get from Oran in Algeria to Italy in September of 1943. Sean did some digging and not only found a picture of the ship, but also a detailed log of Cpl. Raymond G. Fisher, who happened to be on the same exact voyage as Armand! I found these entries to be so fascinating. We now have an idea what that voyage was like for Armand and the other men on their way to fight in Italy. Please find a link to this log by clicking here. Click on "comments" above to add your thoughts and/or memories! DUCHESS OF BEDFORD / EMPRESS OF FRANCE 1928 She was built by John Brown & Co Ltd, Glasgow in 1928 for Canadian Pacific SS Ltd. She was a 20,123 gross ton ship, length 601ft x beam 75.2ft, two funnels, two masts, twin screw and a speed of 18 knots. There was passenger accommodation for 580-cabin, 480-tourist and 510-3rd class. The Duchess of Bedford, called "the most bombed ship still afloat", was a very lucky ship. During World War II, she sank a U-boat, damaged another, was shot at and bombed on a number of occassions, and once struck an iceberg without sustaining damage. It's possible that these religious cards are just that, tiny sweet little devotions. But since they have survived all these years amongst the treasured photographs and documents that Armand kept close to him, I tend to think that at one time they might have had special significance.
These small cards (about the height of my thumb) which were printed in Italy, may have been mass remembrance cards or simply mementos from a church or gift shop. Whatever their story, I thought it might be nice for you all to see them. Please let me know if they spark a memory for you! Click on "comments" above to add your thoughts and/or memories! The SNET Building as it stands today in New Haven. This was where many of the Santomasso women worked through the years, but it seems that none had a career as long and as dedicated at SNET as Rose. Today, it seems that if you are at one job for 5 years it is considered a "long time". The plaque below, celebrating Rose's 48 years and 2 months of service was well deserved. Please feel free to share your memories of Rose, and memories you may have if you worked at SNET. Thanks Idie for the snapshots and the plaque!
Click on "comments" above to add your thoughts and/or memories! Ida recently shared some great photos with me; the house on Shelter Street and the MLS card for the house from 1973. She also shared some remembrances of the family's time there! Find her memories below, and feel free to add your own in the comments section.
"The last occupants of the house at the time where my father, and maybe Rosellen, on the first floor where my family grew up (from c.1949-1973.) Joe and I lived on the second floor after we were married in 1970, replacing the former occupants, Roberta & Archie after they were married in 1962. Both Paula (1963) and Dawn (1966) were born there, and lived there until 1970. Previous second floor occupants were Armand, Carmel, John, and your father (Bob). Aunt Rose lived on the third floor, she moved up there after her mother died, and the Scali family of seven moved in! I was about six months old at the time. I believe Aunt Rose lived on the first floor with all of us until the third floor was redone. My brothers, Vinny and George, respectively got to live on the third floor in her second bedroom, quite the deluxe accommodations, having your own private bedroom! Joey never made it up to that status. He was stuck on the first floor and never got the upgrade!" --Ida Just one of several postcards Armand collected in his travels. I bet some of us have been to this very site, the bakery in the ancient city of Pompeii. It's possible that we have walked the same ground so many miles away from home, or if you look at it another way - so close to "home". It's only about an hour away from Piedimonte D'Alife!
Click on "comments" above to add your thoughts and/or memories! Armand was born at 123 Greene Street in New Haven. I am assuming this was a home birth. Does anyone know something about the Greene Street house? Who else was born there? I tried to find the exact location on google maps to no avail, so perhaps it's been demolished...
Click on "comments" above to add your thoughts and/or memories!
When Trish showed me Armand's notebook with the list of places he had travelled in Northern Africa during WWII, I thought, "Wouldn't this be cool to see on a map?" I envisioned some fancy animation a la Indiana Jones with a dotted line connecting these foreign towns as we saw a snapshot of what life was like in each of these places. Since my animation skills are not up to Spielbergian standards, I decided to consult Google Maps and make a rough visual of his journey. It turned out to be a bit tougher than I anticipated. In the process, I learned a bit about the recent history of Northern Africa, in particular the French occupation until the 1950s-1960s. The reason this was important to me is that some of the French place names that Armand had written down no longer exist, and are instead called by their true and reclaimed local names.
Through a series of extensive googling, consulting old maps of the region, and some fun work with GPS coordinates, I've developed a rough sketch of Armand's journey through North Africa. You can explore the interactive Google Map, or just take a glimpse at the screen captures of the day-by-day travels of the 16th Armored engineers battalion, 1st Armored Division across Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco from May 23 to June 1, 1943. I plan to delve deeper into this project at a later date, but in honor of Armand's birthday, enjoy a taste of North Africa from a close relative's perspective. Ida shared this wonderful bit of family lore with me a couple of weeks ago. In Giovanni's obituary, he is listed as being "President of the Columbus Committee", which makes this story below very likely true! Hopefully someday we will track down an article to prove it. But even if we never find "proof", there is truth in the words of the great actress Sarah Bernhardt; "Legend remains victorious in spite of history". Also, here is a monument page for the statue if you are interested. Click on "comments" above to add your thoughts and/or memories! COLUMBUS STATUE
Family lore has it that our grandfather (Giovanni) placed the globe of the world in his left hand at the re-dedication of the memorial (year?) after it was reportedly stolen from his hand! Your grandfather (Armand) told me this story and I in turn told it to the second grade teacher at St.Thomas's Day School in New Haven where I taught. Part of the Social Studies curriculum included the founding of our country and the history of New Haven. Every year she would take the class on many field trips around and about New Haven. When they got to the famous Chris statue she would include in the story that Mrs. Ginnetti's grandfather placed the "world" in his hand. Hundreds of second graders were very impressed by this. I have tried over the years to verify the story as fact, however have come up cold! Needless to say, the Santomasso Family lore story has been passed on and told and retold many, many times! |