by Susan Bromley

Pierette Simpson was terrified to fly on an airplane to America when she was a child. So instead, she sailed on a ship that sank. She survived and tells the tale, as well as solves a cold case, in the new documentary, "Andrea Doria: Are the Passengers Saved?" which has its world premiere at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Detroit Institute of Arts Film Theater.

Simpson was just 9 years old when she and her maternal grandparents boarded the SS Andrea Doria in 1956, leaving Pranzalito, a village located at the foot of the Alps near Turin in northern Italy. Simpson's mother Vivian had emigrated alone to the U.S. several years earlier in the hopes of creating a better life for her and her daughter. Post World War II, there was a great deal of poverty in Italy. The new world represented hope — a better education, better job, a better quality of life. When she was ready to send for Pierette, she gave her parents, who wished to remain in Italy, an ultimatum.

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Source: http://www.hometownlife.com/