Passport, issued by Italian consulate in Montreal, for Nereo Brombal, February 4, 1924

Passport for travel to U.S.A., issued by Italian consulate in Montreal, for Nereo Brombal, February 4, 1924.

Text in body reads (translated to English):

Given to Brombal Nereo
Son of Angelo
and of De Bartole Teresa
Born in  Caerano di San Marco
May 10, 1896
Resident of Windsor,
Province of Ontario
peasant/farmer
This passport is given for [travel]
to the United States.
And is valid for a year,
Montreal, February 4, 1924.

Given the individual resides in Windsor, it is interesting that the passport is issued from the Montreal office, and not the much closer Italian consulate in Toronto. The document is stamped on the back by the American Consulate in Windsor and is dated February 11, 1924.

Nereo Brombal immigrated to Canada from Italy ca. 1914. He had met his German-born wife Johanna 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.