Photograph of Nereo Brombal, Cobalt, ON, 1920s

Photograph of Nereo Brombal, Cobalt, ON, 1920s.

Nereo Brombal immigrated to Canada from Italy ca. 1914. He had met his German-born wife in northern Ontario. The family would settle in Windsor and the Brombals had 2 children.

In 1940, Brombal was fired from the Windsor Police Department due to his Italian birth. His son Douglas remembers a few tense years during the war, given his mixed German/Italian family.

Brombal would never return to his position as a police officer. However, in December 1990, the Windsor Police Commission apologized to Brombal's family. They also created Camp Brombal, for underpriviliged kids, and run by volunteers from the police department, in Nereo Brombal's honour.