History
“That child is me.” Soldier Martin Adler’s dream of finding the kids he had met during the war in Valbelluna took shape yesterday afternoon at Villa di Villa. When Pietro Cima “Rino” recognized himself, 76 years later, in one of the photos taken in 1945 by the American soldier headquartered in the kindergarten in the Zumellese fraction. And after him his cousin Pietro came forward, and then still other names and other faces emerged from the memory of the elders of the town.
Matteo Incerti, journalist and writer from Reggio Emilia, brought to Villa di Villa the enlarged prints of the photos preserved for all these years by the American veteran and unleashed the memories that led to the tracing of other children of the time.
To Adler’s war adventures and his search for the children he helped during the last period of the conflict between Southern Italy and Veneto, Incerti dedicated a book, “Soldier Martin’s children”. Telling the adventures of the then young American soldier from Naples to the Gothic line, from Belluno to Alto Adige, and how at Villa di Villa the American soldiers helped and fed the children of the country who were looking out at the time of the ration in kindergarten headquarters of the US troops.
And yesterday Incerti, through a game of fortuitous combinations, managed to give shape to a new chapter in the research of the now 97-year-old American veteran from Boca Raton, Florida.
In fact, uncertain yesterday he was in Valbelluna to present another book of his at the Indian Village in Valmorel, “The Red Indians who liberated Italy”, dedicated to the Native Americans who fought in the Belpaese. And, as if destiny had prepared an appointment for him, he decided to make a trip to Villa di Villa, where two months ago the report of the Courier of the Alps dedicated to the story of Martin.
Uncertain, recounting his research to help Martin in June, had appealed to the children of the time to come forward. An appeal that did not seem to have brought results. But in the village the story of almost eighty years ago had made people talk. And more than one had kept the newspaper with the photos, to look for some familiar face.
«I arrived in Valmorel to present my book», Matteo Incerti explains, «and since Villa di Villa is not far away, I thought I’d drop by there to take some photos to send to Martin. He had been there in 1995, but he speaks little Italian and had brought with him the original, small-format photos, and had not been able to find any of those children ».
But yesterday at Incerti it went differently. “I go to the Tre Rose bar, talk to the bartender Cinzia Sperandio, and discover that they remembered well the article in the Courier of the Alps, that many had kept it, that someone had recognized himself ». Incerti brought with him the photos taken in 1945 by Martin, appropriately enlarged and made more legible. And so everything became easier, even for the youngest, like Vanni Sancandi, who saw the appearance of a grandmother in those children’s faces of 1945.
One calls, the other arrives, in a short time the bar of Villa di Villa becomes the place of memory where a piece of history of the country is reconstructed in the difficult days, but also full of hope for the future, the end of the war and the arrival of the Allies.
Pietro Cima, who everyone in the village knows as Rino, is thus the first to come forward and recognize himself. «He told me that he was not among those who went to eat at the Americans», says Incerti, enthusiastic about the meeting, «but the soldiers had the warehouse behind his house and he knew them well. He recognized another boy of the time, but he is now dead. Then his cousin Piero Cima arrived, who does not appear in the vintage photo but who remembers well the American soldiers who came to feed the kindergarten: he is now ninety years old but was 14 at the time. Then another person came, who would have recognized Carmela, a girl who had fallen in love with Martin: it would have been his grandmother, who passed away a couple of years ago ».
Matteo Incerti, very excited, immediately called to the USA to inform Martin Adler’s daughter of the discovery: dad and daughter are leaving for Italy right now, tomorrow they will arrive on the Bolognese Apennines for a journey of memory through the Gothic line , Naples, Florence and Rome. And the enthusiasm of the Emilian journalist crossed the Atlantic like a flash.
“I’m really happy. If anyone wants to take a flower to Carmela’s grave, I will be grateful, ”the elderly American veteran told Incerti.
“Martin and his daughter are now leaving for the trip already set, it is difficult to think of a detour to Villa di Villa, given also the advanced age”, says Incerti, “but surely when they are with me we will make a video call to Villa di Villa. Villa to let Martin and those children of 1945 meet at a distance ».