Italian Prisoners Turned Allies: The Italian Service Units of Boston

At the start of World War II, Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini allied with Hitler's Germany. After Mussolini fell in 1943, Italy switched sides and declared war on Germany, and Americans began to see the many Italian prisoners of war (POWs) held in the United States as potential allies. By 1944 the United States had taken in about 55,000 Italian POWs, many of whom had never supported Hitler or Mussolini and had never fought against the United States.

The Italian Service Units

Beginning in February 1944, Italian POWs in the United States could enlist in what became known as the Italian Service Units (ISU), and 45,000 of the 55,000 did. They were still prisoners, but they wore uniforms with a patch reading "Italy" and a standard garrison cap. Most of their work was loading military supplies for shipment, along with jobs such as cleaning parks and building roads; in Boston, they also worked on the city's victory gardens.

From South Boston to Peddocks Island

In March 1944, the U.S. military sent 1,800 ISU members to Boston. They were first housed at Camp McKay in South Boston, where local residents gave them a frosty reception. As tensions with the neighborhood rose, 1,300 were moved a few months later to Peddocks Island in Boston Harbor and the other 500 to Camp Myles Standish in nearby Taunton.

The men stayed on Peddocks for about a year. No one went absent without leave and morale stayed high, though some records show strikes and refusals to work. On the island and the mainland alike, they worked under supervision for $24 a month. About 50 at a time held "trustee" status, earned by following orders well, which gave them access to parts of the fort ordinary prisoners could not enter and a Sunday boat trip into Boston's North End, where they often ate dinner with Italian American families or went to Mass. Those who could not leave had visitors, who could not stay overnight.

Their contribution

The prisoners' work was critical to the war effort, saving the United States an estimated $230 million and more than 90 million days of labor, and freeing American soldiers for combat. The program ended in September 1945 with the war. ISU members could return to Italy or become U.S. citizens, and thousands chose to become Americans.

Sources

• National Park Service, Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, "Italian Service Units of Boston." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/italian-service-units-of-boston.htm
• Jessie Kratz, "The Italian Service Units of World War II in Boston," Pieces of History (National Archives), July 21, 2020: https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2020/07/21/the-italian-service-units-of-world-war-ii-in-boston/; Cathy Stanton, "A Place of Quiet Adventure: An Ethnographic Study of the Peddocks Island Cottages" (2016); Jake Sconyers, "The Prisoners of Peddocks Island," HUB History podcast, July 19, 2020.
• A 1944 photograph of prisoners on Peddocks Island, held by the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston, is not reproduced here.