Memorial Day

This year, I took a group to the U.S. Memorial Day commemoration at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial in Nettuno, south of Rome. It was an extraordinary day, in extraordinary company.

Only a mile from Anzio, the beachhead of the Allies’ landing on Jan. 22, 1944, this memorial is dedicated to the nearly 11,000 Americans who died in the campaign to successfully liberate Rome, the capital city of Italy, from the Germans in WWII.

This meticulously maintained cemetery contains the graves of nearly 8000 American soldiers, including 23 sets of brothers. On Memorial Day, all of the graves – Christian crosses,Stars of David and six other religious icons -- fly the American flag as well as the Italian flag, which is a dramatic background for the day’s memorial events.

We had arranged for Dawn Rochow Seymour, 90, of Lake Canandiagua, NY, and her family, to be invited by the American Battlefields Monument Commission (ABMC) to the May 26, 2008 ceremony, and to be recognized for her WWII services in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs).

Ms. Seymour was met, guided and seated in the front row by military escort. She sat with honored guests which included Admiral Mark Fitzgerald ( the Commander U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Commander, Allied Joint Force Command, Naples). The Honorable Mary Ann Glendon, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, delivered a moving address during the 45-minute ceremony.

We also arranged for Ms. Seymour's sister and travel companion, Dorothy, 94, to be recognized for her 50-year career as a nurse. Seventeen women, including nurses, are buried at the Memorial.

After the ceremony, we were invited to one of the park’s beautiful gardens where Ms. Seymour described her career as a pilot of the B-17 aircraft. Especially captivated were the students of the American Overseas School of Rome, headed by Dr. Beth Pfannl. (Dawn’s 30-year effort to raise national awareness of the contribution of these brave women soldiers in the war effort. also includes establishing the WASP educational outreach program in 1979. This woman is unflagible.)

Other guests included Barbara Sistilli, a first-time visitor to Italy. We shared an amazing day with Barbara as she visited her father's grave for the first time. Her father was in the first wave of soldiers who landed on the beachhead, only to be killed six days before Rome’s liberation on June 4, 1944. Barbara was born three months later.

Barbara came on the Memorial Day trip with her husband and her step-son, Anthony Sistilli. Anthony is one of 22 delegates from Democrats Abroad to the 2008 convention in Denver. The civic education of generations to come was tangible that day.

All of us making the trip that day were inspired by courageous and serious women who teach the lessons they learned from extraordinary acts of patriotism, and travel the country that was, through their sacrifices, made free.