Mystery Soldier

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by hutt, Nov 13, 2019.

  1. hutt

    hutt Member

    In the collection of photos I have from my late father is a snapshot of a soldier in front of a tent with a a scribbled note saying Tobruk and on the rear an Italian sounding name along with a date of 17 08 43 and the place 104 General Hospital Phillipeville which is in Algeria. I now for certain that my father was there recovering from Bronchitis but the question is, who is the gentleman in the photo and if I can assume from the scribbled name, Antonio Ditodi? perhaps that he was Italian, how on earth did it get in my fathers possession Photo 26 front.jpg Photo 26 rear.jpg .

    Was he a prisoner of war perhaps and maybe they were able to mix with allied men while recovering?

    Any thoughts and whats the chance of him being more positively identified?

    PS. My father definitely didn't go anywhere near Tobruk.
     
    amberdog45 likes this.
  2. amberdog45

    amberdog45 Senior Member

    Try familysearch org or something like Ancestry. I see similar names in US & Canadian military records there. Just another angle to consider.
     
  3. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    Some Italian POWs were used as hospital orderlies. They appear to have been regarded as low escape risks and enjoyed a considerable degree of freedom and lack of guarding.

    As part of the negotiations that led to the armistice of September 1943 Eisenhower was offering to swap Italian POWs in Tunisia for Allied ones held in Italy
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2019
  4. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    There were also Italian Americans serving in that theatre and British forces would also use Italian speakers as interpreters
     

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