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Oral history recording in English with Raffaele Quaglia. Recorded as part of the Italian Memories in Wales project (2008-10), delivered by ACLI-ENAIP and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Part 2 of 7 (AV 11453-11459)

00:01 Raffaele remembers that before going to war, Mussolini created various employment opportunities, but he stresses, you had to become a fascist in order to enjoy them. Fascism also meant that Raffaele could go to school until the third year of primary school because he introduced schools in rural areas, which until then were ignored by the government. Raffaele also has vivid memories of the war, which took the twenty year old Raffaele to Africa; Tobruk and El Alamein, to fight, where more than 10,000 Italians and Germans were killed. Raffaele also carried out military service in Naples and remembers how dangerous the city was as it was constantly bombed by the Allied Forces.

04.19 Thanks to working in the fields, the Quaglia family had a secure food supply which saved them from starvation during difficult war times. He remembers that before the war there was enough work for everyone, but during and immediately after the situation worsened gravely and no work could be found.