Memorial Day 2006

Memorial Day makes one think about departed soldiers. A week or so ago, Wikipedia (an online encyclopedia) had an article on the 62nd anniversary of the Allied World War II victory at Monte Cassino.

So on this Memorial Day weekend, I’m thinking about my uncle, Irvin Bormann. Irvin died at Monte Cassino. Which means that my uncle made an incredible sacrifice during an incredible battle during an incredible war. Not that my own reaction has any relevance to the story, but as I think back I am surprised at how little I have appreciated Irvin and the battle over the years. When I was a kid, he was pretty much just a guy in a picture on the shelf in our parlor back on the farm. Everybody knew he had died in the war and that was pretty much it.

Wikipedia has great information about the battle and the abbey itself. Read the articles (links provided below) if you have a moment. Who knew that Monte Cassino was in a strategic location that made it the subject of raids throughout centuries, including by the Lombards (584), the Saracens (883) and Napoleon (1799)? Or that Charles Martel’s son was a monk at Monte Cassino (he would have been Charlemagne’s uncle)?

And what about the World War II battle? I had no idea that Polish troops played a major (and successful) role. I didn’t know that the Allies went to Pius XII for permission to bomb the monastery. I don’t know which aspect of the battle (or its various separate assaults) took Irvin from us, though it must have been one of the first assaults. I had no idea the battle was so difficult. I wish I could talk to Irvin about this. I wish I had talked to my grandparents about this.

The Monte Cassino photos (click to enlarge, as always) are from Wikipedia and speak for themselves. How about the Nazi propaganda poster designed to demoralize the Poles? It scares me. The view of the restored abbey from the Polish cemetery is quite beautiful. I would like to visit here. First I will read some of the items in the bibliography in the wikipedia article. And get back into Irvin’s diary. Irvin’s photo is from the St. Joe history book.

By the way, if you are not a wikipedia user, I cannot recommend it highly enough. The main page for the encyclopedia is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) The article about the battle for Monte Cassino is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino. A separate article about the abbey itself is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Cassino.