You just have to question the sensations of 499 Italian guys as they stepped off a train at Guasti in east
Ontario one early morning early in 1944.
This was no traveler adventure. They were World War II prisoners of war sent to the Inland Empire to ease the scarcity of workers for farm and other tasks triggered by local guys away combating in Europe and the Pacific.
However it didn't take long for the majority of the visitors to quickly realize this was not a bad thing.
" Singing and laughing, the men appeared a pleased crowd," reported the
Ontario Daily Report on Jan. 30." 'It looks like we are coming into paradise,' among them is reported to have actually exclaimed."
The Italians quickly realized our climate and fields of white wine grapes and citrus trees mirrored their homeland. And all over were Italian immigrants distressed to see individuals from back home. Yes, they were still sent to prison however far from the war in which the Allies will free their country from its Axis leader Benito Mussolini.
The males were trucked to a camp in today's
Rancho Cucamonga, located between Arrow Highway and Foothill Boulevard, west of Vineyard Avenue. It had been a farm labor camp for several years, occupied most just recently by Mexican employees who had actually been moved to the
Riverside area.
This was no high-security location-- a fence had to be built to keep the Italians inside and, perhaps more difficult, to keep curious visitors outside.
The Daily Report stated on Jan. 30 that it was asked not to announce the POWs' arrival in advance. When word did go out, the camp was besieged by regional Italians hoping to discover anyone with any word about buddies, family or their towns back home. Local cops had to assist the military at the front gate to keep the public away.
The Italians, who had been captured in North Africa a year previously, originally were housed in Arizona and spent their time selecting cotton. After weeding out those still holding strong Axis political sensations, officials designated detainees to California who were considered not likely to cause problems.
Since local grapevines needed pruning and citrus trees had fruit prepared for choosing, they were most needed at that time. From the Arrow camp, groups of guys were sent daily accompanied by a few soldiers who had little to sit but do and watch. There were a few detainees who ignored their work details but they were quickly captured and sent back to Arizona until war's end.
Much of the prisoners spent their days working in the fields with local Italians. Women would bring out food at midday and periodically bottles of red wine were passed around.
At night or on weekends, the prisoners often were invited to local farms for dinner and dancing, accompanied by a "guard" whose main task was to serve as a chauffeur. In one instance, a lieutenant who drove a number of detainees to such an event delighted in too much of the white wine there. He was so incapacitated that the detainees needed to drive him back to the camp and take him to his bed.
After finishing four months' work in the vineyards and citrus orchards, the Italians were moved east to Camp Ono, a big facility holding as numerous as 1,000 prisoners, in Devore, northwest of
San Bernardino. In the months following the fall of Italy to the Allies, this was a relatively low-security location-- some Italians were even hired to sing in the
San Bernardino Civic Light Opera.
Other Italians were assigned to work in Torney General Hospital in Palm Springs. At Camp Anza, near today's March Air Reserve Base near
Riverside, others did non-combat jobs. Some detainees who swore loyalty to the U.S., were used using American uniforms but with an "Italy" logo design on the sleeve.
Italians working at Kellogg Ranch (today's Cal Poly Pomona) did maintenance work for the Pomona Quartermaster Depot. They were often seen shopping in that city's downtown, sometimes surprising civilians they encountered.
In May 1944, several truckloads of Italians went to the California Institution for Men, then a low-security prison in Chino, for a "sports carnival." The Pomona Progress Bulletin on May 22 said the visitors enjoyed American fumbling bouts and some calf-roping and participated in boxing matches. A soccer team of Italians made short work of a team of American soldiers and detainees.
Following war's end the next year, the Italians were sent house to their mostly war-ravaged country, though that was not the last time some were seen here. Numerous previous detainees wed local ladies and later ended up being American citizens.
A 1982 essay by T.A. Sunderland of
Ontario, in the
Ontario library, described the story of Emilio Pascolati while he was at the Arrow camp. He was invited to dinner by a regional resident from his area of Italy. He satisfied Penny, the homeowner's young daughter, and they soon saw each other often.
" Italian moms and daddies had no objection to their girls fraternizing with the POWs," wrote Sunderland. "To them, the prisoners were just what they wanted, nice Italian guys for their daughters."
Pascolati would return to Italy after the war but later on Penny traveled there and they were married. They went back to Southern California, where they lived the rest of their lives.
Joe Blackstock writes on Inland Empire history. He can be reached at joe.blackstock@gmail.com or Twitter @JoeBlackstock. Have a look at a few of our columns of the past at Inland Empire Stories on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IEHistory.
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