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Conspicuous by its absence was the Italian American wartime experience—it apparently was not even worthy of passing reference. This is not necessarily to infer a deliberate choice of omission, but rather a mindset and a reality that probably reflects a prevailing view—if that be the case, it is indeed disturbing.3
Until the recent generation, evasion and even avoidance can be used as adjectives that largely characterized Italian Americans participation. In his 1995 instructive article focusing on World War II, the late George Pozzetta, made a pertinent observation. “Most studies of America during World War II either ignore white ethnic groups altogether or approach their inquiries from limited perspectives … few studies have looked within white ethnic groups to determine precisely how individuals responded to war condition and, equally important, how they influenced the larger society by their actions.”4 Writing from the viewpoint of surveying Italian American literary output, in 2002 Bill Tonelli echoed the sentiments of many regarding ethnic group evasion of the issue, when he wrote, “Scholars have yet to explore how deeply World War II drove Italian culture into hiding.”5
In this endeavor, I hope to share my memories and feelings, as far as I can recall them, amply aided by contemporaries, especially my sister Madeline Sutera and brother Joseph LaGumina, whose collective memories help enlighten and inform about the impact of the war at that time. More than nostalgia, I am striving to interweave personal recollection and objective history, that is, to attempt to dovetail what was taking place on the home front on my block in Ridgewood/Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York with the wider ethnic community and with the mainstream society. My understanding of that earlier period has been reinforced by my professional career as a historian, and by research and study in the years since the war, always attuned to the particular role Italian Americans played in that tumultuous period and the effect it had upon them. In this regard, I have been fortunate to make the acquaintance of many individuals whose wartime experience further embellishes the record.