- October 12, 1996 -


On October 12, 1996, there was a service held at the crash site by some of the citizens and officials of Roccalbegna. The following is an excerpt from a letter I received from Alberto describing the event.


At about 11am (PDT), I spoke with my folks, who had just come back from Roccalbegna, and I "debriefed" them thoroughly.

They both described the ceremony as beautiful and moving. It turned out that it was not so "private", after all, and everybody liked it that way. The mayor was there in his red-white-and-green waistband, the official mayoral "uniform", with the historic City Standard, carried and escorted by city policemen, in dress uniform. The Commanding Officer of Roccalbegna's Carabinieri Station was there too, escorted by two Carabinieri, also in dress uniform.

My father estimated approximately 35 more "civilians".

As per the tradition, the ceremony started with the honors to the City Standard (a Signal of Attention: four notes played by the trumpet. 1/2 low C, 1/8 low F, 1/8 high A, 1/2 high C. It's a Pavlovian stimulus for anybody who served in the Italian military to snap at attention).

Then the mayor reminded everybody of the events of October 12th, 1944, commemorated the six fallen airmen, and spoke briefly about Michael's recent visit, and his personal mission.

The trumpet played "Taps".

Then the mayor placed a laurel wreath by the monument. (This tradition dates back to pre-ellenic times, when heroes were given laurel crowns. Today laurel wreaths are used to remember men and women who gave their lives for all noble causes, but especially those who died in wars. Evergreen laurel represents eternal remembrance and gratitude).

After one minute of silence, the trumpet played "The Star Spangled Banner".

(end of excerpt)


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