Margherita Kaiser Parodi was born in Rome on 16th May 1897, to Giuseppe and Maria Orlando.

His father was a Leghorn man of German origin, while his mother was the daughter of the well-known businessman and engineer Luigi Orlando.

At the outbreak of war, in 1915, aged just 18, Margaret wanted to enlist as a volunteer together with her mother and sister Olga. She was assigned to the Italian Red Cross hospital in Cividale del Friuli and then transferred to the mobile hospital in Pieris, in the Gorizia region.

There, in May 1917, the facility where she was staying suffered a heavy bombing, but she remained at her post, continuing to provide assistance with a spirit of sacrifice and self-sacrifice that earned her the bronze medal for military valour.

A few letters remain of her from which the firm conviction of her choice and total dedication to the cause shines through. He remained in service even after the end of the war, to deal with the Spanish flu epidemic that struck Europe between 1918 and 1920, causing millions of deaths.

She was also infected by it, dying in Trieste on 1st December 1918.

She was first buried at the Colle di Sant’Elia cemetery, and then moved to the Redipuglia military memorial, where she was given a place of honour: she is the only woman, in fact, among the many fallen soldiers whose remains were received there.

You can consult the birth certificate on the Ancestors Portal: Archivio di Stato di Roma > Stato civile italiano > Roma > 1897

Note the clerk’s note in the margin of the deed, which shows the luogotenential decree of 8th November 1917 authorising Margherita Kaiser to add the surname Parodi to her own surname, in all acts and circumstances.

The original is kept at the State Archives of Rome.