File No. 367.117/653½
The Italian Ambassador ( Macchi di Cellere) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary of State: In reply to Your Excellency’s note No. 456, of the 15th instant, I have the honor to inform Your Excellency that the military status under the law of Italy of persons of Italian extraction naturalized as American citizens, and exempted or discharged from the military service under the American law, immediately upon the going into effect of the recent military convention between Italy and the United States,2 will be as follows: Persons of Italian extraction naturalized as American citizens, will be, for the purposes of the convention, considered to be Americans and placed in the American Army. In order, however, to regulate their status with regard to the law of Italy, they shall, if inducted into the American Army, forward through their own regiment or The Adjutant General to the “Special Office of the Italian Embassy of the Italian Emigration Bureau,” proof that they are doing military service in the American Army; and if not inducted (exempted, deferred [Page 723] classification, etc.) they shall inform the Italian Consul of their place of residence, and furnish evidence that they have performed their military duties in accordance with the American law. Thereupon the Royal consuls will provide by sending to Italy appropriate lists for the cancellation of the charge of delinquency entered against the men concerned.
Accept [etc.]