Collections Online

Oral history recording with Francesco Todaro. 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 1 of 2 (AV 11490-11491)

00.20 In 1941 Mario went to war in North Africa until May 1943. He then went into a prisoner of war camp until 1944. He joined the British Pioneer Corp until 1947. He describes the training and activities they carried out. Mario volunteered to go to war as there was no work, yet he still asks himself why Italy went to war. He describes Mussolini as clever but too ambitious. Mario describes being captured during the war. He was caught at Enfi de Ville village, about 20km from Tunisia, where their troop was surrounded by the Eighth Army, the Americans and the sea. They were interrogated before they went into the camp; what their job was and why they joined up. He put it down to necessity and sense of adventure. Mario describes how eight men would sleep in the tent on sand which they divided into beds with a tin plate and shared a duvet to sleep on. He doesn’t complain about the food as in the Italian army it was scarce as well. He was in the Italian first army on the border of Sudan; from there they walked to Tobruck for 8km. They moved during the night but during the day they had to keep still because of their shadow, and so got very little sleep. He recalls waking up at three or four in the morning, to feel the dew on their lips due to lack of water.

12.09 Mario thinks the Italian government did the best they could with supplies. He remembers Mussolini visiting the troops. He asked if anyone had any complaints. When someone complained about lack of food, Mussolini lined up the Generals down to the soldiers and told them to pass a handful of sand down the line; at the end of the line nothing was left. In the Italian army supplies weren’t plentiful, but were told to make a sacrifice for their country. Two of his brothers were partisans; they would interfere with the railway lines and burn bridges to stop German and Fascist troops. After the war, Mario went back to Bardi and describes the situation as chaotic and dangerous due to the political situation. He had a small gun in his pocket most of the time as self-defence, and says that people were living on their wits. He wrote to an aunt in Wales who found him work as a farmer, and he worked in the fish and chip shop in the evening, playing football for Aberystwyth on Saturdays. After five years of farming, he married and joined his wife’s family’s business in Fish and Chip Shop. Mario recalls that they were so busy that they would ‘close the door and they would come in through the window’. He explains the history of the cafe and fish and chip industry in Italy.

22.12 Mario feels Italian at home, but no particular nationality outside. He speaks a little Welsh exchanges polite conversation with people in Aberystwyth in Welsh and Italian. He still feels his Italian nationality strongly however, yet says of his life and experiences; ‘I’ll do it again.’