Re: They Are Italians Now

Date: May 22, 2004

"Thousands of WWII soldiers laid to rest

By Alan Feuer The New York Times

NETTUNO, Italy -- There is a piece of land along the coast an hour south of Rome that is a shrine to America. It is a lovely piece of land, well-designed and well-maintained, that spreads out over nearly 80 acres. It is big enough so that the men who do such things need seven days to cut its grass.

It is the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial. Buried here are 7,862 Americans who died in combat in this country during World War II. Each lies buried with a marble headstone that is cleaned twice a year, by hand, with pumice stone and soap. There is a man who trims the hedges every morning. Another roams the grounds to look for weeds.

Angelo Perna is the chief gardener. He is deeply tanned, with a face that is the color of a football. His hands are dark and rough, and he is missing an incisor from his bottom row of teeth.

Perna, 51, is not that interested in politics. But when you tend the graves of dead Americans, politics will sometimes intervene.

He has watched the buses pull up to the gates, and the tourists in their sun hats wander out to walk among the marble rows or lay a flower by a grave. "The people in these graves sacrificed their lives to give Italians liberty," he said. "There's a lot of talk about the war now, but maybe they are looking to the past."

Italy, like most of Europe, has been outraged by the images of Iraqi men in hoods and handcuffs, strapped to electrical devices or chained to bars in front of dogs. Some in the opposition here have called on Rome to cancel President George W. Bush's visit to Italy in June. The other day, a cartoon on the front page of the country's leading paper showed the Statue of Liberty burning the feet of an Arab with her torch.

An Italian soldier died in combat this spring, yet the country has maintained its deep devotion to America, a warm regard that has not cooled in the chilly winds of war. The country has about 3,000 soldiers in Iraq and the government has promised they will stay.

"There is a general sentiment that the United States has made a terrible error managing the war," said Renato Mannheimer, a professor of political science at the University of Milan. "But there is -- and there has always been -- a favorable attitude toward the U.S. as a whole."

No sane man likes war, but war is never sane. "It would have been better if there hadn't been a war," said Perna, "but you can't do anything about it now. If someone attacks you, you have to react."

The cemetery gets about 200,000 visitors a year, mostly non-Americans. The Italians are the steadiest contingent and their visits have not stopped, even since the war.

"The Italians always come," said Joseph Bevilacqua, the cemetery's baseball-capped superintendent. "What we're getting lots more of now are the former Eastern Bloc people -- Czechs, Poles, Kosovars and such."

This spring, an Italian judge exonerated three Egyptians who had been on trial for a plot to desecrate the cemetery. Bevilacqua said that sort of thing is pretty rare.

He also said the locals by and large like the cemetery. "We're probably the biggest employer in Nettuno. You don't spit on the plate you use to eat."

Perna has been working here since 1986, when he moved north from the town of Avellino after finishing his gardening degree. His paycheck comes from the American Embassy. He has never been to America, although he said he wants to go.

"Newahmpshur," he said in a thick Italian accent. "Maz-ah-chu-zetz." He learned these names from reading the graves.

In the past two decades, he has seen two American presidents, Bill Clinton and the first George Bush.

It seems that Perna's staff is always doing something, whether trimming trees, washing windows, raking leaves or messing with their trucks. The place is immaculate: green fields, brown limbs, white crosses. An elliptical reflecting pool stands down a gravel pathway from a large memorial with maps and charts of the Italian campaign.

Outside the memorial, a man was scraping at the metal trim, which he said he eventually means to bronze. "We started this morning," he said and sighed. "It will take two days."

Outside the office is a logbook in which visitors have praised the cemetery's beauty and the sacrifice for which it stands. It is only natural that visitors to such a place would say good things about America. Things like: "Thank you." "Thanks to the American people." "Thanks."

Back among the graves, Perna was spraying weed killer on the grass behind the stone of Pvt. Anthony De Cillis, 157th Infantry, 45th Division, killed on May 27, 1944. Down the aisle were other men and boys from Oklahoma, Florida, Michigan, Ohio.

Perna stopped and said: "They have been buried here so long, they are Italians now."

© 2004 Los Angeles Daily News"