WTI Magazine #14    2014 Jan, 24
Author : Umberto Mucci      Translation by:

On January 22nd I had the privilege to attend, in representation of the Italian American Museum and of We the Italians, the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings at Anzio and Nettuno.

The series of events took place in four different places. The first commemoration was at X Ray Beach: that is where the allies actually landed. A cross with an helmet stands on a field right before the beach, and in the sea it is still possible to see a small part of one of the ships used by the allies to land. The American Ambassador to Italy H.E John R. Phillips attended the ceremony together with his wife, the President of Lazio region Nicola Zingaretti, the Italian Minister for Integration Cécile Kyenge and several local and military authorities.

A small group of children from schools in Nettuno waved small American, British, Italian and – weird and wrong choice, according to me - German flags. A permanent monument will be built where the cross with the helmet is, in this historical place which reminds us the beginning of the five months battle that liberated this part of Italy and ended on June 4, 1944, with the liberation of Rome.

I met there Moti Kellner, son of Maurice Kellner, from Baltimore MD, who landed at X Ray beach that day 70 years ago, with the third infantry division. Moti and his wife were there to commemorate his father, who after Nettuno went through Rome and then France, and luckily survived the war.

We then moved to the beautiful Sicily Rome Cemetery, just a few minutes far from X Ray Beach. 7.861 American soldiers rest there, and 3.000 more are remembered as missed in action with nothing left to be buried.

Many of them were of Italian heritage: when Japan attacked the US, on December 1941, they all of a sudden became enemies in America, because of the pact between Italy and Japan. They had to stop talking Italian and declaring their heritage, and some of them decided to lose the ending vowels of their family names. They were asked to choose between their country of origin and the one where they were living, and they chose America: but, far from disowning Italy, a huge percentage of them courageously enlisted in the US army and asked to be sent to Italy, to free the place they or their family came from, and to be able to help the army communicating with the Italians, who didn't speak English. In every row of the crosses in the cemetery you can find many Italian names. We had the honour and the privilege to meet there Senator Renato Turano, the Member of the Italian Senate elected among the Italian community in the US.

The third part of the celebration took place at the war Memorials in the center of Nettuno and then in the center of Anzio, where some surviving veterans attended the event and paid respect to those who gave their lives.

I will always be grateful to the United States of America, to their country and their people, for having liberated Italy. This is not something that expires: on the contrary, every day is more important to remember and pay respect for those who I owe my existence, as they have saved, cured, armed and freed my father: without the 5th army I wouldn't even be born, because my father would have died, killed by the fascists who were searching for him.