We're making a few stops on our way to Lucca today. The first was a stop just south of Florence, at a WWII memorial where Americans that died during the Allied forces push through Italy are interned. 
The Gothic Line, a fortified line across the Italian Apeninnes where Germany staked a major defensive line, runs just north of here. The battle was fierce and long, 8 months to get from Florence to Genoa. So many soldiers died in breaking through this line. There are many graves of 'known only to God' soldiers. Work is still being done to identify them...one was just identified in March and returned/reinterned in Arkansas! As I walked through the cemetery, I was struck with a tremdous feeling of sorrow. Such a horrible time. I just walked down a line of headstones, touching each one, wondering about the man it represented and softly apologizing to him and his family. WE. MUST. REMEMBER.
The Gothic Line, a fortified line across the Italian Apeninnes where Germany staked a major defensive line, runs just north of here. The battle was fierce and long, 8 months to get from Florence to Genoa. So many soldiers died in breaking through this line. There are many graves of 'known only to God' soldiers. Work is still being done to identify them...one was just identified in March and returned/reinterned in Arkansas! As I walked through the cemetery, I was struck with a tremdous feeling of sorrow. Such a horrible time. I just walked down a line of headstones, touching each one, wondering about the man it represented and softly apologizing to him and his family. WE. MUST. REMEMBER.
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