The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) operates and maintains 25 American military cemeteries located in 16 foreign countries throughout the world. I would like to take you to one of them, the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy for the 2015 Memorial Day celebration.

The cemetery itself contains 7,861 graves of American members from WWII. The majority of these individuals died in the liberation of Sicily (July 10 to August 17, 1943).  In the landings in the Salerno Area (September 9, 1943). And in the landings at Anzio Beach and expansion of the beachhead (January 22, 1944 to May 1944). The names of over 3,095 MIA military members are also listed in the cemetery, so we may always remember them and their sacrifices.

On memorial day this year they were holding a remembrance and I decided to go. With duty blues for memorial day weekend, I would have back to back watches on Friday and Saturday, relax on Sunday, and then it was off to Nettuno, Italy for the ceremony on Monday.

How to get there?

Located 2.5 hours from Naples Italy in the town of Nettuno, the cemetery is only about an hour South of Rome. Just about a 15 minute drive outside of Anzio.

There were a couple of other people that also had the duty blues and decided to join me. Adam had 2 back to back night watches so he posted in the back seat while Sherrie and I blasted country music all the way North through Gaeta, following the sea up on a 2 lane road. Although it is 2.5 hours drive to get there, the distance isn’t that far, its the 2 lane road that keeps you at a pretty slow pace.

Once we arrived and found a parking spot in a cornfield (Cammy doesn’t mind these weird Italian roads most of the time), we headed right into the cemetery where we could see people setting up for the ceremony. The ceremony began at 11:00 so we had to leave very early to get there in time.

Walking into the cemetery you can see that its extremely well kept and orderly, everything asymmetric.

Walking up to the memorial area, the Italian band was on the right side and the American on the right, with tents ahead for guests.

The cemetery is immaculate. The rows in perfect order.

Wouldn’t you know as soon as we arrived, we ran into a friend, Daniel.

The Cemetery

As the ceremony began the flags were raised and a choir sang both the American and Italian national anthems.

The flag at half mast

Memorial wreaths given by different entities in honor of the commemoration.

The choir singing the national anthems.

The siege for italy began in North Africa, where American forces pushed into Tunisia in an effort to cut supply lines for axis powers. Using code breakers to break encoded German messages the Americans were able to determine the time and routes of supply ships across the mediterranean.

For the liberation of Italy It took four major offensives between January and May 1944 before the line was eventually broken.  Allied forces for these battles included British, US, French, Polish and Canadian Corps, concentrated along a twenty mile front between Monte Cassino and the western seaboard.

The allied forces took control of Rome on 4 June 1944, after the landing at Anzio during Operation Shingle, marching North to take the city. After Rome was taken, forces were spread out for Operation Dragoon, the allied invasion of Southern France on 15 August 1944.

These 3 small paragraphs of history barely scratch the surface. Wanna know more? Best to consult Rick Atkinson and take a look at his 3 part series entitle “The Liberation Trilogy”.

A presentation of the wreaths.

A guest speaker for the event was Vice Admiral Foggo, Commander, 6th Fleet, Commander Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO, Deputy Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe, and Deputy Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Africa. He’s the reason I’m considering staying in the Navy a little longer.

Members of forces from Nettuno and the surrounding area

After the speech a 21 gun salute and taps was played. Daniel, pictured here, salutes the flag

After the speeches are given and the benediction rendered, we were free to walk around the grounds. Admiral Foggo is pictured on the right.

Inside the memorial, two soldiers are pictured here arm in arm.

Veterans who still attend the ceremony.

In one of the annex rooms the walls are lined with the 3,095 names of the fallen whose bodies were never retrieved during the battles.

Let us read them and remember.

In the other annex room is a map depicting the liberation efforts.

Afterwards we walked down through the cemetery grounds checking.

As we stopped for a picture I got up and walked by a Veteran who was sitting on one of the benches to my right, surrounded by his children and grandchildren. He had lost all composure and he was crying loudly, remembering the past. It was a very humbling moment for me.

At the visitors center, you can meander through stories written from heroes during the liberation and the timeline of the events that took place leading up to the liberation of Italy from the Germans. This quote on the wall gives a final somber note to our day and visit of the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy.

After we left the cemetery we drove over to Anzio to have lunch and sit for a minute to ponder the Amphibious landings that occurred here. One of my friends and a previous roommate, was stationed onboard USS Anzio when we lived in Norfolk, so it was very interesting to learn the events his ship was named after.

To lighten the mood after the events of the morning we decided to have a little fun down by the beach. Adam and Sherrie decided to get some jump shots down in the sand.

This article appeared first on The Cassey Excursion.