Re: Memorial Day Tribute
I wanted to share this with you--from a friend of ours. <br /><br />"I wish we could have a Memorial Day here in Italy too. We have forgotten too many things, we give our freedom for granted thanks to rainbow flags waving almost everywhere... no Italian flags, no American flags. That is sad.<br /><br />But this could be your first impression if you come to Italy these days. The truth is different, this empty pacifism finds a place between new generations but is refused from older. We still have people among us who really lived the days of Hitler and Mussolini, who still cry thinking of those "Americani" who dropped bombs on Italian towns but gave candies, chewin-gums, cigarettes, sugar, and sometimes love to them. My grandmother always said "Americans took this, Americans gave us that..., Americans arrived..." Yes, they arrived. They left their families and crossed the ocean to fight, and sometime die, here in Europe. How can you forget this? I can't, and I was born in 1972. I was born in Italy, a free democratic country, thanks to thosee brave Americans who fought for me too, for my future.<br />Now these could sound just like empty words, things that you say each time the situation request them. No, they aren't: I can find their meaning today, just watching TV. Other brave soldiers are fighting for someone else's future and I can't stand people who ignore this.<br /><br />Too bad we don't have a Memorial Day, too bad we prefer not to think about our past. After 60 years, Italy and Italians still have to say thank you to Americans.<br /><br />Anzio means a lot but few people among youngers know about those battles. I don't know when but sooner or later I'll visit Nettuno and I'll be proud to visit the US Military Cemetery and say thanks to all that rest there, they are the symbol of my freedom today."
