John Belli in WWI

John Belli was born in Italy in 1895 and traveled to the United States during a big wave of Italian immigration in the early 1900s.  I was lucky enough to purchase a superlative WWI German-shot studio portrait of a helmeted US soldier wearing his gas mask with patches attached to his jacket.  To sweeten the deal, the photo came identified to a John Belli.  A few John Belli’s appeared on ancestry.com, but only one was associated with a veterinarian unit as evidenced by the veterinarian corps collar disc visible in the photo.  A great shot with an interesting back story!

John Belli Service Card

John Belli Draft Card