This week of April 25 is the celebration of the liberation of Italy by the Allied Forces. In Sicily, we saw a lot of abandoned bunkers along the coast line.
In Syracusa we visited a WWII Memorial to Great Britain troops that landed in the first wave of Allied Soldiers in Sicily. Operation Ladbroke was a glider landing that began July 9, 1943 with the intention of securing the Ponte Grande Bridge as the first step in taking control of the city.
The men had an average of eight hours of training with 4.5 hours of that in the unfamiliar American gliders and 1.5 hours of night flying practice. Over 2,000 British troops took off from Tunisia. Strong winds and defensive flying to avoid anti-aircraft fire resulted in 65 gliders releasing too early crashed and crashing into the sea, drowning approximately 252 men.
Only 12 landed in the right place. Another 59 landed up to 25 miles away. The rest either failed to release and returned to Tunisia or they were shot down. One Horsa (British glider) platoon of infantry from Staffords captured the bridge. By 10 am only 87 men remained. No reinforcements arrived. By 2 pm, after running out of ammunition and down to 15 uninjured solders, they surrendered to Italian forces. When the 5th Infantry Division of Royal Scots Fusiliers arrived at 4 pm, they retook the bridge.
Epitaphs:
J.A. Love, Ordinary Seaman Royal Navy, age 19. "He was so young to give so much that others might be safe and free."
J. Garner, L Cpl, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, age 32. "Buried at the time in Floridia communal cemetary but whose grave is now lost. Their glory shall not be blotted out."
R.C. Browning, Private, The Seaforth Highlanders, age 26. "He died that we might live. Sleep on, thy race is run."
Two Solderies of the 1939-1945 War, A Canadian Regiment. "Known Unto God."
L.L. Goldstein, The Royal Scots Fusiliers, age 30. "Died in the Cause of Humanity's Liberation."
P. Finlayson, Lieutenant, The Sherwood Foresters, age 24. "Caidil Gu Latha." ("Sleep on 'Til Day," Cape Breton Lullaby by Kenneth Leslie, Canadian poet and songwriter).
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Cape Breton Lullaby - YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfJjkyWfZVE
Driftwood is burning blue, wild walk the wall shadows,
Night winds go riding by, riding by the lochie meadows.
On to the ring of day flows Mira's stream, singing:
Caidil gu la laddie, la, laddie, sleep the stars away.
From Wikipedia:
Kenneth Leslie [1892-1974] - Canadian poet and songwriter, and an influential poilitical activist in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, his father was a shipping magnate who became a member of the Quebec legislature in 1905, but drowned that same year when one of his ships, Lunenberg, sank in a storm. Leslie was raised by his mother, learning to play the violin and piano, and singing and writing poetry. He was a child prodigy, attending Dalhousie University in Halifax at age 14. Later he was educated at Colgate Theological Seminary for a year; the University of Nebraska, where he received his M.A.; and Harvard, where he studied under idealist Josiah Royce but did not receive a Ph.D.
Caidil gu la - title of a fiddle tune in the Captain Simon Fraser [1773-1852] Collection (The Airs And Melodies Peculiar To The Highlands Of Scotland And The Isles, 1816). One translation given to this Scottish Gaelic phrase is Sleep (on) till day.
Night winds go riding by, riding by the lochie meadows.
On to the ring of day flows Mira's stream, singing:
Caidil gu la laddie, la, laddie, sleep the stars away.
Far on Beinn Bhreagh's side wander the lost lambies.
Here, there and everywhere, everywhere their troubled mammies
Find them and fold them deep, fold them to sleep, singing:
Caidil gu la laddie, la, laddie, sleep the dark away.
Here, there and everywhere, everywhere their troubled mammies
Find them and fold them deep, fold them to sleep, singing:
Caidil gu la laddie, la, laddie, sleep the dark away.
Daddy is on the bay, he'll keep the pot brewing,
Keep all from tumbling down, tumbling down to rack and ruin;
Pray, Mary, send him home safe from the foam, singing:
Caidil gu la laddie, la, laddie, sleep the night away.
Keep all from tumbling down, tumbling down to rack and ruin;
Pray, Mary, send him home safe from the foam, singing:
Caidil gu la laddie, la, laddie, sleep the night away.
Kenneth Leslie [1892-1974] - Canadian poet and songwriter, and an influential poilitical activist in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, his father was a shipping magnate who became a member of the Quebec legislature in 1905, but drowned that same year when one of his ships, Lunenberg, sank in a storm. Leslie was raised by his mother, learning to play the violin and piano, and singing and writing poetry. He was a child prodigy, attending Dalhousie University in Halifax at age 14. Later he was educated at Colgate Theological Seminary for a year; the University of Nebraska, where he received his M.A.; and Harvard, where he studied under idealist Josiah Royce but did not receive a Ph.D.
Caidil gu la - title of a fiddle tune in the Captain Simon Fraser [1773-1852] Collection (The Airs And Melodies Peculiar To The Highlands Of Scotland And The Isles, 1816). One translation given to this Scottish Gaelic phrase is Sleep (on) till day.
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