War Graves

On Saturday Amy and I were joined by a couple of our friends for an overnight trip to Siena. Amy and I have been to Siena several times, but this was their first trip. Rather than post a massive missive on the entire trip, I will break it up into smaller bites.

As we traveled north on Via Cassia (SR2), we came upon Lago di Bolsena. This lake appears to be volcanic in origin, like Lago di Vico, and is large enough to have several sizable islands in it. We were stunned by the view and searched for an appropriate place to stop beside the road for pictures and observations. The first place we happened upon had a sign in English saying it was the Commonwealth War Cemetery. Intrigued, we followed a long, winding travertine path to a small, immaculately maintained cemetery holding the remains of 600 soldiers from various countries in the United Kingdom who had died during the campaign to take the Italian peninsula during WWII. They were collected and moved there and to a number of other sites. Many died in a concentrated campaign during early June of 1944 at approximately the same time as the invasion of Normandy. There were representatives from South Africa, Canada, England, New Zealand, Australia and India. All branches of the armed forces were represented: army, navy, air force, signal corps, medical corps, etc. Many of the markers had quotes or other statements from family members engraved in addition to standard information. It was a very powerful and moving reminder of the sacrifice made by many at that time. On a side note, I was startled by the number of unknowns buried there. For some there was knowledge of what branch of the military they were in or what ship they had served on, but for almost a dozen there was no information other than that they had “Died during the Great War of 1939-45” and were “Known Unto God”.