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| One of several sections of tombstones |
In today's 39th blog about our trip to Italy, we'll take you to the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial.
We had a driver from Florence who was taking us
to a couple of well-known medieval tourist towns, but his first stop was at
this beautiful memorial that we had never heard of before! The memorial is about
7.5 miles south of Florence, Italy. If you find yourself in Florence and have a
car, make the trip here. It's located at Via Cassia, 50023 Tavarnuzze,
Impruneta FIorence, Italy.
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| The main monument and chapel |
HISTORY OF THE MEMORIAL / CEMETERY - Recognizing the need for a federal agency to be responsible for
honoring American armed forces where they have served, and for
controlling the construction of military monuments and markers on
foreign soil by others, Congress enacted legislation in 1923
establishing ABMC.
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| the pillar monument with tribute to U.S. soldiers |
WHAT THE PILLAR MONUMENT SAYS - "1941 - 1945 In proud memory of the achievements of her sons in the humble tribute to their sacrifices, this memorial had been erected by the United States of America."
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| Entrance to the chapel |
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| Rob at the monument |
DID YOU KNOW? In performing its functions, ABMC administers, operates and maintains
on foreign soil 25 permanent American burial grounds, and 27 separate
memorials, monuments and markers, including three memorials in the
United States. Presently there are 124,905 American war dead interred in
these cemeteries, of which 30,922 are from World War I, 93,233 are from
World War II and 750 are from the Mexican-American War.
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| Looking to the memorial from the road |
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| soldier's memorial |
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| One of several sections of tombstones |
NAMES ON THE MEMORIAL - Commemorated
individually by name on stone tablets are more than 94,000 American servicemen
and women who were missing in action, or lost or buried at sea in their regions
during World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
TO LEARN MORE: https://www.abmc.gov
