Day 21 - Sept 17, 2017: Northward to Imola

Day 21 - Sept 17, 2017:  Northward to Imola

We got an early start and headed up north towards Imola. This was going to take us into areas where our boys fought along the Gothic Line. 

Tip of the Hat
Along the way we passed Pedaso.



I would like to send a 'Tip of the Hat" to my co-worker buddy Kevin Swaby's Grandpa Stanley Kitchener Albert Wilcox who was in this area serving wth the RCEME (Royal Canadian Electrically Mechanical Engineers) as a mechanic. Thank you for your contribution Sir! Below is a picture of Stanley (right) with his buddy Wally O'Hare taken in Pedaso, Italy in 1943. Well done lads!


Montecchio War Cemetery


582 Burials/ 0 Unidentified/ 288 Canadians
It is yet another beautiful CWGC cemetery. It is sat on a hillside overlooking the valley to the south which would like make for horrible fighting. One grave marker in particular struck me - you can read the loss and heartache in the boys' parents.




Gradara War Cemetery 
1191 Burials/ 0 Unidentified/ 369 Canadians 
As we pulled into Gradara an impressible old castle came quite visible. 



Just outside of town is the Gradara War Cemetery. It is a beautiful little cemetery with tiered rows of graves on it.


From the top one can see the back end of the castle. Incredible stonework as with all the Italian cemeteries.


Dr. Daniel Cesaretti
We met up with Dr Daniel Cesaretti an Italian Campaign 1943 -45 expert that was guiding a couple from England about. He has wrote several books on the subject and was great to speak with. One thing Daniel pointed out that I had previously noticed is that the Italians do not forget the contributions that Allied in particularly made. Yesterday we ran into a young Italian couple at the Moro River Cemetery with their young boys who were probably 7 and 4. They were bringing them to the Cemetery as an outing and to explain to them the losses we had suffered in liberating their homeland. Reading through the registers one can see all the Italian locals that have signed in and entered the comment "Grazie!". That's great to know our boys aren't forgotten.

Coriano War Cemetery
1940 Burials/ 427 Canadians/ 7 Unidentified
Another beautiful CWGC cemetery. This one has more spectacular stone work in it. 
Beautiful entrance! Again too many good men died and are resting here.

Ravena War Cemetery.
956 burials/ 438 Canadians/ 1 Unidentified
Beautiful long groomed entrance, an incredible gate, excellent stonework.
Buried here are 33 members of the Jewish Brigade - Palestine Regiment. They were part of the 35,000 Jews that enlisted with the British Army.



All cemetery visits are so be and peaceful - some affect you more than others for some unknown reason. This was one such cemetery.

Comments

  1. Anonymous18 September 2017 at 07:38

    Thanks for the tip of the hat to my grandfather, Kitch Wilcox... ! Good job pal... love the photos and the stories... Kevin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown21 September 2017 at 13:07

    It is hard to wrap ones head around how many lives were lost to stand up against pure evil. Seeing all these cemeteries really hits you. Makes me happy to hear that people are still passing on to the next generation the stories of the sacrifices made by so many.

    ReplyDelete

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