Pension document for Ettore Sanguiro

Pension document for Ettore Sanguiro dated February 10, 1973, issued by the Italian government. It is unclear whether this is an old age pension or a war pension. It appears that the pension was issued twice a year, in June and December, from the Bank of Naples in New York.

Ettore Sanguiro was born on March 25, 1891 in Rome, Italy. He served with the Italian army during World War I and was wounded. In 1923, Sanguiro came to Canada and seven years later, his wife, Luisa, followed with their eight-year-old daughter, Cesarina. Their second child, Rosemarie, was born in 1933. The family residence lived at 557 Cannon Street East in Hamilton. Sanguiro began working for the Firth Brothers tailoring firm in 1923. Luisa was also a tailor.

Sanguiro was arrested on June 10, 1940. It was horrifying for the family, but especially for Rosemarie who was only seven at the time. She remembers how three Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers disrupted the family dinner by kicking in the front, side, and back doors to their humble home. After his brief detention in Toronto, Sanguiro was sent to Petawawa Internment Camp; his family did not see him again until his release in 1942.