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Written by Pacifico Cofrancesco
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Thursday, 18 September 2008 |
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Page 10 of 11
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The Service and Casualty Form records the last event: "REPATRIATED ORONTES 1/2/47".
Umberto’s Service and Casualty Form
(National Archive of Australia)
The Ship Orontes, carrying Umberto Cofrancesco, set sail from the port of Melbourne on February 1, 1947, destination Italy. Ernesto Lavorgna left a few weeks earlier, on 10 January, on the Italian Ship Otranto.
The Ship Orontes which brought Umberto back to Italy in 1947
Umberto’s journey home lasted 19 days. His ship arrived in the port of Naples on 19 February 1947. On the same day he was assigned to a Housing Center of the Army and immediately received an “extraordinary license” of 60 days to finally once again embrace his beloved family. At the same time the following was noted on his State of Service (a standard notation probably used for all soldiers returning home):
"No charges can be raised about the circumstance of the capture and behavior during the imprisonment"
And of what could they charge those poor prisoners of war? Umberto had spent the best years of his youth, between 29 and 36, serving Italy. He had suffered hunger, humiliation, and embarrassment. He acquired diseases that would affect him for the rest of his life. He had already personally paid many debts that were not of his making, through his own experiences.
After several medical check-ups in different military hospitals, the authorities decided that his health condition resulting from imprisonment was sufficient to earn him a “definitive discharge”, which was granted on 12 July 1948. Umberto’s military experience was finally at an end.
Despite aches and pains caused by his wartime service, and especially by his imprisonment, Umberto resumed a normal life. He remained in Italy and in S. Lorenzello where he was born and where he was reunited with his beloved parents and his brothers. He found a job as a caretaker in a local school. He married Michela Santillo, and they had two daughters, Lorenzina Giuseppina and Angela Filomena.
In 1964, many years after the end of the war, the Italian State gave a "Croce al Merito di Guerra” (“Cross for War Merits”) to Umberto for his participation in the military operations of World War II. His daughter, Lorenzina Giuseppina, still carefully keeps his award, together with the photographs and mementos of papà Umberto.
 
Umberto after the World War II Umberto's "Croce al merito
di Guerra, given to him in 1964
 Umberto Cofrancesco, a gentle and patient man, passed away, almost 90, on 9 February 2001, in his home in S. Lorenzello, located on the road to Telese, not far from his parental home, among the rolling hills covered with vineyards and fruit trees; a land that has always been in his mind and heart, even when his "war”, which took him so far away for seven long years, first as a soldier and then as a prisoner. In those years he traveled through four continents and several countries, finally returning to S. Lorenzello, his beloved homeland.
Umberto's travels during World War II
Photos of Umberto's documents: Anna Di Leone
Maps and image processing: Pacifico Cofrancesco
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 18 September 2008 )
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