My grandpa marched through Rome in June 1944 during WWII and was one of three soldiers invited to the Vatican to have a private audience with the Pope. Would there be a record of this?

Dear Ms. Mullen,

Thank you for posting your question to the History Hub.

While it is unlikely that a record of your grandfather’s encounter in Rome exists at the National Archives, you may be able to find some relevant information in the records of his military unit. The Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives in College Park, MD (Archives II) has custody of many World War II-era unit records. While these records typically do not contain information about individuals, they can provide an overview of events a given unit was involved in. You can find more information in this helpful post by Megan Dwyre: WWII Military Unit Records at the National Archives. If you know the unit your grandfather served in, you can also email the Textual Reference Branch directly at archives2reference@nara.gov for further information about accessing those records.

Finally, you may have more luck finding information about your grandfather’s visit to Rome by contacting the Vatican Archives via economato@asv.va.

Thank you, again, for sharing your question with us, and good luck with your search!

I did research on soldier killed in action at this time...The 5th US Army was fighting in Italy at the time...

1st try and locate of find out what unit he was attached to.

2nd if you can identify, them google the outfiet and see if their daily reports are one line...the visit to the pope would be recorded there.

If this doesn't work..I would try contact the Vatican Archives..