Giuseppe Di Bartolo

Giuseppe Di Bartolo (5 September 1900 – 20 January 1943) was an Italian naval officer during World War II.

Biography

Di Bartolo was born in Palermo in 1900, and graduated as a sea captain at the Palermo Nautical Institute at age 17. World War I was ongoing at the time, and Di Bartolo immediately embarked as deck officer on Italian merchant ships; on 18 July 1918 his ship, the steamer Adria, was torpedoed and sunk off Tunisia by the German submarine UB 50. For his behaviour during the sinking, he was given a commendation by the Ministry of the Navy.

After the end of World War I, Di Bartolo continued his career as a civilian sea captain, initially with the Navigazione Generale Italiana, then with the Società Italiana di Servizi Marittimi (SITMAR) and finally with Tirrenia di Navigazione. In April 1940, two months before Italy's entry into World War II, Di Bartolo became "complementary officer" of the Regia Marina (ufficiale di complemento, roughly comparable to an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve) with the rank of Lieutenant. For his sacrifice in the attempt to defend his flotilla against a fairly superior enemy, Di Bartolo was posthumously awarded a Gold Medal of Military Valor.