He launched an appeal to find children photographed in 1945 in San Miniato (Pisa): US soldier reviews them in video link
Him in video link from New York, the others all gathered in the Council room, in Palazzo Comunale a San Miniato, in the presence of the mayor Simone Giglioli. The appeal by Edward Roethel 94-year-old American veteran of the Second World War that two months ago he had launched a new appeal to meet those eight children of which he kept a photo taken in the Tuscan village in 1945. Today four of them were able to see again, 76 years later, and to these were added three other women who recognized themselves in a child without the possibility of ascertaining her true identity in this way.
“It is a huge joy to witness this moment – said the mayor – and I am very happy that it was possible to realize in the municipal house and just before Christmas, a splendid gift for Edward and for all of us”. Linked data Washington also Round Holly, executive director of the Friends of the National World War II Memorial, who took up Edward’s appeal and contacted the City to start a search for the children. “Edward’s story fascinated us right from the start and seeing his dream come true is something incredible – added Giglioli who invited him to San Miniato – I thank him, and with him his daughter Donna, on behalf of our entire city , because their testimonies and the tales of these moving stories take us back in time, to the difficult moments of the war, which left an indelible mark here ”.
Present in the Council Chamber were there Roberto Santini, class of ’42, originally from San Miniato but residing in Florence for years, former art teacher now retired, then Bruno Vincenti, the brother of Liliana Vincenti, born in 1940, who died in 1990, who said that his sister (the little girl in the center in the front row) at that time was in San Miniato with some relatives because her mother was sick with typhus and her father was a prisoner in Germany, while he was hosted by another family in the countryside. The brothers were there too Giovanni and Anna Maria Pretini, respectively class of ’39 and class of ’37, who said they were soon orphaned by their mother and that they shared a lot during the war years, becoming inseparable.
They also joined them Mara Ciarini Agnesi (class of ’38) from San Miniato, a retired teacher for some time now, one of the three women who would have recognized herself in the first child on the left of the photo. Together with her Altina Altini (born in ’37), who has always lived in San Miniato, who also saw herself in that little girl, “especially for one of her slightly crooked knees”, she specifies. Finally, in video call data Livorno, also Maria Brondi (class of ’41), in those years displaced from the city of the sea in San Miniato together with her whole family to escape the horrors of war and who today has recognized herself in the same little girl.
Among the memories that surfaced, the generosity of the American soldiers who delivered chocolate And candy to children in addition to the advent of penicillin which has saved many lives, including that of Mara Ciarini. Edward said he went to remember the ruins of San Miniato, a city much tried by the war, and that he was very excited to see these children found.