Crosses silently testify in forgotten cemetery

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Editor’s note: This is the last in a series of articles by Culea Abraham, a 2008 graduate of Pea Ridge High School, and 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.

The Forgotten Cemetery

FLORENCE, Italy - The first thing I noticed about the American cemetery in Florence once we arrived wasn’t the quietness, that had seemed a common theme at all the cemeteries we had been to this far on our journey through the trail traveledby troops during World War II. What I noticed was the trees. They were so tall. It seemed like the top touched the sky. They stretched on forever. I felt like some insect on the sun standing next to those magnificent monsters.

They probably weren’t really that tall, but it seemed like that. Maybe it was the deafening silence that made them seem so much bigger than the trees at any of the other cemeteries I’ve ever visited. It wasn’t that it was really more quiet than those other cemeteries, but there was something missing. It felt like our groupof 30 was the only group of people anywhere near this place since it was first built. Now, that wasn’t totally true, but it was close enough to the truth. This cemetery, even though it is a beautiful and peaceful place for those who are laid to rest here since the days of the end of World War II, has not had nearly as many visitors as any other American cemetery anywhere in Europe. It is the least recognized cemetery, or in other words, it has become known as the Forgotten Cemetery.

I may have exaggerated the size of the trees, but I would never exaggerate the number of crosses and stars we were looking at in this cemetery. Many people died in World War II, and many are buried in the Northern Italian Cemetery in Florence. To think that not only were those men buried overseas, away from their families, but that no one comes to visit them has shown me how little Americans recognize the importance of those who died for our freedom. I think sometimes as Americans we forget the importance of what these men gave up. They gave their very lives so we could live in a world of peace and prosperity. So we could live the way we wanted, they died. As Americans, I believe we should give more honor to those men who have given all they have ever wanted for us to live the way we want without being oppressed by an overpowering government.

Back to the topic of my adventures in this cemetery. It was in this very place that not only did we as college students learn something new, but also the three veterans on our trip that were from the First Special Service Forces found something new.

At each and every one of the cemeteries we went to in Italy, Jack, one of the men from the FSSF asked if there were any men who served under this name buried in that particular cemetery. None of the cemeteries we had been to had been of any luck. Even though they doubted very much that there would be anyone from the FSSF buried here, seeing as how they never went that far north in Italy, he had them check anyway. This time, they came across the name of a private who hadserved in the FSSF. His name was Benjamin Dubin and he was a private. Jack and Charlie discussed it for quite some time and the only thing they could come up with was that he had been captured and somehow died or been killed as the Germans retreated back towards Germany.

Americans fought.

Americans died. Americans were buried. They gave their all for our freedoms.

Let us remember those who have been forgotten by everyone, even their relatives, and left in a desolate land that they never wanted to call home. Let us remember those who have no home left. Let us remember the men fallen in Italy and pay tribute to those who were lain to rest in the Northern Italian American Cemetery.

They gave their very lives so we could live in a

world of peace and prosperity.

Culea Abraham

School, Pages 11 on 03/30/2011