The Sailmakers Detachment: Italian American Tailors in the Air Service in World War I, by Maj. Peter L. Belmonte, USAF (Ret

The Sailmakers Detachment: Journal of the Company of Military Historians

Italian American Tailors in the Air Service in World War I

Maj. Peter L. Belmonte, USAF (Ret.)

World War I was the first major war in which the fledgling U.S. Army Air Service (USAS) was engaged. By the war’s end, the Air Service was using many different types of fixed-wing aircraft and balloons in the European theater. The development of this new service required not only the rapid acquisition of many different types of aircraft, but also the equally rapid expansion of manpower to operate and maintain those aircraft. The Air Service needed men with new skills: airplane engine and propeller mechanics, airframe experts, avionics maintenance men, armorers and bomb loaders, and radio telegraph technicians. But there was another, much older, occupation whose skill set was vitally needed by the Service. The aircraft of that long-ago era were built of fabric-covered wooden frames. That fabric, integral to the airworthiness of each aircraft, required skilled workmen to install and maintain. In addition to the skin of the aircraft, fabric was also used for aerial tow targets, machine gun ammunition belts, and various types of web equipment. Balloon companies, too, used a great deal of fabric. In addition to the gasbags themselves, parachutes for the balloons’ crewmen, the observers, also were made of fabric that often required repair. The Air Service found men with the skills needed to maintain all this fabric among those who plied the trades involved with needle and thread. Key among these were, of course, tailors.1

An unknown number of tailors served in the U.S. military during the war. The U.S. Navy specifically recruited tailors, often waiving physical requirements to induce tailors to enlist. These Navy tailors were enlisted at a higher rank and pay than basic seamen enlistees; many were recruited as firemen first class. Their duties involved making, altering, and repairing the thousands of uniforms and pieces of cloth equipment required by the rapidly growing Navy.2 Other tailors were, of course, drafted into the Army; most, no doubt, simply served wherever they were sent, in whatever capacity the Army desired. Perhaps some of them performed informal tailor duties for their unit. But other tailors were specifically assigned duties within the Air Service.

A group of these men sailed for the European theater as part of the “Sailmakers Detachment, Air Service.” The detachment left from Hoboken, New Jersey, aboard the Missanabie on 15 August 1918 (FIG 1).3 Two Air Service

FIG 1. Detail of a page of the manifest for the Missanabie, showing members of the Sailmakers Detachment, Air Service. Ancestry.com.

officers led the detachment and accompanied the men— 1st Lt. Norman B. Read and 2d Lt. Harold M. Prescott. The men were bound for assignment to the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) that had Air Service squadrons in England, France, and Italy. An examination of this detachment in general, and the Italian-American tailors within it, provides us with a glimpse into a littlestudied aspect of the war that impacts military, social, and immigration history. It provides more pieces of the mosaic that is the picture of the U.S. military during the Great War.

The names of two officers and 204 enlisted men of the Sailmakers Detachment appear on the manifest. Of these, five enlisted men, including two Italian-born tailors, were transferred out of the detachment on 13 August. It’s not clear whether these men ever boarded the vessel, but their names are lined off the manifest and a notation indicating that they were transferred to the Casual Battalion (per Special Orders 219, paragraph 6, Personnel Adjutant) written in. Probably these men were ill and unable to make the voyage, or they were found otherwise ineligible for sailing at the last minute. Of the remaining 199 enlisted men, forty-one, or 20 percent, were born in Italy or born in the United States of Italian parents.

The surnames of the other men point to a variety of national origins; spot examinations of some of these men revealed the fact that many of them were, like almost all of the Italian-Americans, tailors. A cursory examination of naturalization records from Camp Sevier, South Carolina, where many men from this detachment were based in May-June 1918, reveals that other foreign-born men hailed from places like Russia and Russian-Poland, Turkish Armenia, Scotland, Sweden, and other places.

The nativity and occupation of each man examined is based upon his draft registration card, if found. Other supporting documents are military service records from New York State, Ohio, and select other states.

Examining each of the forty-one Italian-Americans, we can find data that sheds some light on this cohort of men. Their age range is what one would expect of men in the service at this time, although there are more men in their early thirties than one would normally expect if this had been a sample of, say, infantrymen. This is probably because the men were experienced tailors and some of them were established in business. Table A gives the birth year for each man.

Year of Birth

1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896

Number of Men

3 3 1 4 6 1 4 9 3 5 2

Thirty-nine of the men were born in Italy and two were born in the U.S. of Italian parents. The Italian-born men came from a variety of provinces mostly in south or central Italy: Campobasso, Caserta, Cosenza, Foggia, Potenza, Salerno, Sicily, and others. Beginning in the 1870s, all of these provinces supplied immigrants to the United States, with the heaviest period, especially from the Southern Italian provinces, in the thirty years before World War I. Table B shows the year of entry for thirty of the men for whom this information could be found.4

Table B.

