Ceremonial visit to the American Cemetery in Rome

VFW Post 12159 coordinated with Naval Hospital Naples and NATO Forces

2023 marks the 79th Remembrance Ceremony of the American and Allied Forces landing at Anzio-Nettuno, Italy which was held at the Sicily–Rome American Cemetery and Memorial.

On Tuesday, January 24, 2023 service members from the US Naval Hospital Command – Naples, Italy, the U.S. Army NATO Brigade – Joint Force Command, Naples Italy and from the British Armed Forces representing the Royal Navy, the British Army and the Royal Air Force stationed at NATO Joint Force Command, Naples Italy attended.

After the ceremony they assisted the cemetery staff in placing candle lanterns on top of the headstones of Crosses and Stars of David. Less than 2 miles from the Sicily – Rome American Cemetery where 7,845 of American military war dead are buried, they went to pay tribute at the British Commonwealth of Nations - Anzio War Cemetery and the Beach Head War Cemetery where 3,372 individuals are buried. In these three cemeteries are 11,217 men and women who died in World War II.

The VFW Post 12159- Monte Cassino is truly grateful for their preparation.

Every year on March 7th, members of VFW Post 27 in Wiesbaden gathers with the community of Remagen to remember the importance that the “Ludendorf Brücke” played in shortening World War II.

78 years ago today, soldiers from various American regiments crossed the Rhine on the Ludendorff Bridge in an easterly direction. Because the bridge had withstood the attempted demolition by the Germans, the American army was able to take the bridgehead at Erpel. General Eisenhower commented on this at the time with the sentence “the bridge is worth its weight in gold”. The conquest of the eastern bridgehead ended the Second World War months earlier. When the bridge collapsed on March 17, 1945, 32 American pioneers were killed and 63 were injured.

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Deist said that it is his and other accredited veterans service officers’ goal to do their best to “improve the quality of life” of veterans through educating them about their earned VA benefits.

“It does not matter whether you are a part of the VFW. We just want to take care of veterans,” Deist said. “If VFW did not exist, it would be a bad thing.“

This article is featured in the 2023 February issue of VFW magazine, and was written by Dave Spiva, associate editor for VFW magazine.