In your scans, you included the notification of the award in the Italian records. The citation reads:
The words in brackets are not in the original Italian, but I have added them to make the phrasing make better sense to the English reader. For our fluent Italian speaking members, below is the the original Italian text. If there is a better translation, please feel free to post it here.
I didn't include your nonno's name or the family info provided in the cite as I don't know whether you wish to to post it here.
Note he was a caporale maggiore, not a sergente. Caporali e caporale maggiore are not considered NCOs in the Regio Esercito. To be a sergente, one had to pass a reading and writing test. Do you know whether your nonno was literate?
Pista! Jeff
Thank you so much Jeff.
You have really cleared up some stuff for me....yes he was literate,and became a sargeant later on when he was in Russia with the CSIR.
I quite a few more documents l would like to send you,as l cant actually read the cursive writing which is in Italian.
He actaully said to me ,when he was alive,that as a Sargeant,he became the Platoon leader ,in Russia,as the Lieutenant, who was the original platoon leader,became sick or died,so he was tasked with taking over the Platoon.
Do you mind if l email the other docs to you.
And l dont mind if you publish his name on here...its an absolute honor,IMO.
You have realy helped me so much,as l have been looking for the answers to these questions for years and years.
He also told me many stories of his deployments/actions,which l thought were amazing....he was a tough old bloke.....but he was cryung as he told me.some.of them when his mates were killed.