WWII Cemtaries.

[Nikki Clover]

So moving reading British relatives' letters thanking you for this project.
I live in Asiago, Veneto which was the British front-line in WW1 - there are 5 cemeteries nearby and 9 in the overall area. Would this be of interest?
Please let me know, I could probably whip up some help to get them done.
Anyone interested in visiting the area do get in touch with me directly through this forum.

[david.it48]

Originally Posted by Bernie

We have a farm house in Scerni which we use for holidays etc.
I am volunteer working with the "British War Memorial" project which has set up a data base collecting photographs of grave stones in the British & Commonwealth Cemetaries throughout the world.These photographs are placed on a data base where relatives of the deceased can access them. Many of the relatives of those who died during the war are never alble to visit the cemetaries and the opportunity to at least have a photgraph of their beloved grave stone is cheristed.

There are a large number of war cemetaries in Italy I wonder if any reader would be willing to assist with the poject by taking photographs of grave stones in a cemetary near where they live in Italy?

If anyone is interested please get in touch and we can discuss the procedure etc. My email address is: "bwb@bwarden.freeserve.co.uk"

Hi Bernie what a good idea we have a second home n/r Cassino. I f you are still interested I am going over at easter & would be more than pleased to help. Kind Regards David

[Louie]

Hi, We live in Southern Lazio. Minturno British War Cemetery is near to us.
If we can be of some help, we'd like to offer our services.

Louie and Paul
Itri, LT, S. Lazio

[Bernie]

Many thanks for your offer, I will be back with some suggestions.

[Bernie]

Many thanks and I will be back with some suggestions.

[Bernie]

Many thanks for your reply and kind offer to help the project. With that large number of WW2 cemeteries you can imagine the terrible fighting that occured and there must be a lot of relatives with loved ones buried in the cemereties you mention.

We would love to have your assistance and anyone else living your area. There was someone from Trento on one of the messages. Will try to identify who it is and point them in your direction.

The War Graves project want people to take a photographs of the gravestones, using a digital camera and then send them to Steve Rogers who is the Project Director, his address is;"steve@wargraves.org.uk". Drop him a line and he will pass the necessary procedures to you.

Recently I have pasted a long list of "Thank you replies" from relatives who have rec'd photographs of their loved ones gravestones - quite moving.

Please keep in touch.

Many thanks again,
Bernard Warden

[Louie]

We would be very pleased to assist with this project.
It is such a wonderful idea.

We will contact Steve Roger at "steve@wargraves.org.uk"

We actually visited Minturno War Cemetery in January.

It is close to the bridge over the Garigliano River, which separates Lazio and Campagnia. It is immaculately maintained by the Commonwealth Grave Commission.

Here lie 2,049 bodies of brave British soldiers who fell during the battles that raged as repeated attempts were made to breach the strategic German Gustav Line. Heavy casualties were sustained during the attempt to cross the wide and fast flowing Garigliano River during the offensives of January 1944, shortly before the landings at Anzio.

Minturno is not that far from Montecassino and Anzio, where there are more War Cemeteries.

Spike Milligan served in the army and fought in this area and in the battle of Montecassino, where he was shell shocked. I have recently been reading his book, "Where Have All The Bullets Gone". It is brilliant.

We live near to Minturno, in Itri, in Southern Lazio, a little town in the foothills of the Aurunci Mountains and part of the Aurunci National Park.

We came here on holiday several years ago and fell in love with the area,
so we completely changed our lifestyle, sold up in the UK and came here to live permanently.

We absolutely love it here !!! We've been here for 2 years now.

This area has beautiful mountain scenery but is close to a spectacular coastline, golden sandy beaches, and the seaside towns of GAETA / SPERLONGA / FORMIA / TERRACINA.

This region is so rich in natural beauty, history and culture.

It still hasn't really been discovered by international tourists, and except for August and sunny summer weekends, it is a peaceful place to come on holiday. Often the beaches are virtually deserted.

If any one is planning to visit Minturno or Southern Lazio, please do get in touch with us.

If we can be of help in any way please do get in touch. We speak Italian.
Our website (address below) gives lots of information about Minturno and the local area.

All the best, from Itri, South Lazio

[Tony Winstanley]

Hello Bernie. I was intrigued by your comment about covering the Sangro cemetery. My uncle, Frederick Bolister, is buried there. I have never visited but have a holiday home near Ostuni. How long by car to travel each way please?

[Bruno]

We were driving up to Ortona in Abruzzo last week and stopped at the Canadian cemetery which has over 1600 interned. I didn't have enough space on my camera or time to take that many photos. Maybe another time.