1890s: 1 1894: 1 1900: 1 1901: 1 1902: 2 1903: 1 1904: 2 1906: 2 1907: 3 1909: 1 1910: 3 1911: 3 1912: 6 1913: 2 1914: 1

At the time of their entry into the Army, the men lived in a variety of places. Since many immigrants in the 1890s and early 1900s settled in New York City and other large cities in the East and Midwest, it’s not surprising that a majority of the men—twenty-two of them—lived and worked in New York City. Other Northeast and East locations include New Jersey (two men) and, with one man each, New Haven, Connecticut, and Norfolk and Petersburg, Virginia. The Midwest is represented by Ohio (3 from Cleveland, 2 from Cincinnati, and 1 from Ravenna) and, with one man each, Chicago, St. Louis, La Porte, Indiana, and Leon, Iowa. One man from Memphis represented the South, while Seattle (two men) and Grand Junction, Colorado, represented the West.

The tailoring occupation contained many different subsets. There were men who specialized as cutters, for example. Most of the men in the detachment were listed simply as “tailor,” but there were a few exceptions. Other tailoring specialties listed include—tailor’s presser, machine operator for a tailoring firm, clothing salesman, dressmaker, and designer. At least nine of the men owned

their own tailor shop, while others worked for someone else or for a tailoring company. Only two of the forty-one men appear not to have been involved with tailoring—one was a clerk at a biscuit company, and the other owned a grocery store. One other man was unemployed.

Of the 39 Italian-born men, four were naturalized U.S. citizens upon entry into the Army, and sixteen had declared their intention to become citizens. Another fifteen remained aliens, and the status of four others was unclear. By the rules of the day, the Selective Service allowed alien citizens of allied nations to request exemption from the draft. Of the forty-one men (aliens, declarants, naturalized, and U.S.-born), five requested exemption from the draft. Of the fifteen aliens, only two requested exemption from the draft. Only one man requested exemption because he was not a citizen. Other reasons included support of family members (typically parents and/or siblings); one man claimed exemption because his brother was serving in the U.S. Army at the time. Of the thirty-eight men for whom marital status could be determined, none were married.

At least three men had served in the Italian military prior to coming to the U.S.—one man served as a corporal in the Italian cavalry, while two others were privates in the Italian infantry. One man had served for seven years in the 1st Illinois Infantry Regiment, Illinois National Guard; he had also served with the unit on the Mexican border in 1916.5

Partial military service data is available for some of the men, most notably those who entered service from New York State or Ohio. Beyond their service in the Sailmakers Detachment, there are other similarities in the military records of these men. Most appear to have entered the Army sometime in the spring or summer of 1918 and then sent to Camp Sevier, South Carolina, for initial training. Table C shows the month and year for the induction for thirty-seven of the men.6

Table C.

Month and Year of Induction

December 1917 March 1918 April 1918 May 1918 June 1918

Number of Men

1 1 12 5 18

In May 1918, Congress passed a law waiving residency requirements for alien servicemen who wanted to become United States citizens. No longer would they have to appear in a court and file a Declaration of Intention and reside in the United States five years before taking the oath of allegiance. Now a serviceman was required to have two witnesses who could attest to the man’s loyalty and a certificate of naturalization would be issued. When servicemen took advantage of this opportunity it was usually in civilian courts near military bases and the witnesses were almost always fellow soldiers or even officers in their unit. Of the thirty-one men who were aliens or declarants, at least eleven took advantage of the new law to become naturalized U.S. citizens while at Camp Sevier. One other man started proceedings, but his certificate bears the large, handwritten notation: “Void.” Most of these naturalizations occurred in May or June 1918 while the men were part of Detachment 9, Air Service, at Camp Sevier.7

At some point, the men were assembled into the Sailmakers Detachment at Camp Mills, listed in many records as Garden City, Long Island, New York. From there, the detachment sailed for England on 15 August. Upon arrival in England, the men moved to Wendover in Buckinghamshire. Many of the men were transferred to the 1107th Aero Squadron, one of the several Air Service replacement squadrons in the AEF (FIGs 2, 3, 4). From that unit, men were transferred to a variety of USAS units in England or France. From the dates given on the limited number of service records available, it appears most of the men were sent to other units sometime in November 1918. The squadrons were service or repair squadrons in England or France. It’s not known precisely what duties these men performed in the repair and service squadrons for this brief period of time. Table D enumerates the squadrons that received men in this study.8

Table D.

Aero Squadron, Type

177 (Service) 224 (Service) 225 (Service) 226 (Service) 282 (Service) 308 (Service) 309 (Service) 812 (Repair) 827 (Repair) 831 (Repair) 833 (Repair) 837 (Repair) 1107 (Replacement) 1st Sailmakers Draft

Number of Men

1 1 2 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 21 21

Almost all of the men departed from England or France in late November 1918; they arrived in New York in early December and were discharged shortly thereafter. Twenty-one of the men sailed home together aboard the Lapland, leaving from Liverpool, England, as part of the

FIG 3. Detail of service data for Eugenio Caruso. Ancestry.com.

FIG 2. New York military service abstract for Hugo Gemignani. Ancestry.com.

FIG 4. Front and back of the Application for Headstone or Marker for Valentine Liberatore. Note the numerous corrections and amendments necessary before the correct information was obtained. Ancestry.com. “1st Sailmakers Draft” in late November (FIG 5). This “draft” was lead by 1st Lt. Thomas Franklin Randle and consisted of one hundred men, most of whom appear to have been part of the original Sailmakers Detachment. Table E shows the month and year of discharge for thirtyseven of the men.9

Table E.

Month and Year of Discharge

December 1918 January 1919 July 1919

Number of Men

34 2 1

As far as is known, this group is the only “Sailmakers Detachment” that existed in the USAS during World War I. From the evidence gathered here, it appears most of the men served a comparatively brief stint as soldiertailors. This article is based upon the author’s research into Italian-American service members during the Great War; obviously there were many other men of various nationalities and backgrounds in this detachment and they, too, are worth studying. Likewise, the work of these men in general is an interesting and little known aspect of the USAS during World War I. Further research in unit records will, it is hoped, yield a more complete picture of the work of tailors in the USAS during World War I.

Table F contains the names and serial numbers of all the Italian-American men in the detachment; those marked with an asterisk are the men who were lined off

the original manifest. A comparison of serial numbers will show many men in the 697xxx and 1338xxx number range; this indicates many of the men appeared at camp together in the same drafts.10

Luigi Abbate 697524 James J. Barisonzi* 449893 Ferrucci Boldi 697530 Vernon B. Brignardello 764750 Guiseppi Buono 697536 Frank Carcifero 1338920 (unclear) Eugeneo Caruso 1338782 Thomas P. Cifaldi 1338896 Joseph E. Cipolla 1339258 Salvatore De Bella 558613 (unclear) Antonio De Florio 1338890 Oreste De Joseph 697506 Frank De Maske 697515 Raffael Del Piano 2336291 (unclear) Guiseppe Di Marco 697509 Peter Fracassi* 1338911 Hugo Gemignani 1336235 Antonio Giangrossi 697514 Antony Godale 1338968 John A. Greguoli 697511 Tony Iannello 2970155 Joseph Infante 1338904

Table F.

Valentine Liberatore 1338996 Biagio Mancini 697502 Nicholas Merlo 697510 Andrew Morelli 1338910 Ralph Morelli 697516 Giovanni Perrucci 697513 Prosperio Petrocelli 697512 (unclear) Alexander Pietrantonio 1338921 Phillip Purrazzo 697520 (unclear) Romola Romano 697517 Nicola Ruffo 697550 Gabriel Ruggieri 1338961 Joseph M. Sandone 1338912 Nicholas V. Santarelli 1182317 Bartolomeo Santucci 1338952 Louis Sardelli 697503 Angelo Sepe 697521 Martin Sigillito 1339237 Frank Turano 1338885 George Venditti 1183018 (unclear) Umil Vuono 697531

SOURCES

The raw data this article is based on comes from the following online sources, all accessed between 15 and 23 July 2017: For Army Transport passenger lists:

Ancestry.com. U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910–1939 [database online]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Original data: Lists of Incoming Passengers, 1917–1938. Textual records. 360 Boxes. NAI: 6234465. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985, Record Group 92. The National Archives at College Park, Maryland.

Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917–1938. Textual records. 255 Boxes. NAI: 6234477, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985, Record Group 92. The National Archives at College Park, Maryland. For BIRLS Death File information, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs:

Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850–2010 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Original data: Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs). For Camp Sevier, South Carolina, naturalizations:

The National Archives at Atlanta; Morrow, Georgia, USA; 2217062; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States; Record Group Number: 21.

Ancestry.com. South Carolina, Naturalization Records, 1868–1991 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry. com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Original data: South Carolina Naturalization Records, 1868–1991. Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21; The National Archives at Atlanta, Georgia. For Draft Registrations:

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Original data: United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm. For Headstone Applications for Military Veterans:

Ancestry.com. U.S., Headstone Applications for Military

FIG 5. Detail of a page of the manifest for the vessel carrying the 1st Sailmakers Draft back to the United States, November 1918. Ancestry.com.

Veterans, 1925–1963 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Original data: Applications for Headstones for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925–1941. Microfilm publication M1916, 134 rolls. ARC ID: 596118. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92. National Archives at Washington, D.C.

Applications for Headstones, compiled 01/01/1925–06/30/1970, documenting the period ca. 1776 –1970 ARC: 596118. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985, Record Group 92. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. For Missouri World War I service records: https://s1.sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesdb/ soldiers/

For New York State World War I service records:

Ancestry.com. New York, Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917–1919 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Original data: New York State Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917–1919, Adjutant General’s Office. Series B0808. New York State Archives, Albany, New York. For Ohio World War I service records:

Ancestry.com. Ohio Soldiers in WWI, 1917–1918 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2005.

Original data: The Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the World War, 1917–18 (Columbus, OH: The F. J. Heer Printing Co., 1926). For Passport Applications:

Ancestry.com. U.S. Passport Applications, 1795–1925 [database online]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.

Original data: Selected Passports. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For U.S. Army Air Service squadrons and general information:

Center for Military History, United States Army. Order