Piecing together a painful history

An effort is underway to fundraise vital cash to renovate a mosaic that was put in place to honour and remember more than 800 Italian men killed aboard a war ship sunk during WW2.

- CHRIS MARZELLA

The Arandora Star was sunk early on July 2, 1940, approximately 75-miles west of Bloody Foreland, Ireland, when she was torpedoed by a German U-boat as she deported Italian and German internees, as well as German prisoners of war, to Canada. The sinking of the ship, which had previously been used as a luxury cruiseliner prior to being re-purposed as a war ship, caused the deaths of 805 men including Captain Edgar Wallace Moulton and 12 officers; 42 crew members; 37 of the 200 military guard; 243 of the 479 German and Austrian internees; and 470 of the 734 Italian internees. There were 868 survivors.

A year prior to the sinking, in 1939, the UK government had introduced Defence Regulation 18B — a draconian measure which allowed internment without trial of people suspected of being actively opposed to the war with Germany.

The interned men were being transported to Canada at the time of the tragedy.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, a commemorative memorial garden was built along with the Arandora Star Memorial on Glasgow’s Clyde Street — next to St Andrew's RC Metropolitan Cathedral.

Those are maintained by the Italian Garden Improvement Group (IGIG), whose members, including Raffaello Gonnella, Rez Filippi, Angela Mazzoncini, Hilda de Felice and Michael Donnelly are now looking to raise enough funds to restore the memorial back to its former glory.