Ritchie Boys Wiki

Sabbadini, Alessandro (32626304): Difference between revisions

← Older edit
VisualWikitext
Add audited Dan Gross timeline enrichment
Normalize place format (birth_place: Rome -> Rome, Italy)
 
(6 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 14: Line 14:
|photo=1459807742850148.jpg
|photo=1459807742850148.jpg
|caption=Portrait of Sgt. Alex Sabbadini, 1944.
|caption=Portrait of Sgt. Alex Sabbadini, 1944.
|birth_place=Rome
|birth_place=Rome, Italy
|rank_final=Technician Third Grade
|rank_final=Technician Third Grade
}}
}}
Line 23: Line 23:


== Biography ==
== Biography ==
Alessandro (Alex) Sabbadini was born in Rome to a Jewish family in 1916 and lived 18 years under Mussolini before emigrating to the United States at age 23. On 13 June 1943, he Naturalized as an American citizen while in Algeria by INS Director Henry. Unconscious, shrapnel wound; returned to duty 11 August 1943. Graduate of Special Class (SC) No. Career as professional fine arts appraiser and auctioneer in California. Worked as manager in factory producing smoking pipes. After three years in the U.S. he became one of the first Ritchie Boys and was among the few Italian-born Jews to fight with the Allies in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. He graduated from Camp Ritchie in late 1942, received battlefield citizenship in North Africa before the invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943, and earned the Purple Heart for wounds in the Sicilian campaign. After Sicily and Salerno, he landed at Anzio (Operation SHINGLE, 22 January 1944) near the Sabbadini villa where he had spent summers as a youth, serving with the U.S. Fifth Army. A Fifth Army authority dated 28 August 1943 identifies him as a technician third grade in the Advance Document Section, attached to the G-2 section, and authorizes him to move with the section's vehicle.
Sabbadini was born in Rome to a Jewish family in 1916 and escaped Fascist Italy on the eve of WWII, only to join the fight with the U.S. 5th Army a few years later. He unconscious, shrapnel wound; returned to duty 11 August 1943. Alessandro graduated from Special Class (SC) No. He worked as a career as professional fine arts appraiser and auctioneer in California. He worked as manager in factory producing smoking pipes. After three years in the U.S., Sabbadini became one of the first Ritchie Boys and was one of the very few Italian-born Jews to fight with the Allies in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. Sabbadini graduated from Camp Ritchie in late 1942 and served in combat, initially as an enemy alien until he received battlefield citizenship in North Africa prior to the invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943. After Sicily and Salerno, Sabbadini’s third amphibious landing was at the Anzio beachhead (Operation SHINGLE on January 22, 1944), where he arrived on the beach just two hundred yards from the Sabbadini villa where he spent the first 23 summers of his life. There was no trace of the Sabbadini family in the beach house, and only after four more months would he know that his family in Rome had been hiding, and that all were safe. In another episode near the end of the war, Sabbadini was assigned to a special unit ordered to capture Fascist leader Benito Mussolini. They missed Il Duce by mere hours in late April 1945, but Sabbadini was able to sit at Mussolini’s undisturbed desk, examining the late Italian dictator’s military and personal documents, including those that led to Sabbadini's expulsion from Italy 7 years earlier.
 
On 13 June 1943, Sabbadini worked as a naturalized as an American citizen while in Algeria by INS Director Henry.


== Research notes ==
== Research notes ==
Line 72: Line 74:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed soldier-timeline">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed soldier-timeline">
<div class="soldier-timeline-body">
<div class="soldier-timeline-body">
* 11 November 1942 Joined Army in NYC as Pvt (ASN 32626304). Assigned to Camp Upton NY.
* Born 26 October 1916 in Rome, Italy.
* 10 July 1943 Landed near Licata, Sicily with 3rd Infantry Division (Operation Husky).
* 11 November 1942 — Joined Army in NYC as Pvt (ASN 32626304). Assigned to Camp Upton NY.
* 6 January 1943 — Promoted to SOS Cpl.
* 13 February 1943 — Promoted to T/3. Ordered away. Assignment: I-29.
* 15 February 1943 — Shipped by air to Algeria (arr. 2/28) assigned to special G-2 Advanced Document Section.
* 13 June 1943 — Naturalized as an American citizen while in Algeria by INS Director Henry.
* 13 June 1943 — Naturalized as an American citizen while in Algeria by INS Director Henry.
* 15 February 1943 Shipped by air to Algeria (arr. 2/28) assigned to special G-2 Advanced Document Section.
* 10 July 1943 — Landed near Licata, Sicily with 3rd Infantry Division (Operation Husky).
* 6 July 1945 — Assigned to OSS.
* Unconscious, shrapnel wound; returned to duty 11 August 1943.
* Unconscious, shrapnel wound; returned to duty 11 August 1943.
* 6 July 1945 Assigned to OSS.
* Assigned to IPW It Team 4 (included DeBondini and OIC Lt. Ciforelli).
* Assigned to IPW It Team 4 (included DeBondini and OIC Lt. Ciforelli).
* Served with IPW It Team 4 attached to AFHQ of the 5th Army in North Africa, Sicily, and Italian Campaigns (Anzio, Rome,..).
* Served with IPW It Team 4 attached to AFHQ of the 5th Army in North Africa, Sicily, and Italian Campaigns (Anzio, Rome,..).
</div>
</div>
</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>
</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>
Retrieved from "https://ritchieboys.org/wiki/Sabbadini,_Alessandro_(32626304)"