Hi Glen, Your Nan sounds quite a character! If he was an officer, there is a higher change that he would be mentioned among the limited surviving POW camp war diaries kept at the PRO in series WO166 and other POW records, although it is apparently very difficult to trace individual POWs. Does your Mum's birth certificate give any clues about where her father was living? What about sitting down with Nan with an atlas, to see if any names of towns and villages in Perugia ring any bells? You could then start looking for incidences of the name in the Italian online telephone directories (I think the re are some listed on the AIFHS website at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ukaifhg ). do any other listers have suggestions of routes that have proved successful? Where would records be kept in Italy of Italian POWS? How do you look for Italian service records? good luck Glenn, and please let us know if you find anything - it's important to hear about the success stories as well as the dead ends on this list - we need some inspiration to keep trying! Kind regards, Elaine -- Researching ALZAPIEDI and OSTACCHINI, Clerkenwell and Borgoditaro >> if you can give more information - where did he live in Britain? When >> was he >> there? Is he still alive? - it's more likely to deliver a useful response. >> And what sources have you tried already? >> >> happy to help if there's a bit more to go on. >> >> Best wishes, >> >> Elaine > Elaine i'll do the best i can for now but will find out more info asap. > :-) > Gerino Mariani is my grandfather, he was based over in Birmingham in the > war, he > was a prisoner of war for a while but I'm sure he was if not an officer he > had people under him. He was called back to take his group back to Italy in > about 1945-1946. Its my mums dad my mum was born in 1946 and Gino knew my nan > had given birth to my mum. Gino did write apparently to my nan a few times > but my then great nan ripped up all letters and eventually they lost contact. > It wasn't the done thing then as you probably know to date an Italian lol but > my nan was a nightmare and still is lol! > Anyway ummm my nan said he went back to where he was from which was > Perugia/Italy. My mums 55 now so I really haven't a clue if he's alive or > dead, my nans still alive and she's got years left lol (she still thinks > she's 21 heheh)Other sources I've tried Ellis Island-he could have moved to > USA who knows, also my mum tried Cilla Black rofl but not enough info for > them, I've also tried lists of links on the Web but no joy and funnyily > enough when we moved as a family about 15 years ago my mum lost the only > photo she had of Gino, weird and my mum always says that it was a sign to let > sleeping dogs lie and to be honest i've been at this search for years but I'm > starting to agree :-( > Elaine if you can help me in any way I'd be extremely grateful > Regards > Glenn McWilliams > > > ==== ANGLO-ITALIAN Mailing List ==== > Anglo-Italian Mailing List Web Page > http://www.dreamwater.net/anglersrest/Italian.htm > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go > to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >