A deceased aunt told me years ago that her father Evangelista Lorusso, was a 17 year old barber in the Italian army working in a medical camp in 1918 during World War 1. While cutting another soldier's hair, that soldier told him that a handsome soldier was wounded in the face and now did not want to go home. Then, he mentioned his name. It was my grandfather's brother, Vito Lorusso. My grandfather did not know his brother was in the camp. So he went to him and convinced him to go home.
Here is the problem. I have the Italian army records of both men. It shows that my grandfather entered the Italian army in 1918 and that his wounded brother was discharged in 1917. So the story told to me is only possible if wounded men who were discharged from the Italian army back then were allowed to stay in the medical camp long after they were discharged. Seems unlikely, but does anyone know if this was possible?
Though I have their military records, I get an error message when I try to add them to this post and then I get a "Bad Request" when I try to submit the post.
Ron
Verifying Family History
-
MarcoFamiglia
- Newbie
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 06 May 2026, 07:38
Re: Verifying Family History
Hi Ron,
This is a fascinating military genealogy puzzle! The fact that your records show different discharge dates is not uncommon - here are a few possibilities:
1. **Medical discharge vs. standard discharge**: Your grandfather might have been discharged from the medical camp under different conditions, creating separate record entries
2. **Delayed record entry**: Military bureaucracy meant records were sometimes filed months after actual discharge
3. **Re-enlistment confusion**: Could there have been a re-enlistment between the two records?
Since you have the actual army records showing 1918 entry and 1917 brother discharge, here are some steps:
- Try accessing the Italian Red Cross records from WWI for wounded soldiers (they documented many medical cases)
- Check newspaper archives from that time period - local papers often published returning soldier news
- The story Ron heard might be accurate, but the uncle might have been part of an earlier medical discharge program
The "Bad Request" error you're getting might be due to file format issues. Try converting your documents to PDF and re-uploading.
Best of luck with this research!
This is a fascinating military genealogy puzzle! The fact that your records show different discharge dates is not uncommon - here are a few possibilities:
1. **Medical discharge vs. standard discharge**: Your grandfather might have been discharged from the medical camp under different conditions, creating separate record entries
2. **Delayed record entry**: Military bureaucracy meant records were sometimes filed months after actual discharge
3. **Re-enlistment confusion**: Could there have been a re-enlistment between the two records?
Since you have the actual army records showing 1918 entry and 1917 brother discharge, here are some steps:
- Try accessing the Italian Red Cross records from WWI for wounded soldiers (they documented many medical cases)
- Check newspaper archives from that time period - local papers often published returning soldier news
- The story Ron heard might be accurate, but the uncle might have been part of an earlier medical discharge program
The "Bad Request" error you're getting might be due to file format issues. Try converting your documents to PDF and re-uploading.
Best of luck with this research!