[Editorial note: Today, the group moved from Ortona to the town of Cassino with an afternoon stop in Castel di Sangro. The UNB group first visited Castel di Sangro in 2014 after being connected with Alessandro Teti, who is a local historian. On May 14, he arranged a visit to the town Municipio where the students had an audience with the mayor, Angela Caruso, and the group was presented with a plaque and each student his and her individual medal. The group was joined by Alberto and Federico Spicciolato who were there as translators.]
Today, on our 8th day in Italy, we had a completely unique experience as well as some travelling. The plan for the day was to begin by visiting the Sherman tank outside the city of Ortona. It was fascinating to see a Canadian tank up so close and personal and it is without a doubt a true honour to Canadians that an Italian city would present a Canadian tank with such pride. From then it was on the city of Castel Di Sangro. It was there that I probably witnessed the most surprising thing of our trip so far. The reception we received as a group was incredible and unlike nothing I had ever experienced before. You could tell that the group who met us had high appreciation and respect for Canadians due to the bravery and service of their ancestors from Second World War. We started our visit in the city by meeting the mayor who greeted us in Italian.
Today, on our 8th day in Italy, we had a completely unique experience as well as some travelling. The plan for the day was to begin by visiting the Sherman tank outside the city of Ortona. It was fascinating to see a Canadian tank up so close and personal and it is without a doubt a true honour to Canadians that an Italian city would present a Canadian tank with such pride. From then it was on the city of Castel Di Sangro. It was there that I probably witnessed the most surprising thing of our trip so far. The reception we received as a group was incredible and unlike nothing I had ever experienced before. You could tell that the group who met us had high appreciation and respect for Canadians due to the bravery and service of their ancestors from Second World War. We started our visit in the city by meeting the mayor who greeted us in Italian.
It was there that our group was presented a medallion as a token of the appreciation the city holds for the contribution of the Canadian Armed Forces. I found it amazing that a city can hold such high opinions of Canadians after such a long time has passed. It shows that the Canadians must have made quite the impression. I myself am not Canadian however I like to think of Canada as my second home so I was extremely touched by the sentiment of these strangers. The medallion I received is definitely something I will treasure from this trip. Something else which was surprised me was the monument in the city centre to the soldiers who were killed from Castel Di Sangro in both the First and Second World War. What was different however is they included the names of not only the six Canadians who were killed near the city but also the German soldiers who were killed too. This shows an incredible amount of forgiveness and respect on the part of the Italians and also shows that all human life is valuable and should be cherished. I thought to myself if things were different and Nazi Germany had in fact won the war would their monuments to the war respect Canadian and Italian lives lost. I don’t think this would be the case. This to me demonstrated the character of Italians.
The historian and young translators who met us were all very friendly and happy to converse with us. I had a nice chat about Australia and hot and cold weather with one of the translators, as he was kind enough to show me where to find an ATM machine to get out more Euros. Today was an extremely positive experience for me and something I will not forget in a hurry. I have already learned so much on this trip and with just over a third of it completed I know there is so much more to experience. Sam Alves, Melbourne, Australia 4th year UNB Sociology student | Sam in Ortona |