Last March 5, Italy lost a giant, and America lost a friend, an admirer and a great expert of its greatness and merits. We the Italians lost a friend and a guide. That's why we want to remember Professor Antonio Martino with the speech he gave, when he was Minister of Defense of the Italian Government, at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 31, 2004. 

These words are always valid and topical, even more so today that the West rediscovers an enemy that threatens it, and that was defeated last time also thanks to the phenomenal contribution of ideas and actions of Professor Antonio Martino, to whom goes my personal gratitude and that of all of us at We the Italians. 

Address by the Italian Minister of Defense - the Honorable Antonio Martino - on the occasion of the Memorial Day Ceremony. Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, May 31, 2004

Ambassador Sembler, Authorities, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Over sixty years have elapsed but our emotions in remembering are unchanged as well as our unlimited gratitude.

Seven thousand, eight hundred and sixty one US soldiers are buried here; they died in the prime of their life to bring back freedom and democracy to the Italian people. And this is only one of the many war cemeteries in Italy.

Please allow me to borrow Lincoln’s immortal words, “these brave men have hallowed this ground far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here.”

Rome and Normandy, Italy and Europe: the Army of democracy and freedom against the darkness of totalitarianism.

The liberation of Rome, the “eternal City,” was the symbol and the harbinger of final victory.

Italian citizens welcomed their military allies as liberators and friends linked by a bond the Fascist dictatorship had not been able to break.

Italy had come out of the war both morally and materially devastated.

Its unnatural alliance with Nazism resulted in a shameful and humiliating military defeat, the result of disastrous choices, which had led it to wage war against Countries, like the United States, that included large Italian communities.

After the armistice of 8 September 1943, Italy helped the Allies with growing military contributions and through the actions carried out by partigiani in the occupied territories.

At the end of the war, Italy was finally free even though physically devastated.

Italians shall never forget their liberation from Nazi-Fascism and the very high price in human lives paid by our liberators. Just as we cannot forget the United States’ generous support of our fragile democracy in the post-war period.

Thanks to food aid, mass starvation was avoided which would have made the already tense and dangerous political and social situation even worse.

The Marshall plan made the social costs of the transition bearable, and allowed for economic recovery, which eventually turned into a veritable “economic miracle.” After roughly a decade, Italy resumed her role in international relations.

An open market economy linked our country to the community of the most developed nations.

Our young democracy was further strengthened and stabilized by establishing links with the free world, thanks to United Nations, the Atlantic Alliance and the European Union.

Western Europe is now peaceful and safe thanks to its unification but also to the protection granted by the USA, through NATO, against the threat which was then posed by Soviet communism. This is yet another reason for being grateful.

The Atlantic Alliance and the European Union share common values: liberty, democracy, the rule of law, and justice.

Atlantic Partnership, the bond between Europe and the USA, based on common values, was essential to our past and it is vital to our future. It must be protected and strengthened.

Anti-Americanism in Europe and anti-Europeanism in the US must not be allowed to weaken this bond: our destinies are common.

Ambassador Sembler, authorities, Ladies and Gentlemen,

During the cold war, the US and Italy fought side by side to defend the values of the civilized world against a kind of totalitarianism as ruthless as that which had been successfully defeated by these American soldiers buried here.

Today, the US and Italy are jointly operating in far-away and devastated lands to prevent global terrorism from undermining the foundation of peaceful coexistence and inflicting harm to our nations.

Today, as in the past, our liberty is in danger. Today, as in the past, liberty must be preserved at all costs.

Liberty is the most important of our values, because nothing is valuable without it. Peace means nothing without Liberty: the Gulag was peaceful. Democracy, prosperity and justice are empty words in the absence of Liberty.

The American soldiers who are buried here did not hesitate to sacrifice their lives for our Liberty. If today we can enjoy the benefits of life in freedom, based on mutual respect, we owe it to them.

Their lives have not been sacrificed in vain and they shall always be remembered by freedom loving people all over the world.

God bless America! God bless Italy!