Introduce Yourself

[adamoc]

Hi,

My name is Adam. I've been lurking for years and finally joined. My grandfather served in North Africa in WW2, fought for the Italians as a King's soldier. He was captured by the English and the transferred to the Americans, being sent back to the US to a number of POW camps before settling in at Camp Ono (San Bernardino), where he joined an Italian Service Unit.

He fought it most of the major north African battles; Tobruk, Tunisi, El Alamein, Mersa Matruh. He's still alive (87) and is vague on unit numbers and what have you, but still remembers everything.

I speak Italian, and am a filmmaker. I am currently filming a documentary on his wartime experiences for submission to various film festivals. I just finished wrapping about four hours of footage interviewing him, and have purchased some extremely rare (and very expensive) period footage from 1942 to intercut with while he tells his story.

Good to be here,

Adam C

[david]

Welcome aboard.

I'm sure you will have much to contribute, and I hopr that you have found this little forum & it's community useful already.

David.

[quillin]

Welcom to the forum Adam.

[jwsleser]

Adam

Glad to see you here at the forum. I am sure many here would like to hear of some of your Gfather's stories.

RE: Your film project. You might look to see if the Luce footage can be used. A lot of this is turning up in the internet.

Again welcome to CS.

Jeff

[adamoc]

Hi JWsleser,

Thanks alot for the welcome. What is the Luce footage? I did recently get a bunch of old 1942 footage that will be in the documentary, but I'm real concerned that it was so skewed towards the english / american side as to almost be propaganda. There's some good stuff in there, though.

Love to hear more about this other stuff. Most everything from that time period is now public domain; it's creators are either dead, wanted, or too old to care and renew copyright.

It's just difficult to obtain the footage digitally since it's still relatively expensive to telecine (make it digital) and unless someone has a paying audience, no one likes to do it.

I obtained 62 mins. of north africa footage (behind british / american lines) for about $520. And that was standard def!!!

Best,

Adam

[Lupo Solitario]

I hope you'll find a way to make us see it when finished!

[adamoc]

Oh, for sure. It's primary function is for film festival submission. I am a filmmaker, but not usually documentaries. This one isn't for money, it's a personal thing because I'm so proud of my grandpa and glad he is still alive to tell his story.

My intent right now is to not have to charge anything for the documentary, but if my costs keep rising I may have to charge something on the order of $5 for it or something nominal. I'm hoping to not have to charge you guys as I think everyone here would love to see it.

It's an interesting story because he was nothing but a soldier, the lowest unit of battle, and has much to tell about his lousy commanding officers, poor conditions, poor equipment, and lack of food.

Best,


Adam

[jwsleser]

Adam

I was at a reenacting event this weekend, so I am just now checking my messages and forums.

Giornale LUCE were the Italian newreels that served as a propaganda tool for the facist government. The famous Mussolini speech films are generally LUCE footage. These newsreels cover quite a wide range of material. You can see many of these newsreels on Youtube.

I can't answer whether this footage is available digitally. But it is full of period footage and one can likely find some coverage of any aspect of the Italian military.

Jeff

[Lanciere]

Hello, as many others, I introduce myself. Sorry for this belated post but I have just discovered this "Introduction" thread.

Well, I am Italian, 41 years old, single but dating, I am from a small town in Tuscany but I live and work in Rome almost since ever.

I am a professional aeronautical engineer, I have always been interested in technology, aircrafts (of course...), and I have inherited from my father a deep interest in history, either ancient and modern.

I found this site a couple years ago, I found it interesting and well researched, and since then I've lurked on it. When I found the discussion forums, I followed it for some time, and I decided to join.

My nickname - Lanciere - is because I served in the Cavalry during my military service.

Thank you all for the interesting debates and for the lots of informations I've found here - My best regards to all, Luciano.

[Barbarigo]

Benvenuto Luciano!

Paolino

[Lanciere]

Grazie, Paolino.

Buon Natale - Merry Christmas to you and all the mebers of the forum.

[R. Evans]

Hello everybody,

My name is Bob and I'm very new to learning about the Italian Army in WW2 and Italy in general. I was referred to this site by a friend from another site and I've been doing some reading and found this place to be very informative. I hope to learn alot about Italy in WW2 just from picking some brains here. I have a very big interest about the 8th Italian Army in Russia and if there are some threads or topics here that would point me in the right direction, I would be most grateful. I don't want to start off posting something that's already been debated to death.

A little about me, ex-high school football coach, homebrewer of beer and I have an avid interest in all history with an emphasis on WW2, American Civil War and Samurai Japan.

Sorry if I got long-winded and hope to learn alot here.

Thanks,

Bob

[david]

Welcome aboard Bob.

The search facilty should help with your initial enquiries. You may be able to breathe some life into a few old threads!

Best wishes,

David.

[Barbarigo]

Welcome Bob!

Paolino

[quillin]

Luciano and Bob, welcom to the forum. i hope you have a great time here.