For our father
Now we know.
Simonetti and Attisani families live through the events leading to WWII; which Italia joins to fulfill the misguided ambitions of the fledgling nation. Post-war immigration entangles Giuseppe in his father’s POW stories. To ward off complaints about the cold in the shacks they live in at Cobram, his father infuses conversations withquando io ero prigioniero di Guerra…. Anecdotes morph into a compendium of memories later niggling arousal to find a sense of closure to his father becoming one of the thousandsof Internati Militari Italiani (IMIs) in Germany. Disastrous events ensue for Italians, willing participants in the Fascist promise of glory in a war that should not have spread worldwide. The North Africa and Greek campaigns bring the Simonetti brothers, and Aussie Charlie Gilbert close to each other. Austro-German Vogels in Yugoslavia are part of Greater Europe’s troubled past; wherein ethnicity, Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Islam bring out the worst of human behavior. Diaries written by fellow travelers provide lucid accounts of the horrid fate of Italian soldiers post-Armistice. A Massacre of Italians occurs at Cephalonia due toDivisione Acqui resisting German demands. Montgomery’s forces land near Pizzo and camp briefly near the Attisani Pontana farm.