Growing up in Southern Italy during World War II, all of us children were kept in the dark about the horrors taking place near and far. Constant hunger, pestilent diseases and bombing raids were enough hardships for us to endure. It was June 10, 1940, when it all began.

A huge crowd of somber townspeople gathered next door to our home. A wealthy landowner resided in a palazzo (a palace), and he always placed a blaring radio on his balcony when important news was broadcasted. That fateful day it was Benito Mussolini, who declared the tragic news that Italy was joining with Germany against the Allies. By the end of his lengthy speech, I saw many women weep, including my mother. When I asked why she was crying, she delivered a curt answer, “We did not like what we heard!”