Epilogue

Kingston – November 2nd

Take Post

I set out on this trip to follow my Father and the men of 10th St Catharines Field Battery who spent 19 months from July, 1943 until February, 1945 fighing in Sicily and Italy. Along the way I visited the grave sites of the 5 gunners from 10 Bty who were killed in action and as a form of remembrance I left a stone from the Canadian Shield with a red maple leaf, on each man’s marker.

I also left a stone at the site of my friend Pat’s uncle who is buried in the Catania War Cemetery, Catania, Sicily.  I visited 3 other war cemeteries to pay my respects to the Canadians and other allies who rest there.

I solved a mystery about where my Father was in February and March 1945 when he should have been with his unit in North West Europe.  I stood in the same place he stood at Castello Lancellotti in Lauro during that time and I met a very dear man who helped me solve that mystery.  I even managed to find the Grand Hotel in Riccione where my Dad had a 7 day pass in October of 1944.

I visited our good friends Dave and Barb in Modica and they introduced me to a number of very fine Italians who were quite interested in this adventure. I met Cat in Florence and we spent four delightful days together, including dinner with Ian and Judith and there friends.  We all went to St Marks Church where we met Franz and Ilse and the company who performed a wonderful rendition of “Carmen”.  I learned a little bit about Italy along the way.  All of it pretty darn good…magnificent food and incredible wine aside…this is a lovely country and all the people I met were kind and gracious. Every time I said “Mi dispiace ma non parlo Italiano” I was greeted with a smile and a helping hand.

I travelled a lot on the roads of Italy…3,690 km to be exact…some of them good roads, some of them a bit worn…I got lost a bit….but all of the roads eventually took me where I wanted to go.

Other numbers to consider:  21 days;  12 hotel rooms;  9 Michelin maps;  8 war cemeteries; 5 airports; 4 aircraft; 1 ferry; 1 opera; 1 jazz quintet; a ton of photos; 0 Ducati motorcycles brought home.

Some people believe the Italian Campaign was a wasted effort. The Russians had been clamoring for a Second Front in order to drain German troops from the Eastern Front. After North Africa, Sicily and Italy seemed the logical next step to the invasion of Europe. After the surrender of Italy in September 1943 the Italians provided a Corps of over 330,000 to fight alongside the Allies…this Corps could have equally been going the other way if it had not been for the Sicilian Campaign and the landings on the Italian Mainland. On the other hand at least 160,000 Italian troops of the Italian Socialist Republic continued to fight for the Germans until the defeat in May 1945.

The fact that Italy became an ally forced the German army to maintain about 430,000 men and over 700 aircraft in Italy to counteract the invasion.  These troops and aircraft were therefore not available on the Eastern Front to fight the Russians, or the Normandy Front after June 6, 1945 to fight the allies.

After June 6, 1945 Italy was pretty much forgotten by most people. Some of the Canadians were resentful that there government pulled them out of Italy in February, 1945 when defeat of the German forces there was so close.  Most probably did not really care.  This had been a grueling and tiring and deadly campaign and if nothing else, the move to North West Europe took them even closer to England and eventually the home most of them hadn’t seen in 6 long years.

This remembrance day will be quite different for me.  I’ll still attend the Artillery Cenotaph in City Park, attended by serving and ex gunners of all ranks, but it will be a bit more personal.  I’ll be thinking of Stanley Cobourn, Arley Burke, Don Reid, Edward Thomas and Joe Jaillett.

Lest We Forget

Stand Down