PEA RIDGE — Editor’s note: Culea Abraham, a 2008 graduate of Pea Ridge High School, is a senior at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Mo. She is the daughter of Russ and Lisa Abraham of Pea Ridge.

She traveled to World War II sites in Europe as one of 20 CofO students with 10 American World War II veterans to learn more about patriotism.

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Mount Cassino, the Polish Cemetery Service and Anzio beachhead

MONTE CASSINO, Italy - On the top of Mount Cassino there is a large monastery. During World War II the Allied intelligence said that there were German troops hiding inside the monastery and because of this, the Allied troops blew up the monastery. Unfortunately, the Allied intelligence was inaccurate and there weren’t any Germans hiding in the monastery.

Even more unfortunate was the fact that after the monastery was destroyed by the Allies, the ruins were a perfect location for the German troops to hide and attack the Allied troops as they tried to take the hill. It took a lot of work, but finally the Allies chased the Germans out of the ruins of the monastery. Today,the monastery on the top of Mount Cassino has be re-erected using as many of the original materials as possible. It is as beautiful as ever. I wish we could have gone up and seen inside of it.

In a valley just below the peak of Mount Cassino, there is a beautiful Polish cemetery. To describe its beauty would not do it justice. It was the most beautiful of any cemetery I have ever - and most likely will ever - been in. Here while we were on our trip through Italy there was to be a service for those who died during World War II and are laid to rest in this cemetery. Our group was invited to join in this service. The service was led by an archbishop and he spoke in what I believe was Polish so none of us were able to understand it.

On some of the graves people had used rocks to make a cross. While I listened, I stared at these rock crosses wondering if they had been placed on these graves today or if it had been done years before. I also noticed many of the men and women who had come to participate in this service had Polish flag colors wrapped around their arms. I wondered if this was to signify that one of their family members had served or were currently serving inthe Polish military.

The archbishop led a communion service and fed the veterans from our group a piece of bread.

Charlie thought this was very ironic, seeing as how he had been rejected by the Catholic church. The archbishop also gave all of us a signed picture of him.

After the service, we again laid a wreath, this time two of our other veterans were responsible for laying it down. As we left the cemetery, I turned around to get one last look at the surreal beauty of a place like this. The two giant birds that guard the entrance of the cemetery were the last thing I saw as we left that desolate place.

Before we headed back to turn in for the night, we decided to make one last stop before heading towards Florence.

Anzio beachhead is an amazing beach. Just looking at it, I had a hard time thinking that anyone could have been killed on such a beautiful beach. This place is where Charlie and the rest of the First Special Service Forces landed to begin their journey into Italy.

They dug their trenches deep to help protect them from any enemy fire, however, the trenches were so deep that some of the mortar rounds that landed on the beach would cave in the trenches and bury men alive. Charlie said they lost a lot of men on that beachhead.

They were trapped on this beach for 99 days until they received backup.

There wasn’t much for them to do for those 99 days, so they ended up blackening their faces at nighttime and going on raids of the German forces.

The Germans had no idea how many of them they were. The FSSF would leave stickers on the bodies of those men they killed that said in German, “The worst is yet to come.”

It was through these raids the FSSF got their nickname “The Black Devils.”

Charlie risked everything to give us a future. He killed many men. He lost many of his comrades on the beaches and all across Italy. Everything that Charlie did made Normandy possible. If it wouldn’t have been for him and the FSSF on Anzio and in Rome, then all of Hitler’s attention would have been on French beaches. I send out a huge thank you to all the men in the FSSF. You made it possible for us to remain free.

TO BE CONTINUED

School, Pages 9 on 02/09/2011