Another Cemetery Experience

First up I wanted to share three group photos. The first one shows us on Anzio Beach, and the other two we are wearing our Understanding Sacrifice jackets at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery.

After a great night in Florence, we departed for the Florence American Cemetery. This is the only Cemetery on our trip where I have not researched a soldier buried in it ahead of time. I did, however, find a couple of Maine soldiers and a couple on the wall of the missing.

Assistant Superintendent Angel Martinez explaining some of the history of the Cemetery.

Interpretive Guide Fiorenzo Iacono tells us about one soldier buried in the Cemetery

Since I had no soldiers in this Cemetery, I had some freedom to explore and so I found some interesting views and captured them. I really like how you can see the crosses and Stars of David lined up in this particular cemetery. As you can probably guess, Jewish soldiers were buried with a Star of David like the one below.

This is Robert Leavitt, one of the soldiers I found from Maine

I really liked this view. You can see there are some homes on the hill overlooking the Cemetery.

At the rear of the Cemetery on a higher elevation is the Monument. Behind it is the wall of the missing with the Chapel on the left and Map room on the right that depicts the movement of Allied forces north of Rome and into France and Germany.

Superintendent John Lundcheon speaks to us about the Bomber Squadrons, many of which are on the walls of the missing.

This is the Chapel. the Mosaic is made up of very small pieces and is meant to evoke rebirth and remberance.

On the ceiling of the Chapel are 13 stars which represent the history of the United States

Walls of the Missing

We had 4 teachers speak today about soldiers they had researched. One of the teachers had a Dad who was a Bomber pilot in World War Two (yes a Dad, she was born "late"). Her Dad was allowed to live with an Italian family and they remained in contact with them all these years. She researched another pilot buried in the Cemetery and the Italian family who housed her Dad knew which family had housed the Fallen Hero. The boy who lived there and was 14 at the time came today to the Eulogy she read for him. Many of the stories have connections like this that add a layer of meaning to what we do. Above is another teacher preparing to deliver his eulogy.

This is from the map room near the Monument

While walking around the Cemetery I found this grave and I have to admit it gave me a chill. I know of no Gowers in Colorado and so have no knowledge of John Gower nor do I believe he is closely related. But Gower is not the most common name, so I was a little spooked when I saw it. I looked it up and out of 15 ABMC Military cemeteries around the world only 4 Gowers are buried there (none of which are closely related). Just when I thought I had no connection to this Cemetery, I found one. This discovery makes me want to research he and his family and maybe make a contact. Though we are not closely related, we share a name and are probably related at some point in the past. I found myself wondering what he went through and if any of his family who knew him are still alive! From one Gower to another, thank you for your sacrifice John!

The grave of John Gower

I found this statue at one end of the cemetery and it says it was moved from an earlier monument. I thought it was an interesting addition.

 I didn't know what to expect at Florence, but I can tell you it was awesome! Going in without a personal soldier, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I found this another moving and touching experience. Not only was I moved by what I learned from the 4 eulogies, but I found the process itself special. Before each eulogy started, the Cemetery staff had Taps play from a loudspeaker. Then they made sure any workers who had been mowing and doing other maintenance all stopped during the eulogies. The Florence Cemetery is absolutely beautiful and its clear the respect and compassion the Staff has for the men and women buried here. The location is gorgeous and very impressive. I can't wait to share this with my students!

After returning to the Hotel, some of us hopped a train for the city of Pisa. Everyone knows the famous Leaning Tower and so we made our way there to take photos trying to push it up as you will see below. The train ride was about an hour and I found Pisa to be a lovely little city.

This is an art mural by the artist Keith Haring. It is across from a Cafe dedicated to him in Pisa.

 Keith Haring is a famous graffiti artist.

Keith Haring Cafe

The Mood store...

A river we crossed in Pisa

A famous statue of Galileo in Pisa with his foot on a Dolphin. Galileo lived for a time in Pisa.

Of course Galileo is also famous for the experiment he conducted form the leaning Tower with two different spheres.

This id the Tower, form this angle it doesn't appear to be leaning.

Me holding up the Tower like every other tourist there!

Walking away form the tower you can see it leaning in the distance. Apparently it is only leaning 5 degrees, but it looks like a larger angle in person!

Another lovely and tiring day! Tomorrow we head up the Cinque Terre along Italy's western coast and into southern France to arrive in Nice tomorrow afternoon. Saturday we will visit the Rhone American Cemetery in Draguignan, France. I have visited this Cemetery before, but I have two soldiers to recognize and am very much looking forward to being there!