Reggimento Bersaglieri

Don't laugh at the guys with the "vaira" hats. Michele Arcangelo Lamonica served the Royal Italian Army very well. You might know him as Mike Lamonica. It seems that if you try hard enough, you can find all kinds of information on the world wide web.


Mike Lamonica represented our family well in the military. I have found records from 1899 to 1902. He was a sharpshooter during this time period. The Royal Italian Army came to be in 1860. The Bersaglieri served as the light infantry battalions of the brigades and divisions of the new army of united Italy. The name "Bersaglieri" means sharpshooter. They have always been a high-mobility infantry unit and can still be recognized by the hats they wear.

Even today there is a Bersaglieri group in the army. Today there are six regiments. Mike Lamonica was a member of the 7th Regiment which at that time must have been stationed out of Milano. Today the 7th Regiment is the Pinerole Brigade in Bari (Apulia).

I have found several dates on military documents. It seems one of the earliest dates I have is July 1, 1899, which wold have made him 20 years old. He recorded his shooting scores during May 22-23, 1900, June 9, 1900, July 10 and 16, 1900, August 18-20, 1900 and October 16 & 26, 1901. During this time, He was promoted. Interesting, because somewhere in there he had time to get married. I do not have any documents detailing his marriage, but it is believed to be around 1900.

He was injured at least twice during his career. In 1900 he spent a lot of time in a hospital and again in 1902. I have some documents and I have tried to translate but I am still learning. I think there is still a lot of information to find from his military career. I will continue to work on this and correct myself as I get better information, until then I wanted to post something new to keep you guys coming back for more.