Journey to America

You wouldn't know it just by looking at me but my Dad is a little Italian man, curly black hair althought its getting grey now, short and fat. He was born and raised in Italy, moved to Venezuela with his family when he was a teenager and then evenetually made it to America. This is his story.

My Grandfather was a prisoner of War during WWII. He was fighting for Italy and was a prisoner to the Americans. After four years he was finally realeased. That was when he decided that there was really nothing for his family is Italy. They were dirt poor and the only money they had was the money they made that day. My grandfathers sister was an American citizen because she had married an American man. My grandfather thought that if he got to America and started working that it would be easier and faster to become a citizen instead of waiting in Italy with nothing. He traveled down to Naples, Italy where American ships were at port. He sneaked on the boat and hid for entire trip to America. When he got close to America he found clothes of the workers and put them on. With the outfit and the attitude he smiled and walked off the boat with the rest of the crew. His sister knew that he was coming. They found each other and for the next 5 years my grandfather worked in America. He sold ice and coal. Eventually the word got out that he was illegal and the FBI found him. Becuase he had nothing, no passport, no visa, so licence or social security card he was sent to Ellis Island. After a few days they sent him back to Italy.

After being in America for so long my Grandfather knew he had to get his family there if they wanted a better life. At this time Venezuela and Italy were allies so people from Italy could travel back and forth without paperwork or visas. My Grandfather took a boat to Venezuela, bought a little piece of land to farm. The land came with a house although better described as a shack. It was made of wood planks and corigated metal. There were dirt floors, no running water, and no electricty. Yet he believed this was getting him closer to America. He called his family and told them to come over. My Grandmother, dad and his sister and brother all left everything behind in Italy and went to venezuela. At this time, becuase my Grandfathers sister was an American citizen it made it easier to get my dads family paperwork to get there. There was a program set up where an American citizen, my Grandfathers sister, could ask for her family members to come over. At this time my Grandfather and his sister got all of the paperwork in order. Then they waited. As soon as my Dads family got to call that they could go to America they had to be ready to leave the next day. They had nothing but the clothes on their back and a small bag of stuff. They took what they had and were sent to a quarantine in Venezeula where they stayed for about a week and a half. During that time they had to have all their medical testing done. On March 31, 1960 they got their green cards and were cleared to go to America. They got on a plane and flew into JFK airport. As soon as they got off the plane they walk through immigration to check the paper work and then they were free to go. Welcome to America!