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THE STARS AND STRIFESIP ESdj Id Sicily I by and for Inted at the , where the lone numbery The Starsidin, Aiders Lions Officer, ?; Executiveited Nations %nny SignalMay, 5, 1944im f. Tout ert Mitgangwhat I can ipapers, has battle-tested ill-equipped unable to msivc, ing the clos-aign and in tie there. 1 of German Held pieces, ticles. When 11 be enough ►erbly manyd it, used a uated arms, rench, and fflcers onCe irdnanee of-so the cap-1 not be toorv \.p Hurd;rsviceits me b\ e, pays me broadens mynever would me. makes i frame well repairs my at we can'tv. mum the Army’:brighten myYank About SicilyThe Cafe San Giorgio In Castel Mola, a village of 500 souls on a rock overlooking the east Sicilian resort town of Taormina, has three heavy leatherbound guest books, containing more than 100,000 names.German tourists, English professors on their summer vacations. American honeymooners and industrialists, students of all nationalities. Fascist Party bosses and Germany’s most , corpulent citizen; Reich Marshal Herman Goering, stood on this rock and signed their names.The San Giorgio’s guest books were initiated, in 1907 when a honeymooning couple from Boston. Mate., scrawled, their names in green ink'. Other*visitors to the rock included John D’ Rockefeller, J. P. MorganV. Henry, Ford, composer] Richard Stratiss, Nazi ’’philosopher'1} Alfred Rosenberg. Count Dino Grandi. Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia and the Crown Princess of Greece.Needless #to say, the San Giorgio has done all right by itself. Impressed by the imposing beauty all around them, visitors are inclined to load themselves up with all kinds of junky souvenirs, as well as wine.We drove up the steep road early one afternoon knowing that Germany's Marshal Kesselring had made hfe headquarters in Taormina from the summer of '42 till April 43 T* was nimoml that la quite some time at the Cafe-sipping the wine San Giorgio’s beamin iw.ner served him.UP FRO?•ph WatkrMarshal Kesselring.” our smiling host .related. ”sat right in tin chair where you are sitting now He drank my wine.”He sounded very proud about n all, and I told him so.“Oh,” he said wistfully, ’’the Germans always behaved like gent I men. I assure you. I lived well when they were here. The German offi cer.s brought food to us and cam-und all sorts of good thing, ’’But/’ he continued sadly, ’’now times are bad. My, tourist trade .11 gone. All I get is soldiers. In the ld days rich people came from ill ver the world and paid '‘good money. Now I have to buy every thing on the expensive Black Market to feed mvself and my guests well.’*I thought of the poverty am tilth of Castel( Mola di Taormim ’’permanent guests” — bet* ov hpled-up citizens. The children in the Taormina backstreets were ragged, filthy, begging for bread cigarettes, candy, money, anything at all. The British town major had put* it very well:’This town is beautiful and historic and the people on the main streets are well dressed. But it like a rotten apple. Good to look at, showy, very pretty, but what d. illusionment when you cut it open.You will-do a story on my little cafe?’’ the host asked, help a good deal, you kn are bad. don't you agree?The Germans always like gentlemen, you say?He nodded voiently. Yes 'Always 1.*ke gentlemen Back in Taormina I siTHEWITH 5T HFACHHFAfI sat around -it was in en behind our fr had been the They hadn were placed t ttacks that keep lots of all times.This tank behemoth hilt; half-obscured men* were clt; beans when forenoon. Th as usual.When tank ten-in-onc r$i brought to t) They- aren’t side the tan) and some c little smokini er’s comparti The inside tliough a h tank had et handled cor |Xcket editio . The boys u for table, an littered with camp-life in disarray does a good tank, pens tp hole for firing i1 load in the s These med man crew,OneWITH nhas given a jobs, but peri into strange: little group Army. Trail neers. they 1 erators of a vehicles aero t would] a no River y Times) We've bu j James Bead: behaved in charge c I asked, but we neva he said. In mg this fer I The shorthor hpskisstsand you t, s. Vezm.ir1 A.liseUgo. mamtger of thehotel jMibiected towhereKesselringand his stall had Isbell inig. EmJ davedI 1 askedSignor AIm‘ ho uj beenvqry aidie ilked things, in Taorminawhlt; niihe 11Hie Ult;cmians ,Uvod with him. i:hgnor Ltgains{Alts/looked asmni shedi havfj . Vou ask me how I like tilttheirhe asked, After whaio. be tjdid, n U andthe peoplehere fbt^pulled actsure.those whoplayed ballth( \! Volga- boatmj.hved ■well on thecrumbs theNa.os en-iv» has rj threwthem| “Ohhow 1 hiugi them allI he [guidesaidbitterly. “JL trey . $toie every - i securej thmg.When tia■v left theyAlien ithe winC, the UHxi. art t ratsnresj eitherbank «frpmmy hoteleven moneytheVj Nonie of tlstole,those youniz Prussians, 1Those] terrywere cswine!*~Pvt PETER HI'HSTim fluis to at
Newspaper Details
Sicily Stars and Stripes
Palermo, Sicily, IT
Fri, May 05, 1944
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Michael L.
MO, USA 05 Oct 2024
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