I've been told my great grandfather from Sicily fought in WWI for Italy. I'm trying to determine where he was stationed and what he did. Unfortunately, I only have two pictures and a story to start my search.
My great grandfather is standing on the left in both images
So far, I haven't found my luck tracking down his uniforms from google. I can't find the hat with the white tassel, but it looks like he is wearing the hat of the Bersaglieri in the second image.
My grandmother said he did not talk about WWI much but he did tell her a story about a particular incident when he was stationed abroad.
On his occasional trips into the town, he noticed that the women would always be covering their faces with a dark veil. He did not understand why they did this. What was wrong with their faces, were they disfigured or something? Well one day he finally had enough wondering.
During his trip to the town, he went up to a woman and lifted her veil to see what was going on. Immediately the town erupted and he was dragged to the town square and tied to a post. My grandmother says he was left there for about day before soldiers from his unit came to cut him loose. He did not lift anymore veils after that.
Based on the story I'm assuming he ended up somewhere in the middle east or North Africa. I would deeply appreciate any insight you have based on the picture of from the story. Within Italy, he lived in Palermo.
I'm not exactly an expert on Italian military history, but given your explanation it is quite likely that your grandfather was stationed in Libya, where the Italians had recently set up a colony after their defeat of the Ottomans in 1911. That's about as much as I could offer.
I know it has been a while since this post, but I wanted to answer your question about your grandfather's uniform. Judging from the helmet he is wearing on the second picture you can tell he was part of the Bersaglieri, an elite light-infantry unit. Perhaps the most popular unit in the Italian army. Hope this helps!
So far, I haven't found my luck tracking down his uniforms from google. I can't find the hat with the white tassel, but it looks like he is wearing the hat of the Bersaglieri in the second image.
Judging by the uniform, your grandfather was clearly a bersagliere and the cap in the first image is a fez, which is still used by members of that corps: http://pictures2.todocoleccion.net/tc/2012/02/18/30559070_9514915.jpg
Thanks for the help. So far from what I've been reading on based on his story, I think he was part of a small force that went to the Sinai Peninsula during the war. He may have fought in Gaza.
