Home | Angelillo Family History - Documents
The World War Two draft registration card for Ralph Angelo
The card is from the Fourth Registration, which was taken on 27 April 1942, for "men born on or after April 28, 1877 and on or before February 16, 1897", that is men 45 to 65 years old.
Registration Card
Serial Number: u 1708
1. Name: Ralph (None) Angelo
2. Place of Residence: 750 N. Forklanding Rd, Maple Shade, Burl[ington County], N.J.
3. Mailing Address: Same
4. Telephone: No.
5. Age in Years: 53
Date of Birth: Aug 16, 1888
6. Place of Birth: St. Angelo. State of Naples.
State or Country: Italy
7. Name and Address of Person who will always know your Address: Mrs. Eleanor Angelo, 750 N. Forklanding Rd, Maple Shade, N.J.
8. Employer's Name and Address: Abrasive Co. Tacony + Fraley St. Phila[delphia] Pa.
9. Place of Employment or Business: Tacony + Fraley, [Town:] Bridesburg, [County:] Phila, [State:] Pa.
Signature: Ralph Angelo
Registration Card (over)
According to the registration card, Ralph Angelo was 5 feet, 6 inches tall, and weighed 175 pounds. He had brown eyes, gray and bald hair, and a dark complexion. A further obvious physical characteristic that would aid in his identification was that a finger of his right hand was scarred.
Source: National Archives and Records Administration. Selective Service System, Registration Cards, World War II, Fourth Registration, which was for men who were 45-65 years old.
Raffaele and Sant'Angelo
When he registered for the WWII draft Angelillo Raffaele (in the Italian form) apparently named as his place of birth St. Angelo. State of Naples. This may have been because "Province of Caserta, Region of Campania" was unknown to him, and because the common people of Sant'Angelo did not add a suffix to "Sant'Angelo" when they talked about their paese (u baes in dialect) or native land, which for common people did not mean Italy but their village of birth.
The Italian Civil Status records show that Sant'Angelo was at different times known by different official names, as from oldest to newest: Santangiolo Raviscanina, S. Angelo a Raviscanina, Santangiolo di Piedimonte, S. Angelo Alife, and Sant'Angelo d'Alife, with Santangelo (Santángelo) as a variant spelling of Sant'Angelo. [Large map showing Sant'Angelo, Raviscanina, Piedimonte, Alife, and Naples.]
The Comune or Borough of Sant'Angelo was in the Kingdom of Naples before 1861, and Naples was the kingdom's capital city. When Raffaele was asked, "Where are you from?" he answered "Sant'Angelo, not too far from Naples."
Note: Raffaele did not know the official spelling of his family name, which he thought ended in "i" rather than "o" (That was the way his father Nicola spelled their family name), as is shown by Raffaele's naturalization signatures: Petition signature [1941] and Certificate signature [1943]. That was the difference between the cafoni and the signori, that the former lived in darkness: they could not read.
Southern Italians
It's quite correct to call us "southern Italians". Our history is distinct from the histories of central and northern Italy. Our history as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Kingdom of Naples is not rich in culture and art (except for the city of Naples and the birth of classical music), but only in poverty. What does belong to us that does not belong to northern and central Italy is our ancient Greek heritage. The great artists, architects, poets and saints of Italy lived to our north, but ancient Greek philosophers, Greek artists, mathematicians and scientists once lived in our southern lands.
Related Pages:
- Photograph taken when Raffaele Angelillo was about 53 years old and applied to become a U.S. citizen and legally change his name to Ralph Angelo.
- The Application for Social Security Number, 1 December 1935, for Ralph Angelo.
The URL of this Web page: https://www.roangelo.net/angelo/raffww2.html
Last revised: 7 September 2020 : 2020-09-07 (Original version 21 June 2019) by Robert Wesley Angelo.
Home | Site Map | Site Search | Angelillo Family History - More Family Documents