Day 22 - Sept 19, 2017: Enroute to Marsailles

Day 22 - Sept 18, 2017:  To France

Editors Note:
It has been a couple of days without a stable Wifi connection. This has been extremely challenging and extremely frustrating as well, Thank you for you patience!

It is time to say "Arrivederci Italy!"  and "Bonjour France!"
Italy was a great country to visit from it's beautiful mountainous villages to it's sea-side communities; from the tight, narrow streets of it's centuries-old towns high atop a hill to the acres upon acres of vineyards... And of course it was grape picking season! 

Italy's greatest attribute though is it's people - they are very warm and welcoming especially when they find out you are from Canada. One gentleman from near Cassino treated us like we were long lost family! He showed us his garden outside the restaurant and even opened the restaurant on the Sunday night to host Bill and me. He had his wife cook us pasta fasioli and he lit a wood fire to cook us a massive steak. Without a word of a lie, it was the best steak I have ever had - bar none! Mille Grazie Pino!



It was moving and very humbling to be in the same locations following a similar path that our Grandpa took in 1943/44. Of course the landscape he and the rest of the boys endured was not one of lush green farmland - it would have been battle scared and either extremely hot and dry or wet, muddy and cold. The roads would not have been the nice highways/freeways that they are today. Bill told me that Grandpa would have likely taken mule handling training as that was the only means of transporting supplies for the troops in the mountainous regions.

The cemeteries here are amazing as are all the CWGC cemeteries. There is something about the cemeteries in Italy that make them stand out from those in France and Belgium. The ornate metal gates, the incredible stonework and even the grave markers that have some gorgeous seams running throughout the granite.



Yet so many similarities exist with the rest - the buried remains of unidentified soldiers, the grave marker inscriptions that carry so much sorrow as well as convictions of faith; the peacefulness of walking amongst the soldiers to let them know they have not been forgotten, and the youthfulness of some of the soldiers...17, 18, 19 years old.

A tip of the hat goes to buddy Del Stager's dad who was with the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps in Italy serving with the 5th Canadian Armoured Division. He and my Grandpa may have known one another. As I look at the grave markers of those that served in the RCASC it makes me wonder if any of those gents were pals of Grandpa as well...



Operation Goldflake
Operation Goldflake pulled our Grandpa, along with the rest of the 60,000 Canadian troops and equipment out of Italy and into Marsailles to begin a five day overland trip to Belgium to reunite with those Canadian troops who had been fighting in the Northwest European campaign. That is where our journey continues tomorrow...

Comments

  1. Unknown30 September 2017 at 01:18

    Them Italians Marco sure know how to do beautiful tiling! ": )

    ReplyDelete

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