American Battle Monuments Commission’s Sicily-Rome American Cemetery commemorates 81st anniversary of Allied landings in Anzio-Nettuno
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American Battle Monuments Commission’s Sicily-Rome American Cemetery commemorates 81st anniversary of Allied landings in Anzio-Nettuno
Ceremony honors veterans, fallen, and missing from historic military operations in Italy
ARLINGTON, Virginia, (Jan. 22, 2025) — The American Battle Monuments Commission commemorated the 81st anniversary of the beginning of Operation Shingle at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, today to honor the service and sacrifice of the U.S. armed forces and their Allies during World War II at Anzio and Nettuno.
ABMC welcomed local residents, along with U.S. and Italian dignitaries to pay tribute to those who served in this campaign.
“I am so proud of the service members - airmen, sailors, soldiers, carabienieri, soldati - here today,” said Mark Ireland, superintendent of Sicily-Rome American Cemetery. “Your execution and service today has brought honor, respect and dignity to those men and women we remember.”
Remarks were delivered by Mark Ireland, Sicily-Rome American Cemetery Superintendent; Shawn P. Crowley, Chargé D’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Italy; Rear Adm. Patrick S. Hayden, Director of Maritime HQ, NAVEUR/6th Fleet; Nicola Burrini, Mayor of Nettuno, Aurelio Lo Fazio, Mayor of Anzio and Matteo Perego di Cremnago, Italian Undersecretary of Defense.
The ceremony also included an invocation by Cpt. Nathan Solomon, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa U.S. 6th Fleet, a benediction and a wreath laying.
Additionally, students from the Istituto Comprensivo Nettuno III shared the stories of two other individuals commemorated at the site— 2nd Lt. Kitty S. Driskell and Staff Sgt. Willis E. Taylor.
Sicily-Rome American Cemetery is the final resting place for approximately 8,000 American military members, most of whom died during the liberation of Sicily, in the landings in the Salerno area and the fighting northward, in the landings at Anzio Beach, and the air and naval support throughout the region. Additionally, more than 3,000 names of those who went missing in these operations are etched in the white marble walls of the cemetery’s chapel.
This year marks the 81st anniversary of a series of Allied military campaigns that changed the course of World War II, including operations at Anzio-Nettuno, the D-Day landings in Normandy, France, in June; the landings in the south of France during Operation Dragoon in August; as well as the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium and Luxembourg beginning in December.
For more information about ABMC, please visit our website abmc.gov or our social media platforms: Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Press contact:
Hélène Chaulin
Phone: +33 (0)1 40 75 27 55
Email: chaulinh@abmc.gov
About American Battle Monuments Commission:
The American Battle Monuments Commission operates and maintains 26 cemeteries and 31 federal memorials, monuments and commemorative plaques in 17 countries throughout the world, including the United States. The three memorials in the United States are: the Honolulu Memorial located within the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu; the West Coast Memorial located within the Presidio National Park in San Francisco; and the East Coast Memorial located within Battery Park in New York City. Since March 4, 1923, the ABMC’s sacred mission remains to honor the service, achievements, and sacrifice of more than 200,000 U.S. service members buried and memorialized at our sites. For more information about the ABMC, visit abmc.gov.
About Sicily-Rome American Cemetery: