Citation:
Google maps. Google. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://tinyurl.com/Google-Map-Chambersburg.
On this map, the adress of Mrs. Isabel Forney is shown in relation to the Letterkenny Army Depot. Only 7 miles from each other, it is likely that most people in Chambersburg, PA, would have seen and been made aware of the 1,200 men of the ISU stationed there. Those men did many things, from construction, agriculture, and any other jobs that were non-combative. One such construction job the men did was work on the complete creation and construction of the Letterkenny Chapel, which is only a 3 minute drive from the Depot, and a total distance that just barely reaches 2 miles.
Addresses:
Isabel's house: 610 East King Street, Chambersburg, PA 17201
Letterkenny Army Depot address: Letterkenny Army Depot, 1 Overcash Ave, Chambersburg, PA 17201
Letterkenny Chapel address: Carbaugh Avenue, Chambersburg, PA 17201
Isabel, the writer of this letter, was living in Chambersburg, PA. In writing she expresses how Christmas will not be the same as Jack may not be home, and that her husband Bud will be leaving sometime in January. Four months later, in May, 1,200 Italian prisoners of war would move in to the nearby Letterkenny Army Depot, also located in Chambersburg. After Italy signed an armistice with the Allied powers in September, they declared war on Germany in October, 1943. The United States, having 51,000 Italian POWs, decided to give them an option; to remain and have accommodations of POWs, or to become part of something new, the Italian Service Units (the ISU). The ISU was a program the United States government created to get more manpower for the war effort. With a cooperating 51,000 able bodied men, a lot can be done, and the U.S. government saw that. Offering the deal, many of those POWs took the offer, and as such were given U.S. uniforms, with patches that read, ‘Italy’ on them so people would know they were part of a special unit/program. These men did anything non-combative the U.S. government, and states’ governments would task them to do, and in return were given more freedom of movement, teaching of valuable skills, monetary compensation, and other liberties. At the end of the war, the battalion in Chambersburg, like many other units, were offered the opportunity to stay in the States and be granted citizenship, which would lead to many other relatives and even entire families migrating here in the following decades.
Bud was reclassified as 1A, as Isabel mentions. There are many military classifications, most notable ones such as 1A and 4F. 1A means "available; fit for general military service" and 4F meant "physically, mentally, or morally unfit". More classifications existed and would determine what you could do and if you could even serve, and they have been updated over the decades
This here is a closeup picture of the patches members of the ISU would wear on their sleeves and hats. Members of the ISU were given regular American military uniforms, but had these patches that read 'Italy' on them on one of their sleeves and on the front face of their hats.
Citations:
Conti, Flavio G., and Alan R. Perry. Italian Prisoners of War in Pennsylvania: Allies on the Home Front, 1944-1945. Madison, NJ: Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 2019.
Conti, Flavio G., and Alan R. Perry. World War II Italian Prisoners of War in Chambersburg. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2017.
Gustafson, Andrew. “Italian Service Units in the New York Port of Embarkation.” Turnstile Tours, October 25, 2019. https://turnstiletours.com/italian-service-units-in-the-new-york-port-of-embarkation/.
G., Ericka. “World War II Selective Service Draft Registrations ⋆ Veteran Voices Military Research ⋆ World War II.” Veteran Voices Military Research, May 13, 2020. https://veteran-voices.com/world-war-ii-selective-service-draft-registrations/.
Kratz, Jessie. “The Italian Service Units of World War II in Boston.” National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, July 21, 2020. https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2020/07/21/the-italian-service-units-of-world-war-ii-in-boston/.
“Wwii US Italy Pow Patch Set -- Original, No Glow.” eBay. Accessed March 27, 2023. https://www.ebay.com/itm/255258086901.
The following object description information includes basic elements from the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). An additional notes field is included to list dates from the actual letter, envelope postmark locations, and any other identifying details.
In the letter Isabel states that Bud was reclassified to 1A, what was Bud classified as before he was made 1A?
Was it planned for Bud to be moved elsewhere to make room for the Italian POWs?
Where is Bud being sent?
What did Isabel think of the incoming Italian cooperates?
Italian POWs in front of Letterkenny Chapel 1944.
Historic Letterkenny Chapel and 9/11 Memorial Park, September 11, 2017.
- The creation of Letterkenny Chapel -
In the ISU battalion stationed at the Letterkenny Army Depot had many talented men in it. One of which, was a master stonemason. The chapel was designed by Henry V. Patterson since there was no official place of worhsip for the depot (Conti and Perry, 125). Within thirty work days the chapel was erected, and built only from salvaged material, all while the cooperates were "happy and singing," as was reported by the depot newspaper the Kenny Letter. The project was made for two purposes for supporting the depot's sporting, recreational, religious and entertainment endeavors and as a reward for the work of the amazing labor the personnel were performing at the base. The chapel was not the only thing created by the cooperates, they created a heated theater as well and many other things, but the church was special. In October of 1944 the POWs used a large warehouse to conduct Mass. The genesis of the idea to create a chapel came from a quiet desire to have an adequate place to pray, but also from a more somber event. At the end of the POWs work days (the afternoon) they'd often feel bored and lonely. In that free time and lonliness, its there that the spirits of men go from dour to dire (Conti and Perry, 126). The depot/s commanding officer, Colonel Hare, would make an effort to inspect the compound and check up on the Italians and on one of his visits he came to find an elderly cooperate who had tried to kill himself after he'd heard that his wife had died in Italy (Conti and Perry, 126). Hare learned that the prisoner was deeply devout (catholic) and thought a good way to keep the man's grief from destroying him was to have him use it to build something. It's said the man said that he could not only design one but that he could build it as he was a master stonemason prior to his service(Conti and Perry, 126-127). But thats just one story of its inception.
Another story, from 2LT Marccello Iovine tells it as somebody suggesting the cooperators build the church as a sign of giving thanks to God on account of them finding the "good life" as they were held in the US. and in Iovine's story, there are more specific names so it could be that this is the true story, but alas we don't know. But after the suggestion was made, MAJ Bassi approved and tasked Iovine and his construction crew with the design and construction. Iovine's crew had masons, carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, painters, and electricians (Conti and Perry, 127).
Citations:
Conti, Flavio G., and Alan R. Perry. Italian Prisoners of War in Pennsylvania: Allies on the Home Front, 1944-1945. Madison, NJ: Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 2019.
Conti, Flavio G., and Alan R. Perry. World War II Italian Prisoners of War in Chambersburg. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2017.
Cullinane, COL Paul E. “Franklin County Veterans and 9/11 Memorial Park Project History.” Veteran Trail Pennsylvania, September 11, 2017. https://www.veterantrailpa.org/project-history/.
Longo, Stephanie. “Hallowed Ground: The Legacy of Letterkenny Army Depot's Italian Pows.” Italian Sons and Daughters of America. The Italian American Podcast, October 19, 2022. https://orderisda.org/culture/la-nostra-voce/hallowed-ground-the-legacy-of-letterkenny-army-depots-italian-pows/.
Reed, Jen. “Descendants of Italian Pows Express Gratitude for Soldiers' Treatment at Letterkenny - The Catholic Witness.” The Catholic Witness - The Newspaper of the Diocese of Harrisburg. The Catholic Witness - The Newspaper of the Diocese of Harrisburg, September 27, 2022. https://www.catholicwitness.org/descendants-of-italian-pows-express-gratitude-for-soldiers-treatment-at-letterkenny/.