On the west side of the Greve river,
approximately 7.5 miles south of Florence, Italy, set against a backdrop of
hills dense with London Plane trees, headstones belonging to 4,402 American
Military Dead stand on 70 acres of foreign soil. Pine, cypress, willow, oak and
cedar trees enclose the section along with oleander, crepe myrtle and
laurel-cherry shrubs.
A bridge set between the cemetery office
and the visitor’s center at the entrance to the cemetery leads us to row after
row of crosses and stars of David. The cemetery is hushed except for the occasional
rustle of a leaf or a fragment of a bird’s song. We wander among the headstones
that bear the names and dates of birth of the servicemen and women who were
lost to friends, loved ones and our nation. Here and there, we see a pebble
placed on a stone; a way to say “We are here. We came to see you. We will never
forget you.”
Americans, traveling through the area,
stop at the cemetery, on the west side of the Via Cassia, a major highway that
links Florence with Rome
and Sienna, to pay their respects to the heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice
in World War II. The majority died in the fighting that occurred after the
liberation of Rome in June 1944 and
during the fierce battles in the Apennines right before
the end of the war.
The cemetery is one of 14 permanent memorials
built by the American Battle Monuments Commission. The site was liberated on August 3, 1944 by the South African 6th
Armored Division; the stone used to construct the chapel and headstones was
supplied by Italy.
On the highest of three terraces located
in back of the burial site are two open sections partially enclosed by walls;
to the east is the American flag. Tablets of the Missing, constructed of
Travertine stone, connect the two sections. Visitors barely breathe as they
read the Baveno granite panels; on the tablets are inscribed the names of 1,409
Americans—United States Army and Air Forces and the United States Navy—who died
in our nation’s service and rest in nameless graves. They came from every state
in our union but Alaska and Hawaii.
Men and women study the north section’s
west wall where two marble operations maps tell the story of the American
Forces in the area. Inscriptions in English and Italian provide an explanation
for the maps and the military operations. A forecourt at the south end of the
tablets leads to a marble and mosaic chapel—a place to meditate and pray for
the peace represented in a sculpture that rests on a pylon. May we never forget.
The Florence
American Cemetery
and Memorial is open daily from 8:00 am
to 6:00 pm from April 16 to September
30 and from 8:00am to 5:00pm from October 1 to April 15. Staff
members in the visitors’ building will accompany family members to the graves
and memorial sites.
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