One of the least known perversions arising out of WWII was the wholesale round-up and internment from 1939 through 1945, of thousands upon thousands of Italian Aliens living in the U.S.A.

Our pal, Joseph Randazzo, Commander of Thomas Poldino, Chapter 185, recently brought this embarrassment to our attention, and made us wonder. Joe's father came to America in 1921 after having served in the Italian Navy during WW I. He became an American Citizen in 1926, but Joe recalls his mother being told by the mailman that FBI agents were in the neighborhood looking for Italian families who were receiving "fascist" literature in the mail.

Apparently, this was only the beginning. During the war more than 60,000 Italian-Americans were branded "enemy aliens" because of their immigrant status. An untold number were fingerprinted and ordered to carry identification cards. Many had their personnel property impounded and their travel restricted. On the West Coast, more than 10,000 Italian-Americans were forced to leave their homes and were banned from coastal areas. More that 50,000 were subjected to curfews.

Italian-born fishermen on both coasts had their boats seized and were banned from the coastline and wharves. One such immigrant was Giuseppe DiMaggio, who was tagged an enemy alien at the same time his son Joe was making baseball history with the New York Yankees and later served in the US Army. Another son, Dominic, a Boston Red Sox outfielder, served in the US Navy.

Dr. Zafferino Aversa, a well known pediatrician from Philadelphia, was arrested on a federal warrant for subversive activity. The "subversive activity" was belonging to a club for Italian Veterans of World War I. When Aversa served in the Italian military, Italy was not a fascist country and was an ally of the United States.

Now, some Italian-Americans are asking Congress to acknowledge what the federal government did, through the Wartime Violation of Italian-American Civil Liberties Act. The bill passed the House unanimously in June, 2000, and is pending in the Senate.

H.R. 2442 (106th Congress) expresses the sense of Congress that the story of the treatment of Italian Americans during World War II needs to be told;

Federal agencies, including the Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities, should support conferences, seminars, and lectures to heighten awareness of this unfortunate chapter in our nation's history, and support the refurbishment and payment of all expenses associated with the traveling exhibit "Una Storia Segreta," and documentaries allowing this issue to be presented to the American public.

An advisory committee should be established to assist in the compilation, research, and dissemination of information on the treatment of Italian Americans;

Financial support should be provided for educating the American public through the production of a documentary film suited for public broadcast;

The Bill further directs the Inspector General of the Department of Justice to conduct a comprehensive review of the treatment by the Federal Government of Italian Americans during World War II (between September 1, 1939, and December 31, 1945) and to report to Congress on the findings of such review. It requires the findings to include information regarding: Italian Americans who were taken into custody, interned, ordered to move out of designated areas, or arrested for curfew, contraband, or other violations; the Federal Bureau of Investigations raids on Italian Americans homes; the restrictions placed on Italian American fishermen and railroad workers; and the civil liberties infringements suffered by Italian Americans during World War II as a result of Executive Order 9066.