Memorial day " flight of honor "

[Box and one]

https://youtu.be/reOgwgLimzI

Every year I post this on memorial day ...hopefully it went thru .. if it didn't can someone come in this post and re=do it its in you tube florence american cemetery flight of honor thank you..

Have told this story many many times here... lived about an hour from Florence at camp Darby in Livorno Italy for 10 years growing up On memorial day our US dependent school would make a school the trip to Florence think we 1st put red poppies on the graves and then later small american flags ...I always say this but none of the bus tours today with American tourist on them visiting Florence ever stop at the Cemetery..some guides or hosts will tell the passengers " if you look to the left we are passing by an American cemetery of World War 11 soldiers..." But no one ever stops ..Michelangelo's David and Ponte Vecchio and Uffizi gallery are more important for tourist to visit.. My memory of these yearly trips fade as time goes by... I remember having lunch with not enough jelly on our peanut butter sandwichs and kool aid with not enough sugar..amazing how your mind works

I do remember the many crosses and some were stars .. it was the 1st time my father explained to me later what the star of david was and what being Jewish was ...
take a minute and watch this short tribute to the 4,000 US soldiers that died for freedom
hope everyone has a nice Memorial weekend and stays healthy and a shout out to betone for a speedy recovery

 

[The Joker]

Here ya go, Box

Here ya go, Box

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..

 

[Box and one]

:0008 thank you joker

 

[Box and one]

My father served in General Clarks 5th army in North Africa,Sicily and Italy..he was with the AMG allied military government... as the Germans retreated from Italian cities his group of 20 soldiers would restore the city government.. arrest the facist and those that supported Mussolini and select a small governing body... they would summon the priest and baker to get some ordinance..what the people needed ..think diptheria was a problem also.. my father had about 4 or 5 trucks of supplies to give to the people.. John Hersey the writer followed one of the AMG officers in a town and then wrote the Pulitzer book " A Bell for Adano".

anyway my father has his opinions as an officer about the Italian campaign What brings this up is because he believed that many of those soldiers buried in Florence were killed after the taking of Rome . Gen Clark disobeyed orders and took Rome ..he was supposed to by pass Rome and trap the entire German army retreating.. Clark was almost court martialed for disobeying orders...so the Germans fought a defensive battle all thru Northern Italy were almost all those US soldiers were killed and buried in Florence..many historians do agree with my father.. on June 5th Clarks 5th Army marches into Rome My father was in the 12th jeep entering the city as heroes he was driven up to Rome from outside of Naples ...the irony was the 5th Armys parade got lost in Rome and made the wrong turn to the Victor Emanuel Square.. they had to ask a guy on a bicycle how to get there...

but the biggest irony was Gen Clark who was very vain ,finally enters Rome , the 1st conqueror since Atlla the Hun .. Clark is a hero all over the world but wait its June 5th 1944 the next day is june 6th D-Day...studs Turkel the great writer says it all " ' Headlines for a day,backpages for a lifetime"
But the entire German army escaped and the Germans fought hard for the next 10 months...