When he was 17, Antonio Pierro left his small town in Southern Italy and boarded an ocean liner bound for Ellis Island, the immigration station off the coast of New York City. It was 1913, and Pierro hoped to make a better life for himself in the United States. After arriving, he took the first job he could get, as a gardener on an estate in Swampscott, Massachusetts.
But five years later, Pierro found himself on a ship sailing back toward where he’d come from—this time donning the uniform of the U.S. Army. He was crossing the Atlantic to France to fight for the U.S. in World War I (1914-18).
Pierro later described his patriotic decision to answer the call for his new country: “I wasn’t afraid I’d get killed,” he said in an interview in 2006. “I’d go through anything.”
When he was 17, Antonio Pierro left his small town in Southern Italy. He then boarded a ship bound for Ellis Island, the immigration station off the coast of New York City.
It was 1913, and Pierro hoped to make a better life for himself in the United States. After arriving, he took the first job he could get, as a gardener on an estate in Swampscott, Massachusetts.
But five years later, Pierro found himself on a ship sailing back toward his home. This time he wore the uniform of the U.S. Army. He was crossing the Atlantic to France to fight for the U.S. in World War I (1914-18).
Pierro later described his patriotic decision to answer the call for his new country: “I wasn’t afraid I’d get killed,” he said in an interview in 2006. “I’d go through anything.”