Rando Bertoia, an Italian-born Scot, now 91, was invited  to visit the new Italian Cloister Garden at St Andrew's Cathedral in Glasgow,  and saw the central monument which is dedicated to the Scots-Italians who drowned aboard the Arandora Star. transporting them from Britain to Canada.Bertoia is the last living survivor. The Italians numbered 712 men of all ages, of the nearly 1,200 internees, including 86 POWs,  The ship was bearing no Red Cross sign, which could have shown that she was carrying prisoners, and especially civilians.There were also 374 British men, comprising both military guards and the ship's crew.Over eight hundred lives were lost.

It is a mystery to me why the British would waste resources to ship Italian and German "Enemy Aliens" to Canada and Australia, when they could have just as easily interred them in Britain , as they did with some in the Orkney Islands. 

Rando Bertoia says that being Scottish saved his life.

As a 19-year-old living in Pollokshields, the Italian-born Scot, now 91, was arrested and deported as an "enemy alien" when Mussolini declared war on Britain in June 1940. 

Along with hundreds of other Italian nationals who were rounded up from their homes, shops and cafes, Mr Bertoia was aboard the Arandora Star when, on July 2, 1940, on its way to Canada, it was torpedoed by German U-boat ace Gunther Prien, with the loss of more than 800 lives - around 100 of them Scots-Italians. It has been described as the ?tragedia dimenticata" - the forgotten tragedy. 

However, yesterday Mr Bertoia, the only living survivor, was invited by The Herald to visit the new Italian Cloister Garden at St Andrew?s Cathedral in Glasgow, which opens on Monday, and saw the central monument which is dedicated to the Scots-Italians who drowned aboard the Arandora Star.

It is the largest monument to the disaster anywhere in the world. 

Mr Bertoia believes that because the Scots-Italians were ordered to the top deck, he was inadvertently given a chance of survival because he was able to reach the lifeboats.

Yesterday, as he gazed at the silver mirrored monument, designed to represent the disorienting effects of water, he said: "This brings it all back very clearly, even though it happened 71 years ago". 

?I remember embarking the Arandora Star at Liverpool Docks and noticing how luxurious it was, even though they?d removed all the bedding and furniture. 

?The Scottish consignment got orders to go up to the top deck, and the English " among them my cousin Luigi, from Newcastle" were sent downstairs. I didn?t really know the others, because they were all in fish and chips and ice-cream, and I was an apprentice at my dad?s terrazzo firm, Toffolo Jackson. But we soon got to know each other. 

?At around 6am on July 2, I was woken up by a loud thump and realised we?d been torpedoed. My friends dragged me to a lifeboat. I remember it lurching a bit as it was lowered. From the lifeboat I could see the Arandora Star going down. I could hear the gurgling of water coming from the funnels. It took only about 20 minutes for it to sink and I realised I was very lucky indeed.

?Some of the lifeboats did not go down properly. Some stuck in these boats threw themselves into the water, but that didn?t save them because it was so icy cold. You could see them bobbing on the water for a while, then just disappearing.

?Later, when the roll-call was read out, I didn?t hear my cousin?s name and I broke down. I don?t think any of those who were downstairs survived."

There were about 20 people in the lifeboat. "We knew we needed to get as far away from the Arandora Star as possible. There wasn?t much else we could do but row and soon we were surrounded by nothing but water and sky. It was quite scary and eery. Nobody said a word. We knew it was a grim end for a lot of poor people."

Mr Bertoia "who was born in Montereale " was rescued by a Canadian destroyer and deported to Australia, where he spent five years as an internee. He returned to Scotland in September 1946 and joined his brother?s watch-repair business on Victoria Road, on the south side of Glasgow, where he worked for 50 years. 

Despite his experience, he is not bitter....but " I remember feeling ashamed to be Italian" 

Soon after the war ended he and his wife Giovanna, also Italian, took British nationality.....

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/
home-news/last-survivor-of-torpedoed-
liner-recalls-day-800-died-1.1101412??
 
 
 
 

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