Italian soldiers kids in Ethiopia During invasion

[amakonnen]

Hello,

I am trying to see if anyone has an information or pointers where to do and find information on Italian soldiers in Ethiopia during the invasion in 1935. My Mother's Father is Italian (Italian Soldier) and i believe he died during the war. wondering if we have any relatives out there. He was Stationed or was in Dembi Dollo, Welega Ethiopia. We only know his last name (Burney). if any one has any information where to go and do some digging please let me know.

We currently live in Minneapolis, MN US and tried getting some info on the web with no luck.


Please help


Thanks

[johnnyonthespot]

This site ( http://www.difesa.it/Ministro/Commissar ... olture.htm ) allows you to search for Italian soldiers who died in war.

Cognome = last name
Nome = given name
Anno di Nascita = year of birth
Luogo Nascita = Place of birth

If you should be lucky enough to get a list of results, click the arrow in the Dettagli column to view a record. On the next page,

Luogo Sepoltura = where buried
Data Decesso = date of death
Luogo Decesso = place of death

Unfortunately, "Burney" is simply not an Italian name. So, if your grandfather was Italian, Burney may be an anglicized spelling and it will be necessary to try to figure out the original name in order to search the database.

[johnnyonthespot]

Hmmm... Try searching Berni (the pronunciation would be about the same as Burney).

You will get quite a long list of soldiers. http://www.difesa.it/Templates/OnorCadu ... HINT=Guest

[johnnyonthespot]

I went through all the Berni entries and found only one who died in the 1930's.

Nome: MARIO
Cognome: BERNI
Data di Nascita: 8/5/1913
Luogo di Nascita: DESENZANO
Luogo Sepoltura: SARAGOZZA - SACRARIO MILITARE ITALIANO
Data Decesso: 24/8/1937
Luogo Decesso: SANTANDER


I believe Santander is in Spain.

[amakonnen]

Thanks you guys! I will have to talk to my Mother and see if she remembers any other name. And also this website is only for the soldiers that died in war? I am asking because we are not sure if he died there or left with when the soldiers left Ethiopia.

[amakonnen]

that sounds actually right because my Grand mother saying Mario

[johnnyonthespot]

And also this website is only for the soldiers that died in war? I am asking because we are not sure if he died there or left with when the soldiers left Ethiopia.

I am not certain; my impression is that it lists all active-duty soldiers. We need one of our Italian friends to assist...

[amakonnen]

where did you find that? i tried the webite you gave me but its not giving me anything...

[johnnyonthespot]

where did you find that? i tried the webite you gave me but its not giving me anything...

Click here http://www.difesa.it/Ministro/Commissar ... olture.htm

Put "berni" in the Cognome box, then click the "Avvia Ricerca" button. It will seem as though nothing happened, but if you scroll down you will see the list of results. The Mario's are on page 5.

[amakonnen]

got it!! so.. now atleast i have a start.. what should be my next step? maybe is is this Berni was in Ethiopia and if he has any children and so on?? since i dont speak italian it even makes it harder... any advice you give me would be very helpfull. Thanks!

[johnnyonthespot]

By the way, place of burial = "SARAGOZZA - SACRARIO MILITARE ITALIANO"

Saragozza/Zaragoza is a city in Spain. Sacrario Militare Italiano would be a memorial cemetery (?) for Italian military personnel.

[johnnyonthespot]

got it!! so.. now atleast i have a start.. what should be my next step? maybe is is this Berni was in Ethiopia and if he has any children and so on?? since i dont speak italian it even makes it harder... any advice you give me would be very helpfull. Thanks!

Mario was born in Desenzano del Garda which is located in the Province of Brescia. See this thread for info on how to request military records from the provincial archives http://italiangenealogy.tardio.com/Foru ... c/t=15162/

The address for the Brescia archives would be:

Archivio di Stato di Brescia
Via Galileo Galilei, 44
25123 Brescia BS
ITALY

Email: as-bs@beniculturali.it (remove the spaces)

[amakonnen]

Thank you so much! I write the later and mail it and email it as well.


Thanks

[amakonnen]

do you the address or email address to request birth certificate and marriage certificate? or is it the same email and address you gave me?

[johnnyonthespot]

Birth, marriage, and death certificates come from the comune itself, not the state archives. This is discussed in the thread linked to in my previous message (directly aftr the post on military records). The address to write to would be:

Ufficio dello Stato Civile
Comune di Desenzano del Garda
Via Carducci, 4
25015 Desenzano del Garda BS
ITALY

Email: demografici@comune.desenzano.brescia.it (remove the spaces)

Additional letter writing resources:

http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/pearlsofwi ... tters.html
http://www.circolocalabrese.org/resourc ... /index.asp

PS: If you can read italiano, you can visit the comune's website: http://comune.desenzano.brescia.it/ital ... civile.php