[angcat]

Reminds me of the movie Silent Night with Linda Hamilton. My mother told me recently that my Italian Grandfather was 39 during the end of WW2 and they were looking for men to draft. She said he was the bottom of the barrel lol. My Grandfather said “I won't fight against Italy” he was never called.

[GreyFriar]

“I won’t fight against Italy” Your grandfather would not have had to worried about fighting against Italy after September 1943. Mussolini was overthrown and the new government of Italy, under General Badoglio surrendered to the Allies on Sept 3, 1943 and joined the Allies against Germany on Oct 13, 1943.

Thus he could have been sent to Italy to fight WITH Italy against the Nazis and diehard Italian Fascists. Or he could have been sent to the Pacific Theater.

[WhiskeyX]

“My Grandfather said “I won’t fight against Italy” he was never called.”

The Italian Government switched sides in 1943 and the Royal Italian Army fought with the Allies against Germany and the Italian Fascists from September 1943 to the end of the war.

[Calvin Locke]

... during the end of WW2 and they were looking for men to draft.

The minimum draft eligibility requirements dropped precipitously by the end of the war. Particularly for those destined to be infantry men.

I was shocked when I heard it on a Book TV piece about the growth of the facility for processing returned personal property of those killed